I went back to the small East Sussex village of Blackboys to say goodbye to the landlords of the Blackboys Inn, my old neighbours, Paul and Jimmie, who ran the local pub when I lived in a cottage just down the road. They are moving a few miles away to another country pub called the Dorset Arms near East Grinstead which is in the middle of Winnie the Pooh land. It will be fun getting to know it better over there but on Saturday it was all about goodbyes with more than a few happy memories of my time in the village that I moved away from in 2007.
There were the ancient woods just across the road from my house with their acres of Spring bluebells but, most of all, I thought of my old garden with so many plants that I had cultivated there – old friends in the idyllic setting of my quarter acre of woodland garden.
The cottage at Blackboys was also the last home of some other old friends, my ancient Springer spaniel Ralph…….
…and his successor little Ruby…..
Here are some photographs of my garden in the Summer of 2007:
