Early springtime visit to Goodnestone Park Gardens  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Snowdrops under lime trees Today Goodnestone Park Gardens was open as it usually is on Sundays at this time of year, when impressive displays of early spring flowering bulbs can be seen. All proceeds go to the popular National Gardens Scheme. The display of Snowdrops is usually at its best in mid-February, but the long cold winter this year meant that they were still looking very impressive, along with good displays of Hellebores and many other spring flowering shrubs, all of them attracting any early insects with their fragrance. The garden also has many ancient and impressive trees, one of the most notable being a huge Cedar of Lebanon, which is said to date from the time the house was built.  Single snowdrop  Hamamelis mollis  Hellebore
Today the sun shone which was very welcome and even though it was only three degrees with a biting cold wind, once I went into the walled gardens (which date from the 17th century) it was so sheltered that it felt much warmer. In 2009 a new feature to the gardens was completed: a Rill Garden which introduces water to the Walled Garden. This was a long-held ambition for Margaret Fitzpatrick. I hope to return during 2010 to see the garden at a different time of the year: it’s been quite a few years since I’ve seen the garden during the summer.  Rill Garden  Chillenden Windmill
On the way home I passed the Windmill at Chillenden Its An open trestle post mill, built in 1868 - one of the last of this type to be built in the county, and standing on a very exposed site, where mills have stood for around 500 years. Situated: In fields north of Chillenden. 4km SW of Sandwich. The windmill was blown down and almost completely destroyed at the end of November 2003. Fortunately it was reconstructed in 2005. In the lovely spring sunshine it looked really striking so I decided to make a stop and take a few pictures
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Regards,
Dave