A day in Hoxne - what could be better! - starting with coffee in the village Tea Rooms, or at Sally's, then dispersal to wherever we were inclined.  This included Sally's sumptuous garden, complete with tortoise, chicken, gargoyles (good likeness, Sally) et al.
A beautiful sunny day, not too hot.  Fourteen came and most stayed to tea and showed what they had done.  
Thanks Sally for the tea with scrumptious chocolate cake, which you assured us was not the one dropped into the dish of washing up water.  

Lots of activity at the moment, concerning our exhibitions:  Earsham entries due soon (July) then The Swan at Harleston (August), and discussions are ongoing regarding our terms for a Christmas exhibition at The Bank.  

Next week we meet at the Flixton Aviation Museum.  Hope to see lots of you there. 

We were last here in August 2018 but it seemed even better this year.  Loads of flowers, beautifully maintained plants and shrubs, a pond, and all designed to provide a myriad of different views.  Three acres I'm told, but it all blended into the surrounding countryside as though it were a much, much larger garden.  About eleven of us enjoyed wandering around, sketching and painting, till it turned rather chilly.  So we stopped a bit early to have tea and view some of our work.  
Thank you to our hostess, Linda, for looking after us and supplying the refreshments.  The garden is a great credit to the Batteley's.

​It was a day of dodging the rain and finding shelter from the wind.  A really blustery, cool, wet day.  Still, ten of us were out sketching in Lesley's beautiful garden, where there was much to admire, or we found views of the Dove valley nearby.  Lesley was very ready with teas and coffees to keep us going, and cakes at teatime.  We did seem to spend more time than usual indoors, but then we had begun with a committee meeting for some of us.  Our thanks as always for the hospitality.

PS  Notice a post-blog photo from Richard (see right) putting my quick snaps to shame.
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We are really hoping for a fine day next Thursday, as it's Batteleys Cottage Garden at Wortham - a garden well worth seeing.

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A small, but select, group of us (5) made our way to this Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve and found it a delightful place to observe birds, watch some sailing, admire the natural world ..... and also sketch.  A little fresh in the shade but lots of sunshine and beautiful skies.  
From the windows of the café in the Visitors Centre, we saw a Kingfisher return a few times to his perch over the little lake, and hosts of little birds at the feeders.  Upstairs you could get a more panoramic view of the reserve.
A very enjoyable day, we all agreed.  Below is some of our work.​

Don't forget, next week at Lesley's parking space is limited so please meet up at the Cross Street car park between 10 & 10.15 to share cars.

​Click on images to enlarge them.