Back to July

We've been back from our yearly September sojourn in Belgium's west country for nearly two weeks now and I can't wait to tell you all about it.  That said, I had to go back to work straight away so I haven't even had the time to upload my photos yet. Also, I am way, way behind with blogging: no matter how hard I try, it seems nigh on impossible to get back into my old blogging rhythm. So, before I'm setting myself the pleasurable task of reliving our final holiday of the year, I need to take you back to last Summer, and more specifically the month of July.

We didn't go on any outings, so it will be mainly outfits you'll get to see here. Plus a garden update as lots of things have been happening since all signs of life had been completely obliterated from the main part of our garden in early June.

July's first week brought a temporary relief from June's heatwave temperatures, but by the time the weekend rolled along we were back into the high twenties.

On Saturday the 4th, this butterfly-sleeved dress came out to play. It's vintage C&A and I'd picked it up in the Think Twice sales for € 5 back in June.

Sunday's chocolate brown polka-dot maxi skirt came from C&A as well, but rather than vintage or even second-hand, I'd bought it brand new during one of my lunch breaks a couple of months ago. It's currently having a head-to-head race with my fuchsia tiered maxi skirt for most worn Summer skirt. It will even make a second appearance in this post!

Its companion that day was a blue King Louie blouse patterned with white dots and orange flowers, a charity shop find in September 2024. My belt, necklace and ring were all charity shopped too.

Speaking of King Louie, I found the blouse I was wearing on Wednesday the 8th of July at Think Twice earlier that week. And yes, it was yet another sales bargain. For those not in the know, the shops are having a round of sales about every 4-5 weeks, starting with 30% off and ending with all items going for the silly price of € 1. It's both a blessing and a bane to have all 5 of their Antwerp shops within walking distance from my office!

I instantly knew the blouse would go a treat with this midi skirt I purchased from the outlet shop for the Belgian Green Ice label in the small shopping centre near my place of work. 

My green stretchy belt with its bamboo buckle was a cheeky high street buy a couple of years ago and has more than earned its keep in my wardrobe by now.

We caught Bess staring intently out of the kitchen window on the morning of Thursday, the 9th of July, her whiskers twitching excitedly as she followed the shenanigans of this cheeky little creature. It patiently waited until I'd grabbed my camera, then posed willingly, looking straight at the lens with what looked like a big smile on its face. 

 

Another wardrobe stalwart is the groovilicious vintage dress I wore to deal with that day's temperature, which had once again reached 30°C.

I paid € 4 for it at Think Twice back in June 2017 and when I walked into the shop wearing it a couple of days later I was stopped by a lady who told me she'd been dithering over the dress but didn't buy it as she didn't have a clue how to style it! 

Surely that's easy-peasy! As usual, I echoed both colours of the flowers with a pink raffia brooch, pink plastic ring and orange necklace and belt.

I'm skipping Friday, as no outfit photos were taken that day, to arrive on Saturday the 11th of July.

With the weather gods still having no mercy on us, I opted for a skirt and blouse combo in cotton and viscose.

The navy, flower sprinkled skirt was another vintage C&A treasure from Think Twice, while the blouse, with its mid-century style pattern - you can see a close-up here - was a charity shop find.

Meanwhile, our garden was definitely coming into its own, both with the new additions I planted to kickstart its resurrection and those of the old stalwarts which had survived the ordeal.

The Rudbeckia (top right and bottom left) was one of our new buys. It is still going strong to this day despite having spent the entire Summer in a planter. Together with Helenium 'Moerheim Beauty' (top left and bottom right) it has provided sunshine on even the cloudiest of days. Not that there were that many ot those, I hasten to add. 

In spite of the heat of the day, it had been a productive one as, apart from ticking off a list of chores, we'd booked our passage on LeShuttle in the morning and drove to the garden centre for more treasures for our garden in the afternoon.

The next week saw a continuation of the latest heatwave, the mercury consistently climbing into the low thirties.

