[Aug. 2024] During this visit to London, a couple who are friends of ours invited us for a walk in a large garden in the suburbs.
It’s called Borde Hill, and it’s in Sussex.
It took about two hours by car, so it’s not really in the London category, but I’ll include it here.
It’s a garden with a long history, and according to the pamphlet I received, it was originally a house built in 1598 by a private botanist of the grandson of Henry VIII.
300 years later, in 1893, a colonel named Stevenson Clarke used his own money to carry out an expedition to find rare plants from all corners of the world.
As a result, various plants were collected in this garden.
The garden is 383 acres, making it perfect for a short walk.
This couple of friends is half a generation older than us, and we used to enjoy more wild hikes together, but these days we mainly go for gentle walks like this one.
Even when we lived in London, they would invite us to visit places that are difficult to get to without a car once every few months.
These gardens and parks are well-maintained, well-equipped, and pleasant, but of course there is an admission fee.
In the case of Borde Hill, we paid £23 for two of us.
The reason we decided to go there this time was because an outdoor concert was being held.
I had a problem on my leg this summer and I couldn’t walk for long, so we decided it would be nice to sit on the grass and listen to the music.
However, it was a rare fine day for the UK, with the temperature at 28 degrees.
It was too hot in the sun, so we wandered around looking for shade.
We had planned to sit on the grass and hadn’t prepared anything, but the regulars had brought simple chairs and packed lunches.
Most of them were white.
A neat garden, green grass, people wearing bright clothes and hats…
This was the typical British scene that foreigners imagine.
And now, as for the music, a jazz band was playing under a tent.
We listened to them for a while, but, well, they weren’t very good.
The singer was particularly bad.
Therefore, soon, we got up and started walking.
The colourful flowers were in full bloom, creating a nice atmosphere.
The section called Italian garden with the pond was especially lovely.
As is typical of Britain, we stopped off at a pub on the way back.
Then, we parted ways after eating at Momo, a Japanese restaurant in London, which is our usual course with the two of them.
I was thinking that I needed to find a good and reasonably priced Japanese restaurant in Milan soon.
