A friend and I met for lunch at The Hinton Arms, a country pub in Hampshire: the food, as usual, was copious and very good - the conversation also! The pub gardens are a blaze of spring colour right now and I stayed behind to take a few more shots of the flowers.
Two gentlemen were sitting at a table outside in the sun and, remarking on the beautiful tulips and other spring bulbs, I discovered that one of them was the landlord and owner of the pub, Roger, and responsible, with two helpers, for the display. I asked if he would let me take his photo and explained my portrait project. Roger seemed mostly bemused by this request but readily agreed to it.
I asked if he would move just to another chair as the background behind him was a bit cluttered and took a few shots. We then had a chat and I took a few more photos.
Roger and his late wife, Anne, bought the pub on his retirement sixteen years ago.
He and two helpers plant the bulbs for the spring display in late October. A friend in Holland chooses the colours and posts 5,000+ bulbs to him each year. At the end of May, these flowers will be finished and attention then switches to bedding plants, together with forty eight hanging baskets.
Roger also owns two stud farms in different parts of the country and is a Hanoverian dressage horse breeder with world-class success.
One of the staff gave me a pub business card and, noticing Roger's family name had an Italian feel, I asked him if he had come to England with his family as a child. He explained that the name is Sicilian and it was his grandfather who emigrated in 1904. He commented that he has never visited Sicily.
Roger and I shook hands and parted company and I promised to send photos and the link to his story.
this and more photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150442566@N07/32714142177/in/dateposted-public/
If you follow my link you can see a collage of the flowers, Mave. Quite hard to show how amazing they are!
Well, I agree it is nice (why wouldn’t I?!) but I think the other portrait has a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’. Thank you for your visits and comments!
Thanks, Mandy, and I shall have to google it myself to see how it looks online - never thought to take pics of the actual pub!