Our own flower and garden festival COMPLETED - Page 4 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
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It's nice that your mother can cross Sissinghurst off her secret bucket list! I love the simplicity of the garden designs here-- well, it's not really simple, I think "uncluttered" is what I mean. Very restrained and gives an over-all feeling of peace. That English Robin is so sweet! They're so plump and cute- cuter than our larger ones.
Sissinghurst looks lovely so far, but not at all what I would call a castle. Manor or estate would seem fair titles. Too funny that your mom never told you she would like to visit here. My mom used to do stuff like that, too.
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The gardens at Sissinghurst are lovely! I agree with Cam, this is more like a manor or estate. Glad you mom got to visit some place she always wanted to visit, even if you didn't know!
It's nice that your mother can cross Sissinghurst off her secret bucket list!
I know, it would just make things easier for us if she didn't keep it quite so secret....
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I love the simplicity of the garden designs here-- well, it's not really simple, I think "uncluttered" is what I mean. Very restrained and gives an over-all feeling of peace.
I know what you mean. I find, although the gardens are designed, they don't feel as if they were - they seem natural to me.
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That English Robin is so sweet! They're so plump and cute- cuter than our larger ones.
That guy certainly was plump, he obviously had a good summer!
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The gorgeous sunny day certainly adds to how beautiful the gardens look!
We were just saying the other day how much better the photos from Sissinghurst look than the ones from Leeds Castle and that's all, to me, because the former has a beautiful blue sky. Amazing how much difference that can make to any photo!
Sunday 28 September – part two: well, if Maureen can do it, so can I!
We did debate going up the tower, but decided at that stage that we wouldn’t. We carried on wandering through the gardens, which were beautiful. I thought there was plenty out to photograph, but I know my mum was expecting more.
I think this was my favourite of all the photos I took that day
Now at this point I need to say that we all sort of got split up. Mark and my parents headed off first, and I figured I’d wait for Maureen and Anne. Because they were on a coach trip, they obviously knew a lot of other people there, and found themselves chatting a lot and falling behind. I waited for them, but then Maureen found someone else and started talking to her, and we lost her. Eventually I was on my own, although every so often I’d see the others. By now, I was still wandering around, and Mark was resting up!
The colours in the garden were beautiful, and as you can see, it was a lovely day too.
I caught up with Mark on his bench, and settled down to take a break. Then I looked up at the top of the tower, and thought I saw Maureen and Anne up there. Well, there’s only one way to know for sure… check it out using my zoom of course!
it was them – to the right of the shot. Well, that was it, decision made. If they could make it up there, bearing in mind Maureen turned 80 earlier this year, then I could do it. I set off, leaving Mark on the bench. There was something like 77 steps up to the top of the tower, and it wasn’t that bad. It’s a spiral staircase, and it does get interesting if you meet people going the other way, but the only problem I had ironically enough was right at the top, where people wanted to come down. Well, how about letting the person going up exit first?
I have to say the view from up here was excellent….
I noticed that, by now, my parents had joined Mark on his bench…
However, it didn’t take long for Mark to decide to come up and join us. I got Anne to take a photo of the three of us when Mark arrived…
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Sunday 28 September – part three: the amazing head butting sheep!
Before long, Maureen and Anne headed back down…
I love this shot of them with their shadows!
Then first my dad, followed by my mum came up to join us. We stood there for a while admiring the view, then I figured I’d head down. I’d been set on getting up to the top when I came up, so I hadn’t stopped to look at anything, but I put that right on the way back down.
You can also see Vita’s study here, which was lovely:
I settled down to wait for the others when I got back down, and Mark emerged a few minutes later, then we sat there waiting for my parents.
Eventually, my mum came down, followed by my dad and we set off again, towards the house….
We went inside to see the library, which is the only part of the house that’s open:
When we came out, I found this guy:
We headed next into the white garden…
I had another pollinator sighting in here!
Although it had been just us and my parents ever since we came down from the tower, Mark had seen Maureen and Anne head off towards the restaurant while he was still in there, so we knew where they were. We made our way there after we’d finished in the white garden, as now we were all getting hungry. I knew Maureen had said it was quite a small restaurant, so I was worried that perhaps we’d struggle to find a table, but I was very pleasantly surprised. By now, it was 1:00pm, and the place wasn’t crowded at all. There was no line to get food, and there were plenty of tables available.
I didn’t get photos of our food, but Mark had the traditional roast lamb, while I went for the cheese salad, which was excellent. The sheep outside can’t have been very impressed with how much roast lamb was being eaten in the restaurant, as the trio outside were head butting each other! My goodness, it was terrifying to watch them take a run-up and just charge at the other ones, and the noise they made when they hit was just terrifying! I honestly never knew sheep could get that aggressive with each other…
You see, here they look so placid
… now, not so much!
My mum and I enjoyed some ice cream for dessert. By the time we finished lunch, Maureen and Anne had to head off to get their coach for their afternoon stop, so we said our goodbyes to them.
When we were done eating, my mum and I headed over to the shop. I ended up getting a mug for part of Maureen’s Christmas present, a jigsaw as part of one of our niece’s Christmas presents, a tea towel for us and some fold away chairs for us. I told you they had a good section in here!
We then wandered out to see the kitchen garden, passing the sheep who were obviously exhausted from everything they’d been getting up to earlier on!
I have to say I was not impressed at all with the kitchen garden. My mum may have thought that the main garden didn’t have much in it, well that’s how I felt with this area. It was very disappointing.
As we headed out, we saw a lorry with cows in it, and it headed down the road. Mark went to check where it went, and we could see the lorry in the next field, and we could hear the cows excitedly mooing and no doubt checking out their new environment! Sadly, we couldn’t see them, but we did spot this vibrant coloured guy strutting around…
We made our way back past the exhausted sheep again…
… and headed for the exit. We stopped in the shop near the car park, and I had to ensure that my dad was out of the way, as I found a garden ornament pig that will be part of his Christmas present. Do you see a trend here? I also found some hyacinth bulbs, as I always like to have some indoor ones for Christmas, and some garden tools, so I was happy.
I was even happier when we made our way out, and discovered the cow lorry was picking up another group of Sussex cattle. I got out, but didn’t get any photos, as I didn’t want to look like a complete anorak in front of the farmer and his wife. They were beautiful brown creatures, although a couple of them didn’t look too happy at the prospect of being moved.
With that, we headed out, and made our way home. Our own flower and garden festival for the weekend was completed. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading all about it…
The weather today was warm and sunny with temperatures in the mid 70s. The best thing today was seeing Maureen again. The worst thing today was the pushy sales tactics they employ at the entrance. The funniest thing today was the amazing trio of head butting sheep! Today we tried walking up to the top of the tower And the result was it was well worth it for the views. The most magical moment today was seeing the beautiful Sussex castle.
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Too funny that your mom never told you she would like to visit here. My mom used to do stuff like that, too.
How great you were able to meet up with Maureen and your Mom got to check something off her list! 
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My goodness, it was terrifying to watch them take a run-up and just charge at the other ones, and the noise they made when they hit was just terrifying! I honestly never knew sheep could get that aggressive with each other… 
I also found some hyacinth bulbs, as I always like to have some indoor ones for Christmas, and some garden tools, so I was happy. 
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