New Year at Scotney Castle

Happy New Year!! Welcome 2023!

It has been a wet and windy start to the year (I'm a Brit, we always open conversation with the weather). Grey and damp and miserable - apart from Monday 2nd January, which was gloriously sunny with blue skies and fluffy white clouds. We ended up going for a walk around Scotney Castle in the afternoon with my sister, two nephews, their aunt and a mad spaniel, which was lovely! 

The most picturesque bit, and possibly the most recognisable part of Scotney, is the old 'castle' at the bottom of the hill which dates back to 1378. It was transformed into a romantic ruin, as part of re-landscaping the garden in the 1830s, by Edward Hussey III when he built the newer house at the top of the hill with its mod-cons and fancy rooms. The old building was becoming dated and cramped with six children running around. You can still walk around some of the rooms in the round corner tower, although they have been closed off for winter now. 

It was getting fairly late in the afternoon (for January time anyway as it is dark at 4.30pm at the moment) as we wandered round. We had intended on going earlier but hadn't realised that it was the last day of their Christmas event and you had to pre-book the carpark - on arrival we were advised to go back an hour later for a chance to get in so went off to have some lunch in a nearby posh pub. Unfortunately for us, we went back an hour and a half later and were advised that we had to wait another half an hour somewhere!! So after all of that sitting in the car waiting (it seemed silly to just go back home at that point) it was rather lovely to eventually be able to get out and stretch our legs. 

These photos don't show quite how busy it was with couples and young families strolling around (although to be fair, most of them had ended up in the café). There were quite a lot of dogs on leads too so we were stopped many times by other dog owners to compare breeds and say hello to all of the furry friends.

It was a nice afternoon though, completed with a Butterscotch Steamer (ordered for the intrigue) and chocolate brownie, and a lovely way to welcome in the new year. Now of course we are back to grey and miserable weather with cloud so thick I can't see the view from our kitchen window. 

We are on the other side of winter now though and heading toward spring! I have planted my Hyacinth and Narcissus bulbs in my pots and topped them with Primroses for some colour on our balcony. I'm just hoping that we don't get a heavy frost or that the bottom of the saddle pots don't get too waterlogged and ruin the bulbs. We shall see in a few months time if my efforts have been worth it!