This must have been my wackiest appointment ever- the other day I went to the Caspian Hotel in Ealing (of Hotel Inspector fame) to see about some writing work...
...And ended up in a group photo with the owners and local MP Rupa Huq!!!!
I'm the spotty gal (my clothing, not my face!) and I've already had compliments about my faux-leather jacket (£20 in the New Look sale...)
I had taken along my novel to show the owners and I can appreciate why some of my past feedback has been: 'Divide it into smaller volumes- it's way too big to pop into your handbag!' It weighs a ton, and is now available both as a tome and a three part series, and also as an eBook (which kind of negates that problem anyway.)
Here is my Amazon link so you can buy it:-
Incidentally, Haven Green, where the Caspian Hotel sits, is where one of the main characters in my novel- Caroline- goes to college, at the fictional Ealing College of Writing. Her paramour, Gary, also lives in a block of flats the other side of the green. They are also totally made up and don't actually exist.
As Ealing is a l-o-o-o-n-g way across London for me (the other end of the Central Line), I decided to combine this west London visit with some west London nosey parkering, and decided to pop into Holland Park- to see the Kyoto Garden, in particular- on the way home.
I entered via the Sun Trap entrance and this is the Sun Trap Garden...
I thought these stairs were really cute and picturesque...
The Kyoto garden is a place for peace and quiet contemplation. It was opened in 1991 and was a gift from the city of Kyoto to commemorate the long friendship between Japan and Great Britain.
I wanted to visit after reading about it on a tourist site, some time ago. I wanted to see it in February, when I was in the area blogging about Leighton House Museum, link below...
...And 18 Stafford Terrace, link below...
...but, as I recall, I didn't feel too well, so I did what I had to do and went home. I used to live up the road, in Hammersmith, but only remember visiting the park once, and briefly at that.
I read Memoirs Of A Geisha, by Arthur Golden (my first ever Amazon purchase, twenty years ago) and saw the film at the cinema. I also read Geisha, by Liza Dalby, an American anthropologist known as 'the blue-eyed geisha' who was the first western woman to train as a geisha. I found this ancient, secretive world fascinating and as a result both Kyoto- the home of the geisha- and Tokyo are on my bucket list.
There wasn't much colour around at this time of year, but the garden was really special...
Apparently, there are pretty koi carp living in the pond, but they appeared to be keeping a low profile and I didn't spot any.
There is a beautiful peacock right at the centre of the photo...
The peacocks wander around freely, but this one didn't feel like posing for me...
...And showed me his bum instead!
The length of the garden...
Pathway...
Sculpture...
The banshee on the stone path!
The water was actually quite scummy...
But the waterfall was really lovely , calming and soporific...
Spiny tree...
Pathway exit...
The entrance to the Fukushima Garden.
It was opened in 2012 to commemorate the gratitude of the Japanese people to the British people, for their support following the natural tsunami disaster that struck Fukushima in 2011.
Another cute path!
Walking Man (1998) by Sean Henry is a permanent bronze installation...
Anyone for chess?
There are quite a few sculptures in the park. This looks down to the Dutch Garden, with Holland House in the background.
This fella sat down for a photo in the Napoleon Garden. The flower beds were very bare and were winding down for winter...
Fountain pond and the back of the Ice House...
Outside the arches. I'm almost seeing these in silhouette, as the day was very bright...
Underneath the arches, and their inner paintings...
The central view down the arched walkway...
The Orangery...
I loved the way these tree roots have wound their way around the arches. nature always wins!
Note to self: come back in the summer! The Rose Garden was very bare...
Boy With Bear Cubs by J. M. Swan...
Holland House was created in 1605, in the Elizabethan or Jacobean style, for the diplomat, Sir Walter Cope. Later on, during the 19th century and ownership of the 3rd Baron Holland, it was a glittering social, literary and political centre.
In 1940, the house was hit by twenty-two incendiary bombs and largely destroyed, leaving only the east wing and library standing. There used to be a youth hostel located in the house but that has, apparently, now closed.
This is the evocative and somewhat ghostly remains of of the back of Holland House. I didn't venture round to the front.
I believe this part used to be the youth hostel...
The other end view of the Dutch Garden...
Ice houses, for some strange reason, seem to interest me. But this one was a locked-up, underwhelming shed!
The side view. I have read somewhere that it's now used as an art gallery, but I saw absolutely NO evidence of this- a nosey through the window told me I was looking at some kind of store room; that and nothing more.
This fellow did kind of pose, but refused to show me a full fan. Oh well...
It was a bright day and this photo of a bronze and granite sculpture called Annunciation, by Andrew Burton looks a bit overexposed...
Leaving the park and it's hard to believe that you're in central London...
This little chap did come to greet me...Until he found out I had no food for him, then he soon ran away!
I will return, when the park is in full midsummer bloom- or I'll visit the real Kyoto in Japan. Or both!
Three months later...
I happened to be in Ealing and took the time to find, and photograph, the house where the late, great Kirsty MacColl lived until her untimely death eighteen years ago. Having been in the family for over thirty years, it has now been sold on for a cool £3 million.
I have to say, I thought it looked very slightly shabby...
The stairs to the side lead up to a fully-equipped, soundproof recording studio...
TTFN
The Miss Elaineous
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