Italianate grandeur at midsummer...

I started my day yesterday with a run - of sorts... Having not run for about 4 years it was more of a walk-run affair but it was good to be up in the early morning sunshine alongside the river and step 1 on the way to my target of getting back to a regular running habit achieved!

I met a friend later at Ickworth House, near Bury St Edmunds. It is a rather imposing building, the Georgian palatial 'folly' of the Hervey family, maintained now by the National Trust. It was such a beautiful day that it seemed a shame to spend it in the darkened rooms required for these buildings of conservation so we opted to walk around the vast gardens and surrounding estate.

Then today, I visited somewhere I have been meaning to for years. Known as the Secret Garden in the   shadow of St John's Roman Catholic Cathedral in the centre of Norwich, the Plantation Garden is the restored Victorian passion of a prosperous local upholsterer and cabinet make, Henry Trevor, who created a quirky mix of Italianate terraces, Gothic features and medieval style walls built from reclaimed bricks and stonework in the hollow of an old chalk quarry.

The entrance is quite unprepossessing and then this surprising space opens out in front of you...

A path leads up the side of the garden before steps leading down to the North end of the garden, where a small summer house tops the terraces.

And the view from the opposite end of the garden of the quite formal central part of the garden...

I loved these walls that look as though they are full of odd bits of interesting masonry and bottles and brickwork...

With opportune ferns sprouting from the gaps in the masonry...

It was very peaceful sitting here and then the sun obligingly came out from behind the clouds and lit up the garden...

I sat and watched this thrush for sometime - I was reminded of my childhood when the tap tap tap of the thrushes bashing snail shells against the patio was a common occurrence. I hardly ever see thrushes any more so it was lovely to catch this one - though it was so busy I struggled to get it in focus!

It was a beautiful space and a welcome place to sit and enjoy some peaceful sunshine...

Midsummers day...goodness, the months are flying by again...

S x