Category Archives: catching up

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The grand old man

below: Overlooking the Kentish Weald

Churchill lived at Chartwell for more than forty years, and it was here that he gardened, painted, built walls and lakes, met with politicians, and enjoyed a vast array of friends. This wonderful description of a late night dinner there is priceless:

“In January 1928, James Lees-Milne stayed as a guest of Churchill’s son Randolph. He described an evening after dinner; ‘We remained at that round table till after midnight. Mr Churchill spent a blissful two hours demonstrating with decanters and wine glasses how the Battle of Jutland was fought. He got worked up like a schoolboy, making barking noises in imitation of gunfire, and blowing cigar smoke across the battle scene in imitation of gun smoke'”.

After Churchill died, Lady Churchill donated the house to the National Trust, and the house has been open to the public since 1966. We decided to take a day trip to visit the Old Man’s property. A train to Oxted and then a cab to Chartwell got us there easily.

The approach to the house winds along a gentle slope, featuring a couple of these gorgeous trees

and the charming Gavin Jones Cascade.

From here we wended our way up and through the grounds. There’s nothing like an old brick wall sheltering a sunken garden.

And then there is a lovely, long rose border

and some abundant rose petals:

And then these catmints.

I love the inscription: The greater part of this wall was built between 1925 and 1935 by Winston Churchill with his own hands

A few more beauties: cape daisy, oriental poppy and Turkish sage, Phlomis russeliana.

And here is the house, and a budding gardener!

Next up: inside the house!

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Posted on October 11, 2025 in blue, catching up, England, other people's gardens, yellow

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A few days in London

Leaving Bath and Salisbury, we took the train to London and our little flat near the V&A. Finding the flat was not easy! The address we had did not match up with any of the street numbers we could find. At long last, a friendly young woman, who clearly worried that we had been scammed, figured out where the house was, and we breathed a sigh of relief. The location was great, just a few minutes away from the Tube stop, and the house was interesting (why do I never take pictures of our rental flats?? but here are some from the website).

Our first stop was the British Museum and its many charms. Someone I follow online, who for years posted brilliant book reviews on her blog, The Idle Woman, turns out to be a curator at the British Museum, and this was her show.

Michelangelo comes vividly to life through drawings, poems and letters. Rather than an old man who’s no longer capable of much, here we see a man actively engaged with the world over the last thirty years of his long life. Beautifully done, brava, Sarah!

A Friday in June is not an ideal time to explore a museum, and the throngs of people made it a bit difficult to navigate. Luckily, this was just a quick visit once we had enjoyed seeing Michelangelo. I always love the Assyrians, and they are so enormous that even the crowds can’t spoil the views.

Just to finish up, here’s a lovely globe thistle to enjoy!

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Posted on October 11, 2025 in blue, catching up, England

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Liberty!

Liberty of London is famous among quilters and sewists. Here’s a bit of its history, from their webpage:

When our adventurous founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty laid plans for a London emporium laden with luxuries and fabrics from distant lands, his dream was to metaphorically dock a ship in the city streets. To this day, a voyage of discovery awaits on the good ship Liberty, with history hidden amongst six floors of cutting-edge design, unexpected edits and beautiful wares from the world’s greatest craftspeople.

And they aren’t kidding! The store was constructed from from the timbers of two ancient ‘three-decker’ battle ships. The whole place creaks!

Although they sell everything from perfumes to jewelry to menswear, quilters are there for the fabric. See some of it online here.

Here’s a selection I happen to have of their famous Tana Lawns. See more and better photos on their Instagram here.

And here is the founder himelf.

Liberty is now celebrating its 150th birthday and it’s still going strong. This store and the British Museum are my must-sees the next time I’m in London.

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Posted on October 4, 2025 in catching up, London, Quilts

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Stonehenge, at last!

Despite loving all things neolithic, I had missed seeing Stonehenge for all these years that I’ve been visiting England (though I did see the Stonehenge exhibit at the British Museum a few years ago). I finally saw it for real today. (Thanks to a Google feature that has unfortunately since been discontinued, I was able to delete the people in these photos. In fact, people were everywhere but we never felt crowded.)

We took a bus from the train station, over gentle hills and plains, to the real thing, just standing there. They have staged your visit beautifully. First, you see the henge from the road,

then you walk along a path until you see the henge getting closer with every step. And then, there it is, silent and mysterious.

The exhibit inside expands your understanding of the site through artifacts and archaeological analyses. Some of these we saw at the Salisbury museum. Skeletons, pots, and other evidence of prehistoric life were everywhere.

I will end with this grooved pot, because I seem to have lost any notes I took about this day. But the main points were that we had a glorious day out and were fortunate to see the the henge the day before some climate activists were moved to sprinkle orange powder all over the site!

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Posted on October 4, 2025 in catching up, Neolithic