Nothing like a little adventure to add a few more little joys to your month! When I say little, I mean it – even just a day out or a different route home can bring new sights and new experinces. It’s always worth it!
Our mini-break this week started off in Horsham, where we did a great treasure trail to explore.
Horsham is a nice little market town with a lot of history…
And narrow alleyways…
It’s got some good doors too.
Loved this photinia, grown like a tree and in full flower!
Ivy-leaved toadflax doing its thing.
The water reflecting on the leaves… the leaves reflecting on the water…
Cow parsley and lichen making art together.
In the park.
The dragon at the centre of the maze!
Lovely tamarisk.
Sungod.
I loved this, on the war memorial.
Next we went to camp overnight at Knepp Wildland – a former farm estate which has been rewilded and now homes a huge amount of wildlife, including lots of rare and threatened species. I photographed my first insects before the tent was even up! It’s a conehead grasshopper nymph.
And this handsome blue fellow is an alder leaf beetle – they were once thought to be extinct in the UK!
Who lives in a house like this?
The Bathenon. Check out all those antlers!
Knepp is known for its white stork reintroduction project, which appears to be a great success.
They were released here in 2019, and in 2020 the first stork chicks were born in the UK for 600 years!
The storks’ huge nests are easily spotted at the tops of trees!
We were here on a mission to hear nightingales – they are rare across the UK due to loss of wild scrubland like this, but at Knepp there are as many as forty singing males. We went for a long walk until after dark, and heard lots! And we saw our first badger!
Our bell tent brings us so much joy!
It’s our budget home-from-home, and is no more trouble to set up than our tiny dome tent was. It’s just heavier to carry!
Next we went to Broadstairs. Love this giant echium! I’ve tried to grow it a few times but it never survives the winter. It loves the coast though.
Broadstairs has a lot of great micropubs and craft beer places!
Cool lampshade.
Loved the light coming through the door of our guest house.
Happy man.
Broadstairs has some good doors too.
Pretty choisya flowers.
Proper breakfast!
This guy shared a few of our crumbs.
Cool outfit.
Osteospermum along the promenade.
Gullprints.
Obligatory ice cream.
Last time I was here a gull stole my ice cream. Not this time, mister!
Mermaid’s purse. Obsidentify says it’s a thornback ray!
Such blue. The weather was so kind to us!
Me and him.
