John Thompson

For Susan's birthday outing we went to the National Trust House and Gardens at Nymans near Crawley in West Sussex. This was a place she'd long wanted to go as it has a reputation for quite wonderful gardens as well as a part ruined grand house.

Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived the weather turned on us and we were subjected to heavy rain for the rest of the visit and indeed into the evening and overnight. This was disappointing as we were also with Doreen in her wheelchair. It made walking the gardens and taking photographs a challenge. It was also cold too, 11c compared with 22c yesterday.

We did come across an artist in residence, John Thompson, in the Potting Shed, whose work proved so inspirational that we bought one of his paintings of the Isles of Skye. He was easy to talk to, had some bright colourful pictures on show and was dressed in paint smeared clothes that could have stood up on their own.

I've included a couple of extras of flowers in the wet garden but it was the combination of colours on a drab day which sold this shot for today's blip.

We enjoyed a baked potato followed by coffee and scone in the cafe and in the evening Prosecco with cheese stuffed olives and cheese stuffed peppers preceded fresh local asparagus, Chicken Balti and Birthday Cake. Despite the weather, I think a good day was had.