Day 3: Sissinghurst Castle & Garden
We set sail for Dover last night around 10pm and as we were getting up around 7am we were docking with the iconic "White Cliffs of Dover" right outside our balcony (see the banner above, shot from our balcony). After breakfast we were scheduled to get on the bus for the trip to Sissinghurst Castle, which is a European manor estate originally built in the 1500s at 10am. We were there about fifteen minutes early, but as it turned out the bus was stuck in morning traffic and we were an hour late leaving, so we did not get back until about 3:45pm. But both Kim and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around for nearly three hours while enjoying the coolish-65 degree weather and enjoying the day in the English countryside. If you were to picture in your mind what an olde English country estate looked like with formal garden AND vegetable garden, that's what we saw today....including the original moat that surrounded the homestead. One of the highlights came when Kim and I climbed the many, MANY, M-A-N-Y steps of the spiral staircase in the tower to enjoy a view from the top (and it was an ideal photo-op). Probably the most interesting story of the day was that we were told that in this area there is a "no dig" policy for farming and gardening. What they do each planting season is they ADD at least two inches of top-soil and compost to "bury" last year's growth and then plan in the new top layer of soil. More environmentally friendly! Tomorrow is a full day at sea before arriving in Ireland the next day, enjoy today's photos......
One additional highlight for me.....during the night as we were sailing, one of MY horses - I am a part owner through the MyRacehorse group - Seismic Beauty ran in southern California at Del Mar race track. She is a highly regarded 2yo filly that we have high hopes for. She was sensational yesterday winning easily, leading Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to remark afterwards that today's race saw her so much better than her competition that it was like a "paid workout" and that he believes she is very promising and is excited to see her grown into a top notch 3yo next winter and spring!
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