A good way to spend a couple of hours when the sun shines!

 

Last week on my day off I went round to see my friend for coffee, the sun was shining and my friend was looking after her 4 year old granddaughter who was getting restless….. We had to make the most of the sun so we all piled in my car and headed over to our favourite garden in Sandwich.

The resident crocodile.

Looking across to the house.

Having a 4 year old with us was very different from our usual peaceful walk round, but we soon remedied that, I got her to play ‘statues’ all over the garden, then I took her photo!! She thought it was great fun, we had our walk round and I still managed to take some nice photos. I won’t include any photos of her, as I am very aware of peoples privacy, especially children’s privacy, but I did get some really lovely shots of her. She loved the metal animals but did want to know why they were ‘broken’ lol She also made friends with a dog who lives there, who joined us for most of our walk round.

Great to see some flowers in bloom in February.

I love the way this horse moves around, the flowers in this meadow looked lovely.

It was so nice to walk round this time of year, as there were views of the garden that we don’t normally get to see, due to the fact that the flower beds have now been cleared ready for this years plants.

 

Beautiful irises.

I am not sure what this is, it looks like a globe, or a plan of the universe maybe? It looks good anyway!

 

It always amazes me that no matter what time of year you walk round this garden there is always plenty to see, every time we have been there it has been different. Needless to say we all thoroughly enjoyed our little trip out, and will be visiting the garden again soon I am sure

It is always so peaceful in this garden.

Looking across to the Parish Church, later in the year this view is obscured by the trees.

Golden grass in the sun.

 

Gargoyles, well water spouts really…..

 

Think he must have seen me when I first get out of bed in the morning…. lol

Just down the road is St Saviours Church, built in Victorian times for the fishermen of Walmer. I have walked past this church very many times, but have never spotted these gorgeous carvings before! I spotted this one so of course I had to walk all round the church to see what others there were.

I found lots of different carvings, so I will be looking skywards now to see what other gems I have missed on buildings.

Horrible day here, raining and cold, just right for staying in and catching up with some blogging, hope the weekend is going well for everyone

I am not totally sure what sort of creatures these are meant to be, any suggestions?

Looking a bit worn and he has lost his drainpipe!

The King…

..and his Queen? These two are either side of the main window.

Happy St. Valentines Day

Followers of my Live Space blog will recognize the photo, taken a couple of years ago. Its a genuine photo, totally unintended by the guy in the coffee shop, I have been in that coffee shop and had the same coffee many times, but have never got another heart!! I wish everyone a very Happy St. Valentines Day whatever you are doing  

I have included a couple of beach photos for you, taken on a grey Saturday morning, the two boats used to sit side by side, I see they have been moved now, probably got fed up with me taking photos of them!!

Lobster Pots, they just looked good!!

Take care all xx

The full moon and Cross Stitch

Talk about differing subjects….the full moon photo is one I took back in January, I think its pretty good as I don’t have special lens or filters for my camera, it is just a straight forward photo of the moon taken from my garden, although I have altered the brightness and contrast a bit. It was also taken without a tripod, guess I have a steady hand!!

The cross stitch are two pieces I have finished this year, the banner I finally completed after working on it for two years…it should have been finished for my daughters 18th birthday, she is now nearly 20 – ooops! The banner will be going out to China with me in April when I go out to see my daughter and hopefully have the holiday of a lifetime

The second piece is also one that has been promised for some time, as you can see the baby is nearly a year old now, I hope his mum and dad like it! Tigger especially turned out so lovely!

Sandwich in the late winter sunshine.

 

And some primroses to brighten your day

Fowlmead Country Park

 

One Sunday a few weeks back the sun was shining, time for a walk and give my camera some excercise..

The  view looking towards Thanet

Fowlmead Country Park was created on the site of the old slag heap that was left after Betteshanger Colliery was closed. It is situated between Deal and Sandwich (Kent) and, although it has been open for about 2 years I had never been for a look round.

It is a large park of about 200 acres, in places very pretty, although I think that it will improve over the next few years, when more trees and plants naturalize there. The views over to Thanet are wonderful, the walks are very easy going although it was a bit muddy in places when I went. Mostly the tarmac paths make the going very easy. There is also a visitor centre, a children’s play area, which was very popular, and a 2 mile tarmac cycle track. Its a great place to take children who want to ride their bikes in safety, I wish it had been open when our children were smaller!

Not the lake just proving how much rain we had earlier in the week!

I made my way down to the lakes, which were very pretty, and took a slow circular walk before heading back to the car. I will definitely go back there again in the summer, to explore fully. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and getting some photos!

Looking towards the sea, the white blocks are caravans near the Chequers pub!

Look out for the gargoyles in the next blog….enjoy the photos

HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Yes I know I am late with my New Year Greetings, I hope you all had a really good Christmas and New Year, and here we are into 2011. We are all hoping for a good year, I am hoping for many more photos amongst other things. Over on Windows Live I used to publish a few photos at the end of the old year, not always the best photos I have taken, but ones that have meant something to me in the previous year. I have decided to carry on the ‘tradition’ here on blogger, so below are a selection of photos, which I hope you will enjoy, and again Happy New Year to you all

The first of the two photos that were published in the calendar, as mentioned in my last blog.

Walmer Castle gardens, this photo is the other one that appeared in the calendar.