I was trying to give the garden a run for its money on Tuesday the 14th of July, when I wore this floral extravaganza of a maxi skirt - another sales bargain from C&A which has been gracing my wardrobe since May 2022 - combined with a charity shopped fiery orange cotton blouse from the upmarket Belgian Gigue label. It wasn't the first time they were worn together and I'm sure it won't be the last!

Two days later it was the turn of another beloved vintage favourite: a 1950s cotton Summer dress.

Plucked from the Think Twice rails back in June 2019, it has been a Summer staple ever since. For many years, I thought its background colour was black, but it's actually a very dark navy blue!

By Friday, it had thankfully cooled down to a much more bearable 25°C.

Being a non-office day, I had time to play dress-up, rather than hastily assemble an outfit or wear one I've prepared in advance. That day, the giraffe print skirt I charity shopped in June 2025 caught my eye. I've got a bit of a thing for chocolate brown lately and it does go surprisingly well with lots of items in my wardrobe. The top that made the grade that day is by King Louie and was a charity shop find back in May 2022. My belt, necklace and tomato-red sandals were all high street finds.

It was a lovely surprise to see the splash of fiery orange supplied by Crocosmia 'Carmine Brilliant' (above, top right), which we planted back in the Summer of 2020 and which we thought had gone for good.

Having joined our garden one year later, Clematis 'Guernsey Cream', with its big saucer-like flowers (below, top left), decided to join the party too, even if it only produced the one flower. 

 

Phlox 'Sweet Summer Wine' (above, bottom left and right) is another one we planted back in 2021. After having done a disappearing act in the last couple of years, it clearly felt the time was right for a comeback. It's currently a mass of vibrant magenta flowers!

Finally, it looks like the next generation of foxgloves is ready for next year (above, top right).

The mercury didn't climb higher than 20°C on Sunday, when I joined my friend Inez for drinks and a long overdue catch-up at our usual haunt in the village.

My swishy pleated green and white zig-zaggy maxi skirt was charity shopped last Summer. It's an absolute delight to wear although I do have to refrain from wearing it to work as it tends to get eaten by the wheels of my office chair! I paired it with a flowery vintage blouse and pink and green accessories.

No outfit photos were taken during the following week until Friday the 24th, when I had to go into the office for a couple of hours as my colleague was on holiday.

My chocolate brown polka-dot maxi skirt from C&A made another appearance, this time combined with a multi-coloured zig-zag patterned t-shirt which caught my eye in a charity shop in the Summer of 2024. I was wearing the same dusky pink belt I wore with Sunday's outfit, and a necklace bought from Accessorize back the mists of time.

We woke up to a grey and gloomy day on Sunday the 23rd, with a couple of short-lived but very welcome showers on the menu during the day.

I fell head over heels for the skirt, which I snapped up at the silly price of € 5 from Think Twice back in June. For its first outing, I wore it with a nautical style knitted top from the Belgian Who's That Girl label, bought brand new from their shop about a decade ago. My accessories, as usual, were a mix of new and new-to-me. 

Slowly but surely, the Boston Ivy - cut back completely on that fateful June day - is starting to clothe our boring old concrete shed again. 

Don't worry, we're no longer using these watering cans as their bottoms have rusted through. As they're purely for decoration purposes now, we don't mind them getting marooned by the Boston Ivy. The black thing in the middle of the table is a solar lantern, its filigreed sides throwing magical shadow after dark.

In true yo-yo fashion, temperatures were on the rise again by Wednesday when they day's highs of 29°C demanded I wear another one of my heatwave-proof frocks. This cotton Grace & Mila maxi - yet another charity shop find - provides additional ventilation with its floaty butterfly sleeves!

This post's final outfit was worn on Friday the 31st of July. My floral cotton dress in delicious shades of blue and green was a Think Twice find in May 2021 and for some incomprehensible reason I hadn't worn it in years. It's good thing I hadn't thrown it out after a year of being unworn as advised by the fashion police! It's not going anywhere any time soon!

