Prospect Cottage

You may recall that on the basis of me telling her that we were doing an 'event' for her birthday and that would be within driving distance of London, the Minx guessed that we were going to Prospect Cottage*.

This is the property that Derek Jarman bought in the late eighties and where he lived - or spent most of his time - until he passed away in 1994.

The house was inherited by Jarman's partner, and then, on his death, was bought by Creative Folkestone, who currently maintain it and provide guided tours, which is what we enjoyed this morning. 

It's not a huge property but the guide was really interesting, as was the interior of the cottage. There were only four of us being shown around, so there was plenty of opportunity for asking questions. 

After that, we had a wander around the garden, which became more and more interesting to me as I looked around it, and enjoyed all of Jarman's unconventional gardening work.  

Incidentally, can I recommend to you two albums relating to the cottage: Brian Eno and Jah Wobble's 'Spinner'; and Robin Rimbaud's 'The Garden Is Full Of Metal'.

Once we were done at the cottage, we headed off to London, stopping en route at the church were Jarman is buried, and took the opportunity to have a look around it's unusual interior (see Extra).

Our accommodation in Twickenham was on one of the surprising number of islands on the Thames, Eel Pie Island. The Minx took off to meet her mum at Euston, so I found myself a nice pub garden, at The Cabbage Patch, and enjoyed a couple of glasses of cider. 

*This uncanny deduction was actually her second guess. The first was 'driving at Silverstone', which hadn't even occurred to me as an option. Next year, though!