We live in a perverse country. I’d never really recovered from the disturbing discovery that Leeds Castle is in Kent. Today, I could have been forgiven for thinking that February 1st was actually April 1st. Carol announced that she would like to forego her normal Wednesday conserving the local countryside with the Greensand Trust in favour of a trip to Anglesey Abbey, attracted by their so-called Snowdrop Festival. To the uninitiated (i.e. me) it sounded like a daunting trip but, somehow, Anglesey Abbey has ended up in the middle of Cambridgeshire. There’s another one for which I’m going to require more than a little recovery time. [Aside: I wonder if it was built by the chap who built Leeds castle in Kent?]
A well as being a brilliantly sunny day, it was a bone-achingly cold day. Much as I may not have been able to concentrate or operate the camera properly, I do prefer bright and cold to the more usual nondescript, drab grey alternative. Being a heathen (i.e. not a National Trust member), we had to pay for me to get frozen but, though the over-hyped snowdrops were something a disappointment – the expected carpets of white never revealed themselves – the winter garden was quite interesting, even for one who prefers their nature to have a pulse. The winter garden has quite an assembly of plants that provide colour without their leaves. In fact, I suspect that the leaves might actually detract from the display.
To give them the benefit of the doubt, there is a guided walk to see snow drops which, we think, goes to other areas of the gardens where they may well be carpets of white. I’ll never know – I wasn’t prepared to hang around until 2:00 PM t find out. My toes were beginning to feel as frostbitten as this leaf looks.
However, snowdrops there were, even if in relatively modest clumps. It is, I imagine from the festival dates, still early in the season. Neither of us seemed too sorry to climb back into the car to warm up, though.
Doubtless we’ve been spending too much time in the south of France. 😀
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