Inspiration

The blog starts as it ends - in London, and with this beautiful view from Waterloo Bridge up to the dome of St. Pauls.  I was on my way to an early train to Hampshire, and then down to Dorset, for site visits, a few weeks ago.

I was staying for a couple of nights with my brother Jon & sister-in-law Laura, and it was good to plug in to West Dorset again after all these months, on a brilliant walk one morning.  The air was filled with autumn.

Here is our flock of chickens, who moved up here from the Parsonage. They've never been happier.  Curiously, from the day they arrived, they started roosting in the trees rather than in their house - a habit they've never lost. A new batch of chicks has now grown up, too.

But then, at last, after travels American, I was back up to Orkney.  Nothing is better than this view of the islands first glimpsed from the plane.

Kirkwall in the soft still mist.

(this was not our plane - that one goes to the smaller islands).

This beautiful view on the drive home.

We had Julian Roberts, the graphic designer, with us, because Charlie and I are hard at work on a little book about the Dorset years. Watch this space - publication next Autumn.  We had a wonderful three days with Julian working to lay out all the pages.

By the time we got home that afternoon, the woods were in the gloaming.

A soft, grey light the next morning...

Tiny (really tiny) fungi growing in the moss on the trees in the wood - temperate rainforest, I think it's now known as!

Charlie's nature stacks, inspired by Great Dixter, are getting larger each month - like a shaggy monster in the woods, filled with bugs and creatures now.

A grey, misty walk that first day.

We'd converted the dining room into our working studio. A wonderful room to work in!

The next morning, one of those magical Orcadian mornings, the ones which we get more often than I'd imagined, and somehow had never anticipated - not a breath of wind, mirror-flat water.

The morning gave to a clear blue sky.

Charlie had taken Julian back over that morning, while I had calls that day.  We had a walk in the afternoon, as the sun was setting.

Bright sunshine the next day, my birthday, as it happened - showers sweeping through.

Amazingly, the veg garden is still going strong, and Charlie's been hard at work extending it ready for next year.

A lovely birthday walk along the cliffs that morning.

The days passed, the week moved by quickly.

Cold bright days - the cows sheltering against a sunny wall.

More flat calm days - and then we were off.

N E W   Z E A L A N D   &   A U S T R A L I A

We were headed to New Zealand for a long-overdue visit - almost two years since Charlie had last been home.  We arrived into beautiful early summer.   Here's the rose garden in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens on our first morning, in the early light.

And the wonderful native plantings.

We had a few days in Christchurch - I was catching up with all our projects there, and giving a talk to a lovely (and large!) crowd at the City Library, Tūranga, one evening. The next day, we were off on a trip south - via beautiful Mount Peel Station...

Where the giant lilies were just coming into flower...

To Craigmore Station - arriving at tea time, in time for a farm tour...

And then a walk to the wonderful caves housing early Māori drawings....

back at the Woolshed... the beauty and utility of Corrugated iron.

And back at the Homestead, such a beautiful place. Thank you Forbes & Bridgie.

The next day we set off again to Glenbrook Station on a brilliant blue-skied day.

Charlie split off back north, to stay for another few days with family - I was heading south with my client Karina, and Kim Wilkie the landscape architect.

On site in Arrowtown,

A quick hurtle into Queenstown;

A more gentle meander in old Arrowtown with its beautiful, tiny cottages.

Then to Australia - visiting sites in New South Wales.

Such beautiful landscapes and vistas.  I can never get over the scale and beauty of Australia, a country I long to explore more.  Strange to think of my dad growing up there, in Adelaide, before the Second World War.

Then we were back to Sydney for two beautiful days.

Charlie hadn't been to Vaucluse House, so we went there, before a gorgeous day lying in the sunshine and swimming at Shark Beach.

Back to central Sydney on the ferry that afternoon.

A beautiful sunrise on our last morning.

Breakfast and a swim at Bondi -

A short visit to the brilliant and absolutely beautiful Art Gallery of New South Wales - which we could explore for much longer...

And then, we were on our way back home.  The journey is so far, but it passes in its way.  We arrived early into London. Charlie was heading on up home, but we came back to the flat together so that he could shower and shed baggage.  We went for a long walk as the sun was rising.

And so we are back. Near and Far. I'm not back to Orkney until Christmas, now - just the last two weeks of the year in the office, with a lot to wrap up, as always. Charlie is back home on Rousay already, curled up with the dogs and the cat, the nights drawing in closer and closer towards the shortest day of the year.

2025 is almost over, the New Year almost here, but before we worry about that, let's settle gently towards Christmas, simultaneously the end of the year, the depth of winter, and the glimmer of new beginnings.