Dining with faded elegance

The good thing about spending some time over the weekend sorting and editing photos is that I got to relive quite a lot of our holiday to Barbados just before Christmas. I could feel the virtual sun, remember the spiritual-ness of our visit to Hunte’s Garden all while the March weather here did its thing. I’ve said this before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but Hunte’s Garden was an amazing place, and spending time working on the photos from our visit reminded me just how special it is.

We booked a driver to take us to the gardens, and while the island isn’t large it was about a forty minute drive from where we were staying. What we hadn’t realised when we negotiated a price was that our driver would stay there while we spent time in the gardens. He said it was a favourite place of his too, and when life was getting too much it was a favourite place to spend some time. And he wasn’t wrong.

Even at the entrance to the garden I knew we were in for something special, and I wasn’t wrong either. I’ll share more on the garden another day, but today after we walked down and around and back up and along exploring the garden we headed towards the house. Neither of us expected to find such a stunning dining room, which was full of faded elegance, with a tropical flavour that we’d come to expect even in our short time exploring the garden.

I think it looks more overrun or faded than it actually is. The roof generally looked to be functioning as a roof should but it was set as if it could almost be ready for a party, and what a party that would be. The garden sold its own rum, and that would help any party go with a swing. After we’d explored the garden, we thought it only right and proper to try the local rum and sit on the verandah and pretend the garden was ours…

From the floral tea set - more tea Vicar? - to the bird cage and other curios, everything felt as if it was in the right place.

Even the plants inviting themselves in through the gaps where the corrugated sheeting goes, and the open window.

Quite a random space, to discover set apart from the house, but still quite a special one. Hopefully once I share some more of the garden, you’ll be as awestruck as me.

Floral street art in Lyon

Shortly after I wrote the previous post, I found myself relenting and looking through my recent photos to see which inspired me. I was looking for some flowery posts, and colour is a little few and far between, but then I spotted this floral street art and an idea started to form.

They’re flowers. It’s Friday. Sorted.

I am sure there is much more symbolism than I’m picking up in the photo below, but that isn’t what makes me smile. Look to the lion’s head, just right of the drainpipe. That’s what made me chuckle, even while I was taking the photo.

But this wasn’t the only floral street art we saw on our wanders around the city. The one below again is inventive, and features a series of floral tributes and hearts, looked over by some tiny figures. Who knows? I don’t, but I can admire its quirkiness.

As we wandered around a different part of the town on Valentine’s Day - a part of town that was uphill and full of steps, which I was fed up with. I rerouted MOH around one of the gentler inclines and that’s when we spotted our red roses. The street art carried along the concrete retaining wall, and was quite an improvement.

The rosebuds popped out the other side of the sprawling bushes too, clearly some thought had gone into this piece of art.

The loos in a shed

The variety of photographable loos continues to amaze me. Who’d have thought loos in a shed would be a thing, and a thing I’d photograph. But I have.

There’s plenty more loos I wouldn’t include here, because there’s no reason to, but I am finding more and more loos to feature in the Loo Series, perhaps I’m more attuned to them, perhaps there are more than I thought, who knows?

These loos are the second Bajan loos - the first were in the glorious Hunte’s Gardens, and yes I know I’ve not shared pictures of the actual gardens here yet, and like the gardens have a different feel.

Painted in pastel shades, the shed wasn’t just any old shed either, definitely a step up from the more usual creosoted garden variety.

Maybe the yellow walls helped. I’m almost certain that was the standard colour of my childhood bedroom, which was regularly repainted to freshen it up. I think dad’s yellow paint supply has long been used up, but maybe there’s a tin lurking.

The polite notice did make me smile, and it’s always good to see reminders that we all need to take care of our energy usage.

At one end of the shed was the ladies, with the gents at the other. The door signs matching the character of the island, its people, the gardens and the decor.

All in all a ‘pretty in pastel’ shed, with a completely functional use, that was very welcome after a long explore of the garden in thirty degree heat, and after all the water we drank to try to keep our cool!

The gardens and it’s plants were just as spectacular, with our last view of the garden (before the loos in the shed) looking like this.

A perfect match, and a perfect place to sit and enjoy a nice long drink of mango juice - the garden views, not the loos!