A Perambulation of Dewstow Gardens

One entrance to the grottoes.

Who doesn't love a good grotto? I've been horrendously busy again of late - a swap parcel to finish, the last few days of month two of Nerd Wars (it's a knitting thing!), and, of course, a new job to go to. However, now I'm on a photography mag it's really spurring me on to improve my photography, and one of the few good days of summer was too nice to resist, so Mr Robot and I headed over the border into Wales to join a bunch of steampunk chums for a Perambulation of Dewstow Gardens, organised by Naomi and Zoe.

Dewstow Gardens is quite a magical place. In 1893 the Dewstow Estate was bought by one of the Directors of the Great Western Railway. He had a passion for plants and flowers, and set about creating a wonderful garden with tropical glasshouses, grottoes, rock gardens and ponds. The glasshouses are no more, and bits and bobs got sold off over the decades, but in recent years the grottoes have been restored, and the ponds and water features that got filled in have been dug out again.

Andy and Creeper.

I did find myself wondering if any naughty Edwardians got up to no good in the grottoes, which are now filled with ferns and flowers and tinkling water, and are all jolly romantic.

And what do you find in tunnels and caverns, if not Edwardians having a good snog? Creepers! Andy made a fantastic model of a Creeper (from the videogame Minecraft) to take photos of in the grottoes. Lots of other people were visiting as well as the steampunks, and one family of little girls were very excited by the Creeper and wanted to have their photo taken with it.

I'm always a bit shy of taking photos of people at these events, but there were some splendid outfits worn. (Not by me, mind you. You'll have to scroll to the bottom of the page for that horror. And Mr Robot refused to dress up at all.) One of the things I love about steampunk is the creativity of it, and the way that the men are every bit as exuberant in their dress as the ladies. My favourite thing this time was the jewelled insect on Rachel's pith helmet, so appropriate and so glam!

The Creeper in its
natural habitat.

The fountain in the Lion Grotto.

Rachel's bejewelled pith helmet.

Obligatory chunky woman outfit photo. White
embroidered cotton cami and black skirt with
with braid edging. Not very flattering. I don't
really have arms down to my knees!