Sunday, 11 May 2014

A mixed day

The morning was spent at Beth Chatto's garden. She is a much admired garden designer who has written many books but achieved that position by hard work and experience rather than by formal training. The garden was started in the 1960s as a family garden which is now open to the public. She is now over 90, so probably has some help. The garden is beautifully laid out, with the attraction being the way different shapes and colours complement each other. The tea room provided an excellent light lunch - baguette with smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber for Diva and a jacket potato and coronation chicken for TSH. Tonight the restaurant is making a special lobster and crayfish risotto for Diva, as the standard one has cream, which she does not like.
On the way back, a brief call into Colchester, said to be England's oldest town. The signs indicated a car park which turned out to be badly located both for the shops and the abbey, so neither was appreciated. This is not really a 'destination' town.
A bit of context. The hotel overlooks a large Newmarket stables, so clearly visible from the bedroom window is a 2 storey set of horse Houses (boxes?). There are also 3 large round structures which seem to be used for indoor training. These latter are illuminated all night, presumably for security. At about 04:30 each morning, all the lights in the building are switched on and horses start looking out. Over the next half hour, figures appear and approach the horses. Tractors which are as noisy as aircraft sweep out the round structures. So far, Diva has not seen the next bit. Do the horses emerge and march off en masse? Or creep out to the training areas one at a time?

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