The month started with a writing research trip to see the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital in Westbrook, on the edge of Margate, the focus of part of the sixth book that I’m writing. A fascinating building, now turned into flats, but once home to a sea bathing cure for the consumptive poor of London. The hospital was open for part of the year only, as the cure involved sleeping outside and spending as much time as possible in the open air – as well as sea bathing, long before the days when this was a tourist activity.

A few days later, my middle son got married in London, with the ceremony at Islington Town Hall, followed by a prosecco-fuelled Routemaster ride through London to the venue, canal-side in Hackney Wick in an area surrounded by street art (with some inside, too). An amazing day in an amazing place – still waiting to see the ‘official’ photos but there were plenty of smartphone snaps to keep us going until then.

Back home, I gave a whistle stop tour of the surrounding area to visitors from London and the US, culminating in dinner at The Pig in Bridge Place, just outside Canterbury. What a fabulous venue – the interior of the hotel is just amazing. Dating back to the 1600s, it has been through a few different incarnations, the recent restoration costing several million pounds. I could imagine settling into one of the cosy sitting rooms and being inspired to write a few thousand words… It’s winning plenty of plaudits and I just wish I’d taken more photos of the interior – the veg garden is apparently stunning, too, but it was dark when I was there! It’s in a beautiful pastoral setting – (photos courtesy of Tom and Alina Levy).

It was a little difficult to get back to normal after all the excitement, but the weather decided it was time for its last hurrah, and the Deal Braderie, blessed with a hot sunny Sunday, drew the crowds. A street or two away, the sea sparkled peacefully under blue skies.

The garden put on its final show of roses and salvias in perfect September light, even as the apples were being picked in the orchards and the berries were mutiplying against the brightest of blue skies (top).

The Canterbury Food Fair took place over the last weekend of the month, on a Saturday of lovely sunshine and a Sunday of rainier skies, but the uncertain weather didn’t deter the crowds. There was plenty to feast on – Korean, Italian, Greek, Venezuelan, Spanish, Argentinian (I may have made that last one up…) but whatever you thought you might like to eat (or drink) – it was there!

Weatherwise, it was a bit of mixed month although I will remember it as very hot, for I left a rather changeable UK for a week in Italy, where the temperature was ’36 degrees, feels like 46 degrees’ for pretty much the whole time. First stop was Pisa, for the obligatory leaning tower photos and a wander around the Baptistry and Cathedral.

Next stop Florence, by train the following morning. We had a room with quite a view (top), but we spent little time there – too much to see and too little time to see it. We lunched from the very busy collection of food stalls above the central food market, on a mix of arancini, burrata salad and Italian-style dim sum before visiting the Basilica of San Lorenzo, where key members of the Medici family were buried (below left and centre).  After a while spent wandering the streets, the crowds and the heat made me glad of the sanctuary of the church Santissima Annunziata – a highlight of Florence for me, for we stumbled into it unawares from the baking hot piazza outside. It was not only a refuge from the sun but quite spectacular – there’s a simple atrium (although not without frescoes), then we stepped into a totally ornate space, baroque and gilded at every turn and scented with incense (below right).

An Aperol Spritz nearby did little to help me lose my resemblance to a lobster, so it was back to the hotel for a shower before venturing out again for a pre-booked evening slot at the Accadamia, to see David (can’t seem to upload the photo – censored by the blog site, perhaps…) and a seemingly huge collection of blonde Virgin and Child images, as well as many Annunciations. It was an early lesson that with so much art to see in Florence, it is perhaps best to view it in small, focussed chunks.

Our guide on a walking tour of Florence the next morning said much the same thing – she gave us a run-down of the early history of the Medicis while showing us the key buildings of their reign (Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio interior below), and the fascinating corridor that crosses the city from the Palazzo Vecchio, across the Ponte Vecchio (surely destined to collapse into the Arno under the sheer volume of tourists), ending at the church of Santa Felicita. She advised us that it was best to prioritise in the Uffizi, another pre-booked slot for the afternoon – deciding on the main things we wanted to see and sticking to them.

After lunching in the Piazza Santo Spirito, we rather lost sight of that advice and mounted a whistle stop tour of the gallery, torn between admiring the wonderful ceilings and the art on the walls.

The crowds in front of Botticelli’s Primavera and Birth of Venus, intent on taking selfies rather than looking at the paintings, might have been chastened on reaching the lower floor where an installation featured a smartphone video of tourists in front of the Botticelli, and their antics with their phones. I felt a little embarrassed at having snapped some of my favourite images, but I’m glad I did as it allowed me to look at them again in a more peaceful setting. Less laudable is not always being sure who painted them – but the young man below is by Botticelli, the lady in the white gown is Flora by Titian, (or Tiziano) and the rather severe lady in the red gown is by Bronzino.

