Summer's End at Wickham Park

Exploring the Irish Garden...and beyond!

September 2023 was a big month for us for traveling and trying new things. In the first week alone went to Boston to see the Arctic Monkeys at the TD Garden, and we attended a Steampunk picnic at Wickham Park. 

The Oddball Newt event "Summer's End Picnic" at Wickham Park in Manchester, CT started off in the Irish Garden.  Wickham Park is a non-profit private foundation whose property extends into Manchester and East Hartford, CT. It contains 280 acres of gardens, open fields, woodlands, ponds, picnic areas, and sports facilities and is local favorite for wedding receptions, fundraiser walks and other events. Wickham park is generally only accessible from April through October and normally it is $7 per car to get in. Luckily Oddball Newt was able to get them to waive the fee for this particular event.

I had been here once before for a friend's wedding and her wedding was located at the top of the hill where the cabin is. Turns out the Irish Garden is just a little bit after the entrance, to the right. There's a parking lot next to it.  It is a good site for small picnics and meetings. The gazebo wasn't open, but there were plenty of places to sit as well as take wonderful timeless photos of days gone by. You would never know that this garden had been completed in the summer of 2016 with the high stone walls, thin metal fence, and small stone tables. 

Pahl really exemplified the explorer theme in his look with his pinstripe pants, earthy paisley waist coat, spats over his boots, pith helmet with snow blind goggles and a cane. He's ready for anything! I kind of look like Jane from the animated Tarzan movie, except that I'm not wearing a full gown and a bustle. What I am wearing is actually two separate pieces from the Chinese Indie brand Tiny Garden. I've written about the shirt before because I wear it a lot. It was in fact that only off-white and 100% cotton shirt in my wardrobe and man it was hot! The sun knew no mercy, so wearing all cotton was imperative for me.

The real star of this outfit is the Dream Bouquet Elegant Sweet Lolita Skirt. This skirt is incredibly comfortable. I didn't notice that it had pockets on each side until I put my petticoat on and they magically appeared in the right place for me to utilize them! Now I normally wear the shirt under a jsk, so I didn't ever worry about the gapping at the bust that had suddenly almost become a fashion faux pas. I added a waist belt that kinda was supposed to cover that part...but it uh...had no backbone and sort of flipped over itself. Instead of fussing extra or trying to find an alternative last minute, I just went with it. I had been thinking I could use an under-bust corset in my life, but I feel like this minor experiment with this particular waist belt proved that I would need something much sturdier. 

As explorers, we could not help but get distracted away to other nearby gardens. This scene from the Oriental Garden is almost like a Monet painting, sans water lilies. But we do have ducks. 

Somewhere to the left of the Italian Shrine are these wonderful statues you can look towards in veneration.

We had a wonderful time exploring the park on our own, but we did miss most of the group photos due to a panic attack I had about yellow jackets. They were literally everywhere around the picnic site and more than a few times they did try to fly into my bonnet. After the third time of this, I freaked out and had to leave. The gardens within the park are absolutely stunning for photos and I would definitely like to go back wearing some different pieces, but maybe not for a picnic, unless it was really early spring when the yellow jackets aren't so desperate.