Possibly not the optimum time to visit a garden, not if our garden is anything to go by. As autumn approaches plants take on an air of faded elegance . . . not Giverny.
It had rained (heavily) the day we arrived. Grey skies and wet roads greeted us from the start, so instead of wandering around in the rain we popped into the Musée des impressionnismes - good exhibition of Hiramatsu Reiji, using traditional Japanese techniques to reinterpret Monet - and even better, a great lunch.
We headed for the garden wondering what we'd find with so much rain, we imagined flattened flowers and puddles.
But no.
It was a joy. Full of colour with most of the flowers upright, mainly dahlias of course, but so beautiful and the colours just glowed in the low light levels - so rich and juicy they looked edible.
Bridge over a lilly pond - familiar?
Well . . . I guess it would be familiar without the visitors. We stood looking for a long time and noticed how many came along, took a photo and moved on - everyone's in such a hurry (me too I know) but occasionally it's good to stand and stare.
The main alley of the garden has nasturtiums spilling out of the beds, with the house in the background.
You can just make out my tights, it looked like I was trying to blend in with the nasturtiums!
What can I say . . . .
What a feast of colour! I love the tights, too ... and the turquoise chain ... and those heaps of hay take me back to my childhood - hours of energetic raking, painful blisters, and my father wrecking his wrist-joints.
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