Florence continued to delight, with a morning spent learning how to make fresh pasta (and gnocchi) in the company of 8 other delightful novices and a few glasses of prosecco. We ate our creations, accompanied by more wine, before heading back to the hotel for a lie down. We ventured out later to struggle (in my case) up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset, accompanied by several hundred others.

After Florence, we moved on to Bologna and had a quieter couple of days. On our first evening we explored the streets then, as darkness fell, settled down to watch the open air cinema set up in the Piazza Maggiore: ‘Girl with a Suitcase’, a black-and-white film with Claudia Cardinale. We eked out our Aperol Spritz and sat on in a bar with a prime view – the temperature was just about perfect around 11pm.

On a walking tour the next day we discovered the canals of Bologna as well as churches and a kind of merchant’s hall tucked in around the streets – I returned later for a peek inside.

I sampled Tagliatelle Ragu – the original spaghetti bolognese – and very delicious it was, too. It was only the third dish of pasta on the holiday, and I failed to eat any pizza (although I did manage a couple of ice creams…) Although pasta was the main offering everywhere, we ate quite an eclectic mix including Indian food and delicious humous and salads in Florence, aperitivo snacks instead of dinner one evening in Bologna – and drank some interesting wine (a Vermentino that I never managed to surpass on Via dei Conti in Florence.)

Back to the UK and some changeable weather, but it was lovely to spend some time with the grandson both at home and then, a few days later, in London.

Returning from London with a guest who was coming to spend a few days in Kent, we stopped off at Wisley on a day that saw the start of a very hot spell.

The weather was perfect for a trip to Margate and the Turner Contemporary the next day, followed by Deal and Walmer the next.

We watched an evening performance of ‘Sense & Sensibility’ performed in the glorious setting of Goodnestone House, accompanied by a picnic, while dragonflies swooped over us, followed by bats and even an owl as dusk fell.

The heat hung on for a few days longer but Autumn seems to have arrived quite suddenly and as I’m writing this, I’m wondering whether it could be time to start putting the heating on …

It barely seems five minutes since I was writing about June! This month, it’s mostly about gardens – my own, Goodnestone, Hidcote and Kiftsgate – as well as the seaside. I started the month killing most of a day in Canterbury while I waited for my car to be serviced. Wandering around the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge (always a great place to dip into) I found the fascinating collection of doll’s house furniture – I so loved my doll’s house when I was small. I spent the rest of the glorious day in Westgate Gardens down by the river, where the borders would be the envy of any grand garden – very inspirational planting. I also read most of The Salt Path, by Raynor Winn – finishing it off when I got home!

That weekend, I joined a hen party for my daughter-in-law-to-be, in London – a chocolate workshop (helped along by prosecco and a chocolate martini) followed by a Middle Eastern meal with a belly dancing accompaniment… I was very pleased with my chocolates – delicious if not exactly professional! I caught the train home before the clubbing began…

My garden at home was bursting with roses – the striking pink one is in the car park border, the white one studded with salvia is at the back. And for the first time ever, I managed to grow some sweet peas.

Goodnestone was looking lovely as ever, the lavender a particular highlight on this visit, taken in with friends before we headed for Sandwich Folk Festival.

I visited my sister and her husband in Cheltenham later in the month and we went to Hidcote and Kiftsgate gardens, right beside each other in the Cotswolds. They are both very beautiful in their own ways – Hidcote full of different garden rooms, each with their own characters, borders as wide as some gardens I have owned!

Kiftsgate was on a smaller scale, but with the drama of a great slope sweeping down to a half-moon pool – with a view. And the recent addition of a new pool set within high yew hedges, the pool black-painted and holding leaf sculptures that are actually fountains.

Back home, with my daughter visiting, it was time to enjoy the sea breezes at the coast, paddling off the old hovercraft slipway in Pegwell Bay, and strolling along to the pier in Deal. The shingle beach at Walmer (top) was a delight for another day in the month.

The sun was sulking when I was back in London looking after Ellis for 48 hours, solo for the first time. He was as delightful as ever, even if he did decide to hide his shoes causing consternation when we needed to go out! The first time he luckily didn’t need to walk anywhere, the second time I searched everywhere and – just as I was about to give up and abandon the trip to the park – I spotted the missing sandal (on top of a radiator, behind the dining table…).

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.

I’m writing this on a June day, so wet and cool that I’m trying to decide whether I can justify putting the heating back on! I can see from my photos that May, too, was a mixed month, weatherwise. But when the sun did come out, it made the garden put on a growth spurt.

I paid a visit to Godinton House near Ashford – it’s a house with a fascinating story, set in lovely parkland with formal and informal planting. Had to dodge the showers, though.

