May in the Rose Garden

Now is the time to visit Hampton Court Palace's glorious Rose Garden. 

A joy - for the exquisite scents permeating the air, combined with the sumptuous sights - abundant in every flower bed.  Colours range from palest cream to deepest burgundy; this gorgeous mid-pink variety has the deepest fragrance and fullest bloom...

Visit soon - entry to the garden, situated close to the West Gate entrance, is free - to experience the sensory delights, at their seasonal best.

Happiness on West Wittering Beach

Apologies for the slightly blurred (phone camera) pic but I couldn't resist capturing the contentment of the charming English Sheepdog, basking blissfully in the warm sand, on beautiful West Wittering beach, yesterday.  Is she contemplating a surf or just enjoying the scenery?

I had a brilliant time exploring, dreaming of living nearby; wandering for miles along the scenic stretch of white sands, colourful beach huts and verdant South Downs backdrop - wonderfully friendly locals, too!

Signs of Spring

When do you know that spring is on the way?  Not, for me, a specific calendar date but a subtly transformative sensation in the air  - alerting and enlivening all the senses.  Gradually lengthening days with (hooray!) brighter skies; happy bursts of colour burgeoning all around; blossom precociously composing itself for star status, smiles more prevalent on friendly faces.

Yesterday afternoon, in royal Richmond Park, the temperature remained chilly but the sun shone abundantly - encouraging spring shoots to nudge their way above ground.  I was captivated by the open-faced charm of the early-flowering white clematis, strewn beguilingly with deep-pink freckles.

Strange the contrast  - a mere few yards up the hill - where a faintly forlorn coterie of snowdrops are close to their annual curtain call, making way for new life.

Feel-good Friday

There's some brightness on the horizon, today.  It may be close to freezing-point but the sunshine has helped to make my heart sing (a little)... along with the deliciously scented panoply of pink roses, enjoying pride-of-place in my living room.  What has made you smile this Friday?

A Flea in Her Ear at the Old Vic

It's several decades since Feydeau's 1907 Belle Epoque farce last featured on the London stage; the current Old Vic revival is a triumph.  Laughs ensue from the outset, when Victor's butler takes the opportunity of a missed appointment, to share his concerns with his master's doctor - proceeding to complain, at length - about his painful ovaries...  

Unsurprisingly, the Coq d'Or hotel, frequented by ladies of the night and their clients, is a natural setting for farcical romps, frolics and faux-pas...including a rollicking series of interludes, when the (ahem) bit-part, rampant, sex-starved German officer becomes known as Herr Shut Yer 'Ole.

Hilarious Rev star, Tom Hollander, is feverishly funny in his dual-roles: as upper-crust Victor and contrastingly lowly, bell-hop, Posh. The entire ensemble are uproariously impressive; Emma Campbell-Jones - standing-in for ailing Lisa Dillon - as Victor's distraught wife, Raymonde, was a seamless success, on the night I was in the audience.  The much-missed John Mortimer's wonderful translation only enhances the glee - along with Richard Eyre's superb direction.

If you're in need of an injection of fun and laughter in your life, to counteract London's grey days, there's no better place than the glamorous Old Vic Theatre - a stone's throw from Waterloo station.  The run concludes on March 5th - enjoy it, while you can!

Production flyer courtesy of The Old Vic