Sorry couldn't resist a bit of of rhyme! We were back on the Isle of Wight last weekend for the bank holiday and I have to say the weather wasn't great. On Sunday there was a sea mist which lingered all day but produced a beautiful soft light that complemented the emerging greens along the river

If I'm really honest though, I have to say I would have preferred blue skies and sunshine - still as the saying goes 'every cloud has a silver lining" and here you could also 'ride a white swan'

Further on there were hundreds of dandelion heads which when you look closely at them are amazing works of art whether viewed in colour

or black and white

As we neared the quay there was the odd splash of colour - a bright boat hull

and some coloured mooring floats reflected in the water

Then there is the little garden, virtually unchanged from when I was a child with a dilapidated shed

and some old caravans, which despite their unpromising exteriors are definitely in use in the summer

On the way back more colour was provided by this bright yellow litchen

and additional interest by a number of oyster catchers at the waters edge

“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems”

— Rainer Maria Rilke

On Sunday I visited the house we lived in from when I was ten until when I was thirteen. We were able to do this because the current owners had opened it under the National Garden Scheme.

When we moved to the house it was a dream come true for my mother whose passion was gardening. At last a huge garden to do just as she wanted with, and what a challenge! While the back garden had been kept under some sort of cultivation by the previous owner, the bulk of the garden had been allowed to run wild so that a the point at which we moved in it it was six foot tall with nettles and grass. The first task was to clear it and keep the lawns mowed. Practically a full time job for my mother who didn't work outside the home.

It looks a little different now!

The house, a Georgian cottage, has been extended: a walled courtyard turned into an additional room and an orangery and new garage put in the place of the old sheds and pig sties. I am pleased to be able to say this has been very well done and looks very much in keeping with the original building. There have been pains to preserve original features and the sash windows on the front of the building look as if they were the ones that were there when we lived there.

The front gate appears to be the same too

The back garden has changed from the vegetable patch we had

into a series of charming garden rooms

The front garden too has been landscaped

Sadly we were only able to live in this beautiful spot for three years before work took my father back to the mainland after 30 years on the Isle of Wight. Leaving the garden nearly broke my mother's heart and I'm sure if her spirit is anywhere to be found on earth it would be here.

I wil leave you with a mix of past and present and hope that your week has had many sparkling moments.

Come walk with me to Shalfleet Quay

Shalfleet Revisited