Red Hot Pokers On A Cold Day, Broadview Gardens

Today was meant to include a micro trip to Tunbridge Wells but in the end we never managed to stop there. The traffic wasn't great getting there in the first place and when we eventually did arrive we just could not find anywhere to park. We then got caught in a huge jam around the edge of the town so decided we had to cut our losses and head elsewhere. Our next idea was to head back to Tonbridge for a walk around the castle gardens but they were still closed so that was also now out as a destination. At this point we were hungry and rather disgruntled so headed to the nearest pub we could find which just happened to have the unique name of The Rose Revived and was just outside Hadlow. We certainly needed reviving and warming up after our rather tortious journey so far. Luckily, the pub was really cosy (it had a lovely open fire near the entrance - we made sure to plonk ourselves at a table next to it) and so we settled in for a drink and some food.
Hadlow itself is home to Hadlow College, Kent's only rural and land based college where students can take course in the likes of agricultural engineering and animal management. It also has Broadview Gardens in its' grounds which is a free to enter facility designed and maintained as a teaching resource for the college's students. Its' eight acres lie on stony soil above clay and the gardens themselves are framed around a long double mixed border backed with clipped yew hedges and columnar oak trees.It's split into different smaller spaces which include Japanese, Italian and fountain gardens. We thought, therefore, that we just had to have a look around and it was so worth the visit. All of my images for today were taken there.
The main image is of some red hot pokers (Latin name Kniphofia, all of which are native to Africa) - included in the background, through the hedge, is part of the college complex itself. The first extra was taken in the Japanese garden and the last extra I took on the way out. The late afternoon sun hit this plant so beautifully that I just had to take a shot of it. The day ended being completely different to the one we thought we were going to have but sometimes the unexpected turns out to be better than what you had planned!