The start of the month found me in East Sussex, in glorious weather, staying with friends and taking a trip to lovely Lewes, lunching in the garden and then walking over the fields to a wine festival. We sat on straw bales and sampled wines from four local vineyards, then went home to eat paella in the garden. Glorious!

Back in Kent, it was time for a trip to Goodnestone, to see it at its finest, with the broad borders bursting with colour.

At home, the roses were coming into their own (top and below), and the alternate-leaved buddleia was attracting a lot of comment, mainly for its glorious honeyed scent.

The family arrived for the weekend and although the weather wasn’t lovely enough to eat our meals in the garden, as we had at Easter, we got out to the French Food Festival in Sandwich and took a trip to the seafront at Deal. Ellis hadn’t been well, but was just starting to walk and perked up enough to be walked around (backbreaking work…)

A special birthday celebration (not mine) in the middle of the month took 40 of us to Sandown Racecourse, where I was lucky enough to make £3 profit, betting on seven races! We had the rooftop Champagne Bar to ourselves, although sadly the weather wasn’t kind.

The garden liked the rain, even if the roses took a beating. They soon bounced back under bright blue skies!

I received large-print copies of my first book, ‘Ella’s Journey’, with a new cover design. And it was back to London for the fourth time in the month, to catch up with my daughter, newly arrived from India, and Ellis. A sunny afternoon in the Bunny Park, followed the next day by a picnic in Walpole Park in 34 degrees!

Just a bit too hot for me so I endured the tube to reach an air-conditioned train back to Kent, in time to take a walk around Deal Open Gardens for the National Garden Scheme on the last day of the month.