I've got a final garden update for you as well. I'm sure it won't come as a complete surprise that our tiny garden pond had suffered from the ongoing neglect. A couple of weeks earlier I'd made the effort to empty its contents - a compact and very stubborn mass of dried mud - and filled it again with fresh well water. As a joke, I added two yellow plastic ducks, a gift from Jos's younger daughter when we moved into Dove Cottage back in 1999. They don't seem to like each other much, though :-)

But I simply cannot bid you goodbye without imparting some good news. Last week Jos had another CT-scan, the results of which we got on Thursday. I'm sure you can imagine what a relief it was to hear that everything is stable! He doesn't need any further treatment for the moment and is only due back at the hospital for his next scan in January!

Meanwhile, I hope to be back with the first installment of my west country travelogue shortly, and I solemnly promise to be visiting your lovely blogs soon!

Back to the UK - Part 2

 Hello, and welcome to the second part of my UK travelogue!

We've reached Monday, the 10th of August when, after a leisurely start to the day, we were ready for another little adventure. With the weather gods gearing up for what would ultimately be the hottest day in the UK later that week, we were thankful for the temporary drop in temperature to a more bearable 27°C.  This we judged to be the perfect opportunity to make a return visit to Royal Tunbridge Wells after we'd last been there back in the mists of time 2005.

Truus, our Satnav, was well-behaved for once, and brought us to the Upper Pantiles car park without any issues. There, it seemed that all parking spaces with the tiniest bit of shade were reserved for hotel guests, so that there was nothing for it but to park in full sunshine. 

From here, it was just a couple of minutes walk to the Pantiles, although it took us some time to cross the traffic heavy road separating us from the town's most-visited landmark.

The Pantiles are a historic Georgian colonnaded walkway, its Upper Walk lined with cafes, bars and restaurants, while the Lower Walk is home to a range of high-end boutiques

In 1698, Princess Anne, who was a frequent visitor to the Wells - more about these in a minute - gave £100 to have the Upper Walk paved after her son, the Duke of Gloucester, slipped and fell whilst playing. When she returned the following year nothing had been done and she left never to return.

Eventually both Walks were paved with Pantiles which were clay tiles baked in a pan. 

The Pantiles is also where you’ll find the Chalybeate Spring, the iconic spring discovered in 1606 that put the town on the map. 

The Chalybeate Spring (pronounced ka-lee-bee-at) water contains iron, manganese, zinc and calcium in extraordinarily high volumes. It has been claimed that the water has rejuvenating properties, helping to cure hangovers, stomach ailments and even infertility!

In fact, in 1629, Her Majesty the Queen of England came to enjoy the waters – quickly followed by finding herself pregnant with Charles II! Eventually, in 1909, King Edward VII granted Tunbridge Wells its Royal title to commemorate its long-standing royal connection.

On the occasion of the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023, a new brand of spring water was introduced: Royal TW Spring Water.  Available to buy in glass bottles from the vending machine (above, top left), it includes natural, sparkling and botanically-infused varieties.

According to the town's website, it takes 20 minutes to walk from one end of the town to the other, which is something we often did back in the days when we were 20-odd years younger. It took a bit more of an effort this time around, particularly as part of the way is slightly uphill. At one point, I left Jos sitting on a bench, while I went ahead to see how much further our destination was. 

Ever since I'd learned of its existence, I was determined to have lunch at Tunbridge Well's branch of Wetherspoons. This was originally built as an opera house, opening in 1902 and becoming a cinema in 1931. About 40 years later, it made the transition into a bingo hall and then finally, into a pub after it was purchased by J D Wetherspoon in 1996. It was tastefully restored it to its former glory including the stage, stalls, circle and boxes. Since 2006, they are even hosting annual opera performances.

My photos definitely doesn't do the venue justice as, having accidentally left my camera behind at the cottage, I had to make do with my phone's camera.

