After a red wine-induced headache thanks to Jude, Jane and Joe took me to Trebah, another stately quite close to where they live and renowned for its beautiful garden. The most amazing thing was that the garden has alot of NZ natives - bloody amazing where us Kiwis turn up.
As well as the largest tree ferns I've ever seen, they have 'forests' of giant rhubarb, which apparently is also a NZ native. I've never heard of it but they grow so big every summer you can walk through them, and then they are chopped back to nothing for winter only to do it all over again the following year. See, can't keep us down.
After wandering down the most beautiful and bountiful Hydranger valley I've seen,
you feel like Alice in Wonderland as you come across a hole in the wall and et voila - the most gorgeous little beach!
Apparently the family who originally owned the property and the neighbouring four properties were Quakers and made their money out of freight using tall ships, including to NZ, and they brought plants and trees back as ballast hence the proliferation of NZ natives in the garden. Stranger than fiction.
I call this "boy on a rock" - aka Joe.
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