Perfection?

West Dean gardens near Chichester was our next destination. A delay on the M25 (of course) and we arrived about lunchtime. The signs indicated An Event - why didn't I see that on the net? and my heart sank. But it was a bonus - lots of plant stalls (hold me back!), lovely food, crafts and 'sundries'. I dipped into my purse often, ate lamb and pumpkin pie with mash (superb), my first raspberries of the season, with cream, and bought herbs including Blackcurrant sage, a Hemerocallis 'Morning Chimes', a couple of grasses and I cannot remember what else.

Eventually we entered the kitchen garden, which had been the original focus of the visit! Wow, wow, wow! Go!

Goblet and cone trained fruit trees, cordons and espaliers. Red cabbages the size of a tractor wheel. Currants in double cordons. Thirteen Victorian glasshouses with all that fantastic engineering to open vents and pipes for warmth with the whole house partly sunk into the ground or lean to style with the back wall covered in trained peaches and nectarines, or grape vines. How we wanted to close our hands around a peach, so perfect, hanging there, rosy and furry. Old fig trees fruiting well - I did not know that there used to be fig orchards in this country with dozens sent to London each day. Each glasshouse was a treat, filled with tomatoes or melons, or peppers, chillies, orchids, Pelargoniums, cucumbers etc etc. And everything was immaculate. Not a discoloured leaf, not a bug. I saw one wilted Streptocarpus - the only noticeable defect. The outdoor veg were all as perfect, beautifully laid out. I especially liked the boot scrapers at the corner of each bed, to keep the mud off the paths!

Bliss!

In Euphoric state we hardly noticed the rain that turned from mizzle to something altogether more drenching and sat outside (under umbrellas) for a cup of tea.

A place to revisit. Without a doubt.

Because of the Event, the car park was large. And did I make a note of where the car was? Fortunately I always leave the sunroof up, come rain or shine. ( A gardener's car is a smelly place). But, as another visitor said to me, I should have noted that it was near some sheep droppings. As was his.