After lunch, we ditched our plans to do some proper shopping and made our way back to the Pantiles, stopping for a browse at a handful of charity shops along the way. Then, after a final round of cappuccinos on the terrace of a Pantiles coffee bar, we returned to the cottage.

The weather on Tuesday was almost a carbon copy of Monday's, with a deep blue, almost cloudless sky and temperatures reaching the high twenties. 

On the menu that day was a visit to Hever Castle, just under half an hour's drive from our cottage. 

The contrast with our previous visit, on a rainy Sunday afternoon in July 2004, couldn't have been greater. Apart from the weather, it was definitely a lot busier now, smack dab in the middle of high season. Arriving at the car park, there was a sea of cars already parked in the grassy field, with a handful of parking assistants giving directions as to where to leave our car. 

Having paid for our tickets, we admired the impressive Loggia, overlooking the 38-acre lake, before venturing into the Italian garden with its Pompeian Wall and classical statuary, all part of the 125 acres of glorious grounds at Hever Castle, and one of the most spectacular gardens to visit in Kent. 

I'm sure it would all look even more spectacular set amid fresh green lawns instead of the semi desert these had been turned into courtesy of the relentless succession of heatwaves this Summer had in store for us. 

I was charmed by the so-called Blue Corner (above, top left), a rockery garden where the predominant colour is - you've guessed it - blue. The plants are concentrated around huge rocks and a set of steps (see outfit photo below) and include blue hydrangeas, ceanothus and blue seasonal perennials.

Although there was so much more of the gardens to explore, it was nearing midday and our stomachs demanded that we stopped for lunch. Silly us hadn't brought a picnic, or even a bottle of water to drink, so thankfully we weren't too far from the Guthrie Pavilion. Here, we ordered egg mayonnaise sandwiches and cappuccinos, plus a sweet treat for afters. 

Then we were ready to continue our explorations, but not before taking outfit photos in the Blue Corner.

My Missoni-esque zig-zag patterned skirt came out of my suitcase again, combined with a drapey black patterned top by Rhétorique, charity shopped about two years ago. My Clarks sandals - bought in Shropshire back in 2018 - were the only footwear I would wear that week.

We started walking into the direction of the castle, which was once the  childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I.

The romantic double-moated 14th Century castle formed the backdrop to a sequence of tumultuous events that changed the course of Britain’s history, monarchy and religion, making it one of the most fascinating castles in Kent.

Its panelled rooms house fine furniture, tapestries, antiques and what is regarded by some as one of the best collections of Tudor portraits after the National Portrait Gallery.  

Today, much of what you see is the result of the remarkable efforts of William Waldorf Astor, who used his fortune to restore and extend the castle in the early 20th Century.

The fact that it was quite busy - more often than not, there were queues for entering certain rooms - made photography a difficult exercise, particularly if like me you don't want people in your photos, the odd exception notwithstanding!

Lacking the patience for using audio guides, we just roamed at will, preferring to buy a guide book which we could later leaf through at ease. 

It is traditionally believed that Henry VIII visited the Castle on several occasions during his courtship with Anne Boleyn, though it is doubtful that he ever spent the night considering the small size of the castle as well as his ownership of Penshurst Place, located a mere 3 miles to the north.

Now, let it be so that Penshurst Place was next on our itinerary, and our destination for Wednesday the 12th of August. The weather gods were having a dress rehearsal for Thursday, which would officially be declared the hottest day of the year in the UK. For starters, they'd cranked up the thermostat to a sizzling 32°C.

Once again, Penshurst Place is somewhere we'd been before, in July 2004. I'd forgotten to take note of the temperature in that year's travel journal, but I'm sure it wasn't anywhere near this hot. That said, judging from our photo album, the sky definitely matched this year's.

Trying to keep as much to the shade as possible, we ventured into the garden, where we were captivated by the sight of the 14th Century turreted manor house peeking out above the hedge, with the lily pad covered pond in the foreground.

We briefly stopped to get our bearings, perusing the estate map while sitting on a stone bench in a shady corner. 

