Well it was except for being attacked by a mad rabbit…
…and then finding a dead rat only six inches from my bare foot when taking in the washing in the dark. Day one. Another nine to go.
Alice in Wonderland is an activity trail for youngsters in the RHS garden at Wisley. Inspired by the Lewis Carroll novel first published 150 years ago, the Top Terrace takes you on a journey into Wonderland. At one end is the Queen of Heart’s geometric red and white garden, mushroom sculptures pop up through the bedding and the White Rabbit directs you towards dream-like Wonderland. I had a great time discovering the ‘Alice’ sculptures on one of the hottest days this year!
WPC asks you to create a slideshow using Mesh. As someone who doesn’t use APPS or indeed have a smart phone and who is paranoid about sharing too much data with anyone or anything in the public sphere, I have used the slideshow that comes with WP. Suits me fine and a change from my usual galleries.
TRAVEL WORDS 
I like the Cheshire Cat. I have a pottery pen pot on the desk, with him grinning at me from it.
Regards as always, Pete. x
I thought the grin looked more like a leer, quite disconcerting. The Alice sculpture is lovely though trying to photograph her was a challenge as hordes of children kept clambering over her! One child was even kicking a £3500 sculpture with glass inserts which was close by and his parents never blinked an eye!
Parents today don’t seem to have a clue. I rarely go to places where I know there will be lots of children, if I can avoid them.
The cat’s grin is a bit of a leer, I agree. Perhaps that was intentional, by the original illustrator?
Well Carroll was a very strange man. Not sure who the illustrator was. I always found the Alice novels a bit creepy to be honest.
I think it was John Tenniel, in the original. I agree that the whole thing is creepy, and to me feels very drug-induced, a bit 1960s.
Opium induced I suppose. Didn’t Victorians like smoking opium?
They did indeed. (Mind you, so did I, on occasion. But that’s another story…)
Oh, you’ll have to tell, now Pete!!
I would agree! And I do believe John Tenniel was the illustrator (but I’ve packed the old book now)
Wonderful captures… 🙂
Thanks Drake. Had to fend off loads of children to get these! A good job I was feeling mellow 🙂
Lol, I had such a laugh at your intro. Sounds like the day I had on Thursday. I have my foot in plaster at the moment and was lying with my foot elevated (as one does) when the Usain Bolt of the arachnid world appeared on the ceiling. Turned out to be a jumping spider. Let’s just say it did not end well for him. Gorgeous snaps, those keys in particular.
Oh, no, that sounds hellish! Not the foot you had operated on last year?
Same same. Last year’s procedures (one on each foot) were a waste of time and ZAR. *sigh*
I never knew about this place – it looks wonderful. I went through the slideshow three times!
Somehow I missed the rabbit. Maybe I’ll try for another visit before the end of the week. Wisley is always coming up with different events to attract parents and children. Far too many buggies and young children there for my liking. Also a sculpture trail and a fuchsia event. Never found the fuchsias either.
He was probably late for something and had to dash off.
You did well to get the photos you did given the hordes.
Never thought of that. Yes, you are probably right.
Oh the Cheshire cat is my favourite! How fantastic this place looks. Reading your intro I must say it sounds like a bad day. Gulp!
The visit to the garden was good, the rabbit and the rat not so… 😀
Yesterday didn’t fare well either as I twisted my ankle so now I’m hobbling around. Not the best look. And not good for catching rebel rabbits either!
Oh sorry to hear that Jude. I hope not too serious and that you are back to your self very soon. xo
Foot up and resting!
Excellent! Frustrating when these things slow one down.
Now I have true sympathy. An unruly rabbit is one thing. A dead rat quite another. Counting days with you 👍
😦 I just hope he doesn’t bring one inside [shudder…]
The Cheshire cat looks rather too ratty for my liking! That’s a great slide show, especially like the keys photo. And the featured image – detail from the queens dress? fabulous!
DON’T mention the R word Gilly!
And yes the feature image is from her dress. I liked that sculpture very much.
I’ve had a couple of goes with mesh and failed, now I can’t work out how to delete it from my i phone, I’ll stick with wordpress or pixlr for my collages!
Alice is very sweet and I like the Cheshire Cat. I will keep my cat-related rat experiences to myself…..
Thank you for that…
Be assured you wouldn’t like them. I didn’t!
It’s good to hear you got past the mad rabbit and the dead rat so bravely. This garden looks like a fun place to visit. This week is Book Week and we have a book character dress up day at school. My Teacher Aide and I are going as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. I volunteered to go as Dum!
I remember doing Alice in Wonderland at school in the choir. There was an amazing ’round canon’ song that was about Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Have a good day!