In Need Of Some Restoration

After three days of images taken in the domestic realm I felt in need of restoring some outside stimuli for a source of images so I persuaded my brother, after an early morning run in glorious late summer light, that we should head for Restoration House and Gardens in Rochester.
Restoration House sits is a unique survival of a city mansion. It is situated in the heart of the historic town with the house taking its name from the stay of Charles II on the eve of the restoration on May 28th, 1660. The house also features in Charles Dickens' 'Great Expectations', as the home of Miss Havisham.
On this particular occasion we decided to just concentrate on the gardens - an absolute bargain to view and stroll around at the entrance fee of only £6!
The ancient and wonderfully poetic atmosphere is heightened by views into the double walled gardens, interlinked by a formal pond, and surrounded by yew hedges, fruit, vegetables, and a cutting garden where visitors are free to wonder. It has taken ten years of herculean effort to get the garden to where it is today with the remains of the Tudor wall and archaeology giving rise to a beautiful Renaissance water garden.
My main image is of an avenue of large terracotta pots, some hosting lemon trees, leading towards a statue (which you can see a close-up of in my first extra). It wasn't until later when I looked back at my shot that an optical illusion makes it appear that the little girl is standing in one of the pots - which is why I chose it as my thumbnail.
The second extra is one of the sculptural busts that was almost hidden in a shady corner just before you turned into the water garden and I just liked the contrast between the light and shade and how it highlighted the charismatic face and the folds of sculpted cloth.
The third extra shows the interior of one of the small glasshouses in the walled garden with its glorious cornucopia of exotic plants with the last two images being a view towards the rear of the house itself and a modernist statue atop a corner tower in the water garden with a backdrop of a nearby street with accompanying scaffolding and some lens flare leading to the multicoloured large dots you can see on the statute's head caused by taking my shot directly into the sun - their official name being polygonal shapes, which is as a result of light reflecting off the inside of the lens aperture.
I really did feel my photographic senses restored after our visit!