Prospect Cottage

We added a day to our long weekend away to get the opportunity to visit the interior of Prospect Cottage at Dungeness, the famous cottage and garden created by the late film maker Derek Jarman.  I met Derek a few times, first when he came to show The Tempest to us drama students at Birmingham University and then later on in the London of my youth.  Obviously i wanted to see the garden, sparkling bright and very familiar but the interior, is a rare opportunity.   Strictly forbidden to photograph (for numerous copyright reasons and I imagine security) it’ll have to stay on in my mind.  But it’s quite spare with a lot of art and sculptures and junk shop finds.  And props from his films which he often made to a high quality so he could use them again. Anyway - a profound and moving visit and we managed to stay over our allotted time as our guide was so warm and welcoming.  Outside we got to meet the gardener who was over.  He told us he comes once a month , prizes ‘intentionality’ and only does serious gardening with a posse of students twice a year in March and October.  Pruning in March and planting in October. 

After that we drove into Rye in an outburst of rain and checked into the George Inn which was lovely.  We had dinner at the Landgate Bistro where the food was good.  The atmosphere was a bit chilly but we were mainly impressed by the solo waitress, dressed all in black who glided between the tables in an unhurried manner and never seem to keep anyone waiting.  

Home to delight in Trump’s guilty verdict on the special news programme.