Yesterday was a gloriously out-of-character February day- as it was warm! I visited Painshill exactly a year ago and it was sunny but super-chilly, at -1⁰C, and ice crystals could be seen floating on the water. Yesterday was 17-18⁰C and I got a bit annoyed with having to carry the winter coat I'd worn around with me. Here it is- I suppose it wasn't that bad, as it's lighter than it looks...
As last year, TFL trains were not running. We had to take a bus to Gants Hill, take the Central Line to Bank, then the chop-chop, super-quick Waterloo and City line to Waterloo, the train from Waterloo to Cobham Stoke d'Arbernon and then a 2.6 mile walk at the other end. We didn't exactly hang around, and flattened the walk in thirty minutes, but for some reason I didn't feel my normal, lively self and the day began to lose its sheen early on.
After stopping off at the Cobham Farmers' Market and scoffing a lamb and mint sauce scotch egg (most delicious- I think I'll attempt to make some myself! 😁) we pressed on to Painshill.
Just to re-cap on the history...
Painshill is an 18th century landscaped garden, created between 1738 and 1773 by the Hon. Charles Hamilton, who was the 9th son and 14th child of the Sixth Earl of Abercorn. He embarked on two Grand Tours before acquiring the land of Painshill, and his vision was to create living paintings, inspired by the art and architecture he had seen in Europe. The result was a series of magical follies in a breathtaking landscape vista. Everything you see here has been created (during faithful restoration of the garden since 1981- it had been allowed to fall into ruin) and works with the natural landscape to surprise and delight.
This isn't going to be a big blog, as I've blogged about it twice before, and included loads of photos.
Here in the link to my first visit, in September 2017:-
Here is the link to my third visit, in February 2018:-
The majority of the photographs I took were of the Grotto, and I honed in on this man-made and mysterious crystal and stalactite chamber as this was the first time here that I could use the flash on my camera without the batteries dying. My camera used to eat batteries- until I used my common sense (duh!) and bought stronger, industrial Duracells.
Here is an arched peep out onto the water. It's a simple view of beautiful, dappled sunlight...
The walls are lined with calcite, gypsum, quartz, fluorite and other minerals and stones and are decorated with crystals...
The Cascade. It is nothing more than a small dribble of water but again, it's very pretty and relaxing...
I've never photographed this view of the Five Arch Bridge before. Stunning reflections, but I didn't see much in the way of wildlife. A few ducks were out but no swans. The heron likes to put in an appearance, as does the odd mutjac deer- but not on this day...
The Waterwheel was working, and you could walk right up to it. One of the problems I found was that a lot of the attractions have been cordoned off- like the Amphitheatre, which contains the Sabine Statue, and the Ruined Abbey. You used to be able to walk right up to these, but now it's not possible...
Watching the blades twirl...
I realised that we'd skipped visiting the Mausoleum, visible in in distance, so we popped over on the way out...
The Ice House had a light in it, which is the first time I think I've seen this. Usually it's dark...
Why I'm fascinated with ice houses I'll never know, as there's not much to see- still, at least it was refreshingly cool...
On the pathway beyond the exit and back to the main road, I quite liked this picturesque ivy-covered tree...
Painshill was still lovely, but to me it seemed to have lost something. There were too many people, too few animals and there was too much cordoning off. Having said that, I'm sure I'll return- I just need to pick my timings carefully...
TTFN
The Miss Elaineous
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