Scotney Castle National Trust

A few weeks ago I took my son to Tunbridge Wells so that he could do a days workshop, which meant I had the whole day to myself. I was really looking forward to it and planned to visit a National Trust, poodle around a village or two and have lunch.

After some research I couldn't really find too much in the immediate vicinity that tempted me, so I booked a morning and afternoon parking slot at Scotney Castle and a table at a lovely little cafe in Brenchley for lunch.

It was a very grey day but luckily no rain.

I took my sketch book with me and sat for a long time before actually putting pen to paper, scared anyone passing would sneak a peak, but I really did enjoy the time spent sketching and painting.

Lunch was lovely at the Little Bull Cafe but extremely fast, I'd barely sat down and my order was in. Although it was delicious it all felt a bit of a rush which was a shame.

Avocado and halloumi on sour dough toast

After lunch I went back to Scotney Castle for a look inside the castle itself.

A long day, quite lonely but nice day.

A final weekend camping back in Herefordshire.

We came back to Herefordshire this weekend; one last weekend away before packing down the camper for winter. 

We've been pretty lucky with the weather again, especially considering it's the last weekend in October and the clocks went back this morning. So I'm sitting here writing this, as Roy and Tulip are keeping warm in bed.

We arrived in the early evening on Friday and set up as it was getting dark, no awning this time, just a minimal set up and its worked out really well. Much quicker than usual and less canvas to have to dry off before packing down.

Saturday had been set aside for house viewings and we had a full day of it.

Even in the rain Herefordshire is just beautiful and I can't wait to get back again in the Spring with the hope of finding our forever home, if we haven't found it already!

We stopped off on Saturday, in between viewings, for a quick cup of coffee and a sit down.

Bed time

A beautiful Sunday morning

Autumn Splendour Art Workshop

Last month I was lucky enough to enrol on an Autumn art workshop with artists Ohn Mar Win and Clare Therese Gray at the lovely Lower Norton Flower Farm, near Winchester. A beautiful venue and we had the perfect weather to go along with it.

The morning session was with Ohn Mar, sitting under a small gazebo in the flower garden. Ohn Mar Win is a watercolour and ink artist, creating loose illustrations and paintings. Following a demonstration our first exercise was to produce quick flower studies, timed from 1 minute down to 10 seconds. For anyone scared of white paper it was pretty daunting just getting stuck in like that but definitely something to keep practicing. 

Following the warm up we went into the garden to paint in situ, a flower or flowers of our choosing, keeping it loose.

Ohn Mar Win giving an in situ demonstration.

I chose a single hydrangea and although to started off ok, my colours were weak and I didn't wait long enough for the layering. Following the watercolour we went back to the gazebo to start adding the ink.

Group photo

It's a shame everything was slightly rushed due to the time constraints for lunch and the next session with Clare Therese Gray, but it was really enjoyable and I've taken a lot away to help me loosen up in future.

After a delicious lunch we swapped artist. Clare is a gouache artist, who paints the most beautiful flower illustrations. We started by laying a flat weak gouache wash to paper before heading back out into the garden to choose three flowers each to paint.

Hunting for flowers

Even though to was the end of September there were still some lovely flowers to choose from but we were told to steer clear from the stunning Dahlias as they would be too hard to paint.

Back inside the studio we chose a layout with our three stems, lightly drew it out in pencil and were advised by Clare to start with mixing our greens and painting the leaves. 

Sadly again time was limited and I think most people didn't end up finishing, I certainly didn't but I wasn't unhappy with what I achieved and at least we were able to bring our paint pallet home to continue at a later date.

Final painting

Group paintings

This was the first time Ohn Mar and Clare had put together one of these courses and I would highly recommend it to anyone wishing to paint flowers, either loosely in watercolour and ink or in a more controlled way in gouache. If I could do it again though I would prefer a full day with each artist, as everything felt quite rushed, rather than relaxed. I thoroughly enjoyed it though and have already booked on to another watercolour and ink painting day with another artist in November.

Final days in Herefordshire and home

Two weeks went by so quickly. The last few days went by at a slower pace, reading and pottering. We went back to The Cider Barn for a lovely evening meal and a rather nice cocktail.

We also went back to Croft Castle, which had a very different vibe than turning up in a heat wave the week before.

We also on our last full day found the village I want to live in, as well as the house within that village. We had a second viewing of the property the day we travelled home and I am hoping that my dreams of living on the country can finally come to fruition. 

Once home I was off again for two nights babysitting my sons new Red Fox Lab puppy. It's amazing how exhausting it is having a puppy again and how quickly you forget. She may look like butter wouldn't melt, but looks can be deceiving. she is very sweet though.