The End of Cadogan

It is sad to see the end of Cadogan, the clothes shop in the Square in Winchester owned and run by Alex Edwards. It was the only independent shop in the city in which to buy a full range of good quality men's and women's clothes, albeit geared to the older end of the market, but which - for men at least -  specialised in beautiful Italian cords and colourful shirts and jackets. The shop, housed in the same building in which Keats wrote 'Ode to Autumn', was also where one could see old friends, some of who worked for him for years. As Alex was good to work for, the atmosphere in the shop was usually one of a barely-suppressed party, with Alex quietly holding court downstairs.

Winchester is probably unique among cities anywhere in that it has no independent butcher or fishmonger and the council have long seemed incapable of sound and imaginative planning. The High St is full of uniformly drab chain shops and apart from the Hambledon in the Square, there are practically no other shops of individuality and character to be found, though an honourable mention must be made of the dry-cleaner, Gervades, run by the multi-talented and irrepressible Javaid Akhtar.   

Favourite Places - Lime Wood

Lime Wood, in the New Forest near Lyndhurst, is the principal hotel in the Pig Group created by Robin Hutson. It's pretty spectacular, more upmarket than the Pigs themselves (which are described as 'Restaurants with Rooms'), and is notable for its spectacular garden and beautifully decorated reception rooms, created by Robin Hutson's wife Judy.

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Mottisfont Rose Garden June 2017

The National Trust entrance to Mottisfont

Mottisfont is by some measure the most visited National Trust garden in the country, the main attraction being its fabulous rose garden, created in the old walled kitchen gardens by Graham Stuart Thomas from 1972 onwards. In the main walled area, he brought in many from his own extensive collection of roses while in the north garden he planted only old roses, many which had been thought lost, but which he was able to source from Sangerhausen, a noted rose garden in Germany.

The gardens were until his recent retirement looked after by David Stone, and attracted many rose specialists such as Jon Dodson, who also maintained a beautiful collection of his own old roses.

Graham Stuart Thomas's own watercolours of some of the roses.

When you visit, don't miss the little exhibition in the potting shed near the entrance to the rose garden, which as well as having some beautiful watercolours painted by Graham Stuart Thomas himself, also has a short history of the garden on a video loop, narrated by Audrey Hepburn. 

Click here for more photos of the house and garden