I managed to fit in some grandson time with Ellis in London on my way up to the midlands for a catch up with long-standing friends, before heading further north to Harrogate for a couple of days at the invitation of another friend. There was time for a couple of country walks and a visit to Harlow Carr gardens, before an evening spent chatting to her lovely book group.

Two days later, I was back home to give another talk – this time in the imposing setting of the Jury Room in Sandwich Guildhall – on the part played by gardens and the landscape in my writing.

Still on the subject of writing, I completed Book Five and had a little break from it before starting the edits – the sun was shining for a visit to Dane John Gardens in Canterbury.

The sun kindly stayed out for a weekend visitor – we headed to the Salutation gardens (top), where we saw bronze iris (am I imagining that it was this year’s Chelsea Flower Show thing?) And there was an amazing dragonfly – a yellow one – which I’m told is a broad-bodied chaser. At first I thought it was a giant hornet! Apparently it’s pretty common and the males turn a chalky blue colour (I’ve definitely seen them at the pond in Goodnestone Gardens).

The next day found us in Margate where there was a Mods festival to see as well as the Turner Contemporary, and the day after that we took a trip to Deal.

It was Ramsgate harbour on Bank holiday Monday, the Belle Vue hotel and then a clifftop walk in Pegwell Bay where sainfoin (a plant I haven’t seen in a while) was plentiful on the chalky soil.

At the end of the month, the foxgloves were flourishing and the garden was having a purple phase.

And another trip to the Salutation gardens produced super-sized poppies and more purple, in the form of a rather spectacular iris.

The month opened with a visit to the Salutation Gardens – the sky was grey-white but the tulips, daffodils, wood anemones and flowering currant made up for the lack of sunshine.

I was so thrilled to get this lovely review for Book 3, Sarah’s Story, that I typed it up and pinned it to the wall in front of my writing desk to remind me why I write.

I spent two days looking after my favourite small person in London – we had a trip to the park each day and we did so much playing back at home that I had bruised knees from crawling around after him!

Back home again, my tulips at the front of the house had been battered by the wind but their fabulous colours drew lots of compliments. And they lasted for ages – thank you Peter Nyssen nurseries.

In the back garden, a few Pheasant’s Eye narcissi popped up, and lots of forget-me-nots in different shades of blue, as well as pink. And the pear blossom was out in the orchard.

The weather at Easter was absolutely glorious. Ellis came to visit (with his Mum and Dad) and we had breakfast and lunch in the garden each day. We really only left home to visit the new local playground, just across the field.

Ellis was frustrated by his shiny new cars on Easter Sunday – until he discovered what they were made of. His first taste of chocolate! And we got some toys down from the loft – including a tray with legs that must be thirty years old and once belonged to his Uncle Jack!

The end of the month brought the flowers that I call snub-nose daffodils – they remind me of the 1930s and Clarice Cliff pottery for some reason! The quince blossomed in the garden, the hawthorn started to bloom in sheltered spots and the apple blossom appeared in the orchards. And I found this log bench, returning to nature, on a walk at Quex house.

At the end of the month, I took a trip up to London for lunch in Hampstead with four lovely ladies who all went to the same university as me in the ’70s. I shared a house with three of them. There was so much to talk (and laugh) about that lunch took four hours!

After a glorious end to February, March was a more changeable month (and one sadly bedevilled by insomnia). There were plenty of signs of spring, though – the lambs were in the fields, the blossom looked lovely against blue-washed skies and the Stour sparkled in the sunshine.

The beginning of the month found me in London for Ellis’s official birthday party – the cake, courtesy of his auntie, was fabulous. And it was a chance for me to do some storytelling, as usual!

I visited Margate a couple of times, under blue skies (top) and grey, once for book research and the second time for my own family research. Turns out I have an ancestor called Pendred Pegden – now there’s a name that belongs in a book!

Back in London we had a cousins and second cousins get-together – and some wonderful biscuits that looked too good to eat.

At home, the spring flowers popped up in the garden and there were celandines and violets along the lane. And I disturbed my first-ever garden frog when I did some rather brutal weeding and border clearance.

Back to London for Mother’s Day and more cuddles – only rarely tolerated now as there is too much playing to do!

Half of February was spent in Goa, in temperatures around 34 degrees, with nothing to do except relax, swim, eat, drink, shop – and repeat.

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days there with the grandson before he flew home.

Then there was yoga by the pool and the boutique night market.

River views from The Lazy Goose after a wonderful lunch for ten.

A sightseeing day in Old Goa and at the spice plantation.

Agonda beach with cows at sunset and the bird (and monkey) trip that I missed out on last time.

