As Summer melts into Autumn

As summer slowly melts into autumn, the spiders have once again been busy creating their intricate webs.  Nature's morning breath shows them off at their very best.

A Garden Rethink

As anyone who has read this blog probably realises, I love gardening and in particular growing my own veg.  It was one of our aims, when we moved to France, to be as self sufficient as possible in fresh produce and over the years this has been pretty successful with the exception of cauliflowers which I just cannot seem to grow!  This year is, however, all turning out to be a massive failure on the veg front.

It started with a cold spring that meant I lost tender tomatoes etc to late frosts and it was too wet and cold to get going outside ... and when it was I was away on holiday.  Then my Mum sadly died so I have been back and forth to the UK giving little time to spend in the garden and the only thing flourishing out there is the weeds.  Why why why do weeds grow so well what-ever the weather??!!

My Sunday Photo - April 24th 2016

The Lost Gardens of Heligan

Heligan, in south Cornwall, was the home of the Tremayne family for over 400 years and in that time the family developed magnificent gardens both for their own pleasure and to produce fruit, vegetables and flowers for the household.  However, their downfall could never have been foretold.  Many of the gardeners who worked in the gardens went off to fight in WWI and few were to return. After the war the economy faltered and, like many great houses in that time, there was not the money to maintain the gardens in their former glory and they were left untended for nature to take over.  The house was sold in the 1970's and converted into flats and a hurricane in 1990 wreaked yet more havoc.

In 1990, Tim Smit and John Willis (a descendent of the Tremayne family) discovered a tiny room, an old thunder-box toilet, buried under fallen masonry in the corner of one of the walled gardens.  Written on the wall inside and still just visible was the date, August 1914 and the motto: “Don’t come here to sleep or slumber”.  Underneath were the names of the gardeners at that time, so many of whom were to have their lives cut tragically short. 

This discovery was to inspire Tim and John to restore the gardens to celebrate the lives of those who toiled to create and maintain them all those years ago.  The two had a vision to bring back the rare and wonderful plants that could flourish in the mild Cornish climate and of working with nature to enhance the variety of habitats found within its 200 acres.

I'll let you decide, through my pictures, whether you think they succeeded. 

My Sunday Photo - April 17th 2106

England ...
Cornwall ...
Boscastle ...
A village nearly destroyed by terrible floods in 2004.
A village once again thriving on tourism and the lobster trade.
Small industry keeping a small village alive in 2016.

My Sunday Photo - April 10th 2016

Take one tree, two home-made rope swings and add 2 boys - mix together for a lot of fun!

Silent Sunday - November 1st 2015

Exmoor Autumn

This week I bring you photos from my Mum's garden on Exmoor.  Enjoy!

There is colour still hanging on in these late flowering blooms.

And who cannot love the sight of raindrops on alchemilla leaves?

The views over the moor are bursting with late autumn colours which are fast moving from tree to ground.

 And despite the lateness of the season some new flowers are brave enough to still be breaking bud.

I am joining in with Annie's How Does Your Garden Grow but I may not be able to comment for a week due to limited Internet access.  Will have a good catch up when I get back to France unless I can get online somewhere before that.

Silent Sunday - April 26th 2015

The Cake Holiday - the evidence!

For reasons that are pretty obvious from the pictures below, the recent holiday the boys and I took to England was nicknamed "The Cake Holiday".  It all started with pain au raisins on the ferry and progressed from there.  

Pain au raisin on the ferry

Well you cannot visit a National Trust property and NOT eat cake, it would (as my friend and fellow cake eater, Nicky, pointed out) be quite rude ... although maybe eating TWO each on a visit to Knightshayes near Tiverton was a touch greedy. 
 

Lunchtime cakes at Knightshayes

Afternoon cakes at Knightshayes

On Saturday we visited friends and Ellie baked us a cinnamon and raisin jumble cake.  Her father is head gardener at Sidbury manor which just happened to have an National Garden Scheme Open Day - with cake - we felt it would, again, have been rude to have declined to eat the cakes they were selling.

Ellie's cinnamon and raisin jumble cake

Afternoon tea at Sidbury Manor

On Sunday we chilled at Mum's and whilst we didn't eat any cake per se we did do a nice walk down the valley and clocked the tea shop in the village ... (and had rhubarb crumble for pudding which sort of counts in my book!).

