My diary this week has been quieter, which is just as well because it was Mat’s birthday at the weekend so there were lots of celebrations. No big party, just small gatherings of family and friends that made the weekend very special. My present to him is a trip to Lundy island this coming weekend. He has wanted to go ever since he was 12 and in the sea scouts, when he sailed past the island but didn’t set foot on it, so I hope after so many years of wanting to go there it lives up to expectations.
Other than that, Monday was a highlight, with another trip to Knepp - my third visit over the past four years. It was fascinating to see how it has matured and grown, and even in the midst of this intense drought, it was looking spectacular.
I emerge into the walled garden at Knepp through a small gate in one corner and it’s like stepping into a different world. You’re in a Californian desert garden, perhaps, or Mediterranean garden with grasses and silvery foliage plants punctuated by the odd tall cypress. Seed heads are left intact to mingle with flowering plants; lime-green euphorbias, lavender-blue echinops and luminous yellow coreopsis provide shots of colour among the drought-bleached backdrop. Poles apart from a conventional garden, it is incredibly dense in plants and alive with insects. Almost as soon as I walk in, I’m entranced by several hummingbird moths on a buddleia; clouds of flies rise upwards as I brush past a shrubby bupleurum, and hundreds of small white butterflies create a moving veil above some lavender.
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