Sunrise, a bird trip on the Mandovi river with egrets a-plenty and exotic kingfishers among the mangroves

The beach walk to the Chalston hotel and cocktails as the sun went down…

Local sights – Panjim, golden lions, a dog on a roof and Eddie the Egret (our new friend at the pool)

And just a small sample of the wonderful food – the thali at Corvo Rindo, Agonda, rosti in Calangute, shakshuka and meze at Goa’s Ark in Anjuna

Then it was back to Kent to surprisingly lovely weather. The snowdrops were out, the skies were blue and the temperature almost balmy.

A friend came to visit and we took in Deal, Margate and the Turner Contemporary (Cornelia Parker and Katie Paterson) and Goodnestone in brilliant sunshine, along with breakfast and lunch in the garden!

A trip to Ramsgate resulted in a photo of the harbour that was compared to the Mediterranean, such was the amazing light over the sea.

Lunching in the garden continued with a visit from the now one-year old Ellis who, we discovered, hated the feel of grass underfoot so could be happily parked on a blanket while we ate. He’s into everything now that he’s crawling, but a story still has the power to make him sit still!

This has felt like the longest month ever. It seems like an age since the Christmas decorations were up and I was rather dreading taking them down, to plunge the house into January gloom. A horrible head cold floored me for what felt like forever, but I still managed to get out on the brighter days.

The first two weeks were spent mainly lying low and getting some writing done, but a visit to the new Deal Kitchen café on the pier provided glorious views on a sunny day.

Mid-January I headed to Rye to meet a friend, visit the Ypres Tower and generally wander through the streets, admiring the buildings (and marvelling at the contrast with a previous visit on a sunny summer’s day years ago). The following day, after a muddy woodland walk, I had a welcome veggie curry at the Goods Shed in Canterbury.

Flowers inside and out helped to lift the January blues – some of the most beautiful roses I’ve ever received (a gift for storing logs and a chicken house for a neighbour…) brightened, and scented, the dining room. Outside, winter honeysuckle offered a few tentative blooms, as did the Daphne odora by the front door.

On a chilly afternoon I gave my first-ever library talk in Sandwich Library, full of nerves, but supported by friends and a lovely audience. There were at least three people there with Yorkshire connections (the books are set in west Yorkshire) and the questions I was asked at the end showed real interest and engagement. I came away feeling quite buoyed up – so good to have face-to-face contact with real people, rather than social media conversations.

We had some spectacular sunrises, not always easy to catch via my phone camera, but this one was particularly special.

Still on the subject of skies, the day leading up to the lunar eclipse (the last for 29 years?) was a chilly one. The moon over the sea was spectacular and I managed to catch a glimpse of the super blood wolf moon at 5am in all its glory. A small orange ball in the sky, I couldn’t photograph it, but at 7am it was a huge silver disc, vanishing over the horizon. And it gifted us a really sharp frost that took most of the day to lift.

A glorious sunny walk along the River Stour heading out of Sandwich towards the sea was followed by a day of snow, sleet and gloom.

I spotted my books on offer in The Works and I got my first statement via PLR from the libraries, showing 1200 books borrowed in around 5 months (mainly for one title), which felt like a real achievement. I did my second library talk, in Broadstairs, and was so flustered by arriving with only minutes to spare after unexpected road closures caused terrible traffic delays, that I failed to take any photos. But it was another great audience and a little less daunting than the first time!

In the final days of January, a sunny walk in Deal was accompanied by a windchill of what felt like minus 5. But, with a trip to India just days away, I can hardly complain…

It felt as though December was rather a gloomy month, with lots of leaden skies, although looking back at my photos perhaps that mainly applied to the latter half – when I was also poorly. The month opened with me getting into the Christmas mood much earlier than usual, with a bit of shopping at an Open Studio weekend in Deal, quickly followed by putting up the new Christmas wreath, and decorating a large pot plant instead of a tree. A scented candle and a card from my lovely publishers added to the festive feel in my writing room.

There was sunshine to be seen in the first week, with a fiery sunrise one morning. A lovely crisp walk through the orchards and past the horses alarmed the blackbirds, thrushes and maybe redwings feasting on the fallen apples, causing them to take off in frenzied flocks. And the berries on the Asparagus (a new one on me…) added a welcome splash of colour when the skies turned grey.

The writing group I belong to produced an anthology, launched at the Astor Theatre in Deal with lots of lovely readings, and I now have three volumes to dip into, with the most beautiful covers.

Christmas week brought a bit of publicity for ‘Sarah’s Story’, my third book, in the local paper and a delicious lunch at Namaste in Sandwich – Goan fish curry and dum biryani in the photo – was a non-festive treat.

Christmas itself, and the weekend before, was spent with Ellis and family, who provided much joy – as well as a couple of viruses!

I’m writing this on New Year’s Day 2019, which began with some glorious sunshine. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a bright year ahead!