As you can see, I was wearing my tiered fuchsia maxi skirt again. A Think Twice find back in March 2025, it has more than earned its keep by now. Its companion this time was an orange and pink patterned cotton top by Belgian label Mer du Nord, charity shopped in May 2022.

Having had another late start that morning, it didn't take long for our stomachs to remind us that it was time for lunch, for which we returned to the Porcupine Pantry Café, which is situated just outside the property itself next to the ticket office. There, we ordered cheese and ham sandwiches, which came with a complimentary packet of crisps. 

Thus fortified, we made our way towards the manor house, again keeping to the shade wherever possible, as it had become unbearably hot by then. Once the  property of King Henry VIII, who used it as a hunting lodge, the house was left to his son King Edward VI and granted to Sir William Sidney in 1552. The Sidney family have been in continuous occupation for more than 470 years since, making it one of the oldest family-owned estates in England. 

If at first we were mystified by the café's name, the penny dropped when I noticed the carved porcupine plaque in the wall and found out that the porcupine is part of the Sidney family crest. 

Before entering the house proper, we paid a visit to the small but perfectly formed Toy Museum in the courtyard. The collection consists of around 2000 items, with pieces dating from the Georgian period to the 1980s. Its undisputed star is the Drinking Bear, a 1920s automaton made by Roullet & Decamps of Paris, for which 2 p coins were generously distributed by the museum's warden.

The manor house is entered via the Baron’s Hall, which is at the very heart of Penshurst Place.

Belonging to the original part of the house, the Hall was completed in 1341 and features a magnificent chestnut roof, arcaded windows, a 16th century Minstrel’s Gallery and unique octagonal hearth.

It was mercifully cool inside, so we might have lingered a bit longer. At regular intervals seats were provided for Jos to make use of while I took in the details of the various rooms.

The Queen Elizabeth Room (above, top right), named after Queen Elizabeth I, who often held audience there during her many visits to Penshurst Place, has a remarkable display of early upholstered furniture. It was one of the first additions to the original house in the early 15th century.

Once the withdrawing room of the medieval house and where the family would retreat for some privacy, the West Solar (above, bottom left) contains an interesting collection of family portraits,  furniture and porcelain.

We wandered along the magnificent Elizabethan Long Gallery (above, bottom left) full of royal and family portraits. The wing that includes the Long Gallery was started in 1599. Long Galleries were very fashionable at the time and were used for exercise and showing off portraits, tapestries and furniture.

Penshurst Place is a popular filming location for historical dramas and television series. The costumes on display on the bottom right were used in Wolf Hall (2015),  a British television series adaptation of the book trilogy of the same name by the late Hilary Mantel.

Located in the 15th Century Buckingham Building, the so-called Victorian Kitchen – with its high ceilings and flagstone floor – was used as the main kitchen for Penshurst Place from at least the 1800’s through to 1950. Now carefully restored, it provides a snapshot in time of how a traditional kitchen in a large private house would have been used, plus insight into the roles of the household staff on a country estate.

After a final round of refreshments at the Porcupine Pantry café, it was time to return to the cottage.

And then Thursday, our final day, dawned, bringing along temperatures which would climb to the mid-thirties and beyond, making it the hottest day of the year in the UK. 

Now, what to do? Well, we actually spent a large portion of the day in a blissfully airconditioned shopping centre in Tunbridge Wells, as we had some shopping to do.

To make up for the fact that we would be going home the next day, I treated myself to a couple of naughty purchases at Monsoon, all at 70% off! I wore the gingham maxi on our journey home on Friday.

A quick look at what I was wearing on Thursday. Funnily enough, both the skirt and the top were charity shopped in the UK. If the skirt looks familiar, it's because it featured in my previous post as one of my finds in the charity shop in Wadhurst on our first day.

Well, that was it. In the meantime, our bags are packed again, as we will be leaving for our usual week in Belgium's west country on Sunday!

See you on the other side!