This time, with images!

Great Dixter id a medieval manor house, much adapted by the architect Lutyens in the 1930s. The owners created a superb garden, continued by their son, the late distinguished gardening writer Christopher Lloyd.

His maxim was that flowers should be so thick that no earth is visible at all. Great Dixter is well worth a visit if you are near Rye.

A few pics from our recent short tour of England - we normally go abroad but needed to stay in England for family reasons.

A selection of images taken at different times, that I have cropped outrageously. So outrageously, in fact, that Zaplife wouldn't let me upload them until had made them taller

Rila monastery is an absolute gem. This is the 2nd time we've been there - there is a campsite 15 minutes walk away. and it's as good the second time as the first. Photography is not permitted inside the church, but there's enough outside to keep a photographer busy. Entry is free. The last Bulgarian king is buried there, poisoned only a week after meeting Hitler. The paintings are lavish, and they seem particularly keen on pictures of hell (and the same is true in Romanian monasteries).A couple of the images are included in my first set, but I wanted to make this set complete and standalone.
The details of our 2 months driving round the Balkans are here: www.pippins.me.uk Albania was really the target of our trip, Bulgaria just happened to be on the way home. (NB, we LOVED Albania.)

I have recently (July 2012) returned from a 2 month motorhome circuit of the Balkans: Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria & Romania (plus all the countries to and from the UK). This is a selection of my best pics. The full set can be seen on www.pippins.me.uk
Romania has long been my favourite country, and we particularly like Montenegro and Albania. The jury is out on Bulgaria