On Monday I really needed a day shopping in Taunton so enlisted the help of 2 friends - and cake - to get both me and the boys through the ordeal.  I detest shopping, although in fairness did do very well and the boys detest shopping even more than I do. So friend, Andrea, came to give me moral support and guidance whilst friend, Jo, came to take the boys off my hands.  And we felt morally obliged to bolster ourselves for the day ahead with cake!  M&S cake no less.

M&S carrot cake

M&S lemon drizzle Cake

M&S ultimate chocolate cake

Tuesday we met up with more friends and as I felt the 3 of us invading was a bit of a cheek, we took lunch.  Quiche and, yes, you guessed it - cake!  Eaten in the garden with an insanely loud wren singing in my ear from a nearby tree and swallows swooping overhead.  It was a very English of lunches with my banana and raisin cake for pudding.

Banana and raisin cake to share with friends

We spent our final day on Wednesday at Mum's and planned a longer walk than Sunday ensuring, though, that it included the tea shop we had clocked on Sunday.  However, I hadn't taken my proper walking boots and the boots I was walking in were really hurting my toes.  We therefore spent rather too long lounging by the river and none of us really fancied the extra 2 hills to get to the tea shop that could, by that time, have been shut anyway. So we headed back to Mum's house (I limped and the boys showed off by running up the hill) and once home we tucked into some sultana cookies Mum had bought.  Very nice sultana cookies actually.

On Thursday we took the ferry home, our bellies well and truly filled with cake.  Strangely for the boys, when we ate dinner, Ben (and I) decided not to have a cake for pudding and Tom only ate half of his. I really do think we were totally caked out.

Are you a cake lover?  Are you drooling at the selection above and if so which would you chose?  I think my favourite was the lemon drizzle but as I am not 100% sure we may have to do a re-taste when we next return to England!

Spring in an Exmoor Garden

My last visit to Exmoor and my Mum’s was back in October as her garden was starting to close down for the end of the year.  Now, 6 months on, there are plenty of signs that spring is here and summer is on her way.

The daffodils under the beech trees are still in bloom but beginning to look a little tired and will soon be little more that a memory.  However the vibrant Forsythia continues to throw yellow into the garden.

Other spring flowers are still flowering well including these muscari and primulas next to a low wall. 

And what about these plants just awakening from their winter hibernation – something I don’ recognise and some ferns.  I just love the way the ferns unfurl.

There is also loads of this little succulent (a sedum I think) growing out of this same wall.  I love its colour.

And for something completely different this grass gives some wonderful height and structure to this part of the garden.

However with the boys it is the space they love so much at Mum’s.  We may have more space at Eco-Gites of Lenault but most if it is also filled with pigs, a goat or sheep that do not make good Frisbee throwing companions.  So free from animals (including Harry our Labrador who likes to “kill” frisbees) in their spare time this week frisbee throwing has taken priority.  It’s not a bad view either is it?

Linking in with Annie’s How Does Your Garden Grow and planning to comment on other blogs when I get back to France and a better internet connection.

Silent Sunday - April 19th 2015

Knightshayes House and Gardens

I wrote yesterday that I wasn't going to write a garden blog this week and then I realised it was Annie's 100th How Does Your Garden Grow link up and I felt gutted to have missed it.  Fast forward a 24 hours and myself and the boys find ourselves at Knightshayes NT House and Gardens near Tiverton ... how could I not blog about these wonderful gardens?

I only have limited internet so you will have to enjoy more pictures than words but with beauty such as this to admire I am sure you won't mind:

Japanese Quince - Chaenomeles japonica

Part of the formal gardens with unusual gnarled Wisteria trees

Close-up of the Wisteria buds

A new plant on me that I think is Fraxinella, Dictamnus alba var. purpurea, unless anyone can tell me otherwise.

The Woodland Garden

Woodland ground flora

Orange is not just for Autumn - an Acer of some type

The fabulous walled garden.  When I win the lottery I am getting myself my very own walled garden ... and an army of workers to keep it looking how it should!

 

Finally I need your help - this plant is a mystery to me and I have not been able to find out what it is. It has thick leaves not dissimilar to Mimosa but much bigger and thicker and this weird almost cone like flower.  The leaves themselves were slightly scented but did not close up when stroked.  Has anyone got any ideas.  I may also contact Knightshayes and see if they can let me know as I really don't like not knowing what a plant is?

It was lovely to catch up with my friend Nicky who has also blogged about our day our here.  And there was also cake eaten.  Perhaps rather too much cake but this is The Cake Holiday ....

Joining in a bit late with Annie's 100th #HDYGG - do pop over and see where other gardeners have been or what is happening in their own gardens.