bluebell woods

Photographs from my neck of the woods: the bluebells are out at last and I love to see them in rough grass under trees whose canopies have not quite unfurled. I love this look - the old pastoral scenery before we started obsessing about collecting non native plants and having manicured lawns and borders. You might  remember Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice :

Miss Bennett, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take turn in it, if you will favour me with your company."

 Well the wilderness look is back.

I took the other photos in a village nearby as little cultural vignettes: live music in all kinds of venues, asparagus plates displayed for its brief season - note the old window too and a black and white dating from the 1500s.

mmm Saturday

Remember the two chairs I had earmarked for the summer house but had to wait for the fullness of time to be remodelled? Well here they are in their newness. We collected the wing chair this afternoon and I am delighted with the slubbiness of the linen velvet and the colour of course. I think I've posted the stick back chair I painted already but the colours tie in very nicely. 

The Chelsea Flower Show is next week and I hope these stone floor sculptures are a hit. We sent off for some samples and they are beautiful. I love the leaves. I shall be watching the show garden tours on TV but the RHS website has already got some great shots to inspire. I'm really into gardening without plants at the minute ... though we spent a bit of the afternoon salvaging some herbaceous plants from the raised border at the side of the house before the slash and burn party which will take place later on in the year. It will be a heavy duty operation: brambles, bamboo, cotoneasters, kerria, osmanthus, none will come quietly. The transplants have gone into planters ready for the woodland areas in the autumn. 

Tomorrow another lovely day I hope. I 'm planning to make a summer pudding:) It's David's favourite and we have a great selection of soft fruit in the freezer, yum. 

only old allowed

The sun was out for a while this evening and I enjoyed extra time to myself as our staff meeting was cancelled (because we'd all done so well when the inspectors called last week).

This is my work table where a few things are collecting, waiting to be repurposed, mended or both. The card from Cali has been framed now and is back in the main house.

The sweets jar is plastic but in the traditional shape. I really like these for storage and you can get them for a charity donation locally.

The wooden fruit stand is pretty old and I would say hand carved. It has a music tumbler in the base that needs looking at. If it's just the spring that needs replacing I can do it but if the whole thing needs to be restored I will wait and just use it for bits and bobs. I wonder what tune it plays.

I have an old French poster that I will frame too. It's A2 in size and I picked it up in a pharmacie in the 80s. My photo shows a selection of deadly mushrooms (champignons mortels) pickers should leave well alone. The marks on the background are from the raindrops on the window pane, the paper is actually in quite good condition. I think it will fit in the woodland setting of the SH.

Lastly I have some old books about Canada which I have been flicking through in anticipation of our summer adventure.

good and bad

Today we were in London visiting George who is 88 at the end of May. We had a long chat about random stuff; he and Margaret his BF are a credit to their generation. What experiences they've had and how different was their world growing up in the south London / Surrey borders in war time. I liked Margaret's story about the craft cupboard she and her sisters shared and how they each had an space for their own project. Apparently the cupboard was messy and their dad would open it so visitors could see and laugh gently at their untidiness. Then George told us this sunburn stories - even on cloudy days in Eastbourne and Great Yarmouth he managed to get blisters on his arms but the scorching rays of Australia and Columbia in his navy days had no effect on his pale skin. Bless. 

I love to listen. The photos this time were taken yesterday. Thought I'd have a bit of a rant about Leylandii trees. I realise that hedge planting is normally reserved for the winter months but it is now that we can really see the advantages of a mixed deciduous hedge which is just so pretty and right for the English countryside. This one is about 15 years old and we planted a mix of blackthorn, field maple, beech, hawthorn and hazel twigs into largely unprepared ground. Within 5 years the hedge which runs the entire length of the garden and along the back in an L shape was well established. We have been cutting it back severely each year as it grows thick and fast. Here it is behind the summer house where we once had an arbour. We have laid cardboard, soaked it and top dressed it with bark to suppress the patchy grass. There is still a bit more to do as well as some grass seeding further back. The plan is to lay some stone sculptures under the walnut tree - the lead time on these is about a month but there are some photos on the site we are ordering from if you're interested.

The second photo is of an eco house in the village with a deciduous hedge like ours after just two years.  So why would you blot the landscape with this awful conifer? The golden form is particularly horrible. The brown bits never grow again and the trees suck all moisture from the soil around so nothing new grows near it. I will be lobbying our new neighbours to dig them out. 

5 feel good moments of the day

First off we went walking at Croome Park this lunchtime with Max and saw the statues unveiled. In the winter, actually right up to Easter, they are covered in tarpaulin to protect them from frost so you can only see their 18th century loveliness for a few months. Here is the river goddess just for Dan and Kate who were amused by the shrouded statues they couldn't see the last time we came.

Then there are wild flowers appearing everywhere. The bluebells and cowslips are garden varieties but the other stems are field flowers. I have them dotted here and there to enjoy throughout the day.

Next up is an idea to hang drying flowers from the lofty ceiling in the summer house. I remember dried flower posies from the 80s when they were very much in vogue and I still think the natural ones are lovely. I am very fussy about flowers: drying helps to extend the season for many of our native flowers but you need a little bit of know how and lots of patience.

Then there's potting up seedlings to plant in bigger containers. My garden is in transition and there are still areas where plants have self seeded and need to be rescued before the final landscaping projects get underway: alchemilla, caraway, Mexican daisies and creeping jenny all deserve new homes. I like old pots, one for each plant rather than an arrangement in one container.

There's also been a quiet hour in the summer house pinning some Liberty print binding to a really old piece of linen to serve as a runner in the dining cum breakfast room. A happy day in the month of May :)

Cupcake swirls are improving thanks to the larger piping nozzle my colleague lent me :) The tart damson filling offsets the buttercream - you can see the red coming through on one of the cakes. I used a bit to colour the butter cream too but could have put in a bit more. I will practise some more. Isn't icing sugar super messy though. 

It was so good not to be working this Monday even if I have a ton of stuff to do now. The sun was so warm and we just enjoyed the time at home and our pub lunch in Stow. I love it when the back door is open all day and I can hear birds and children outside doing their thing. 

Tonight the folders are out, the washing machine is on and there's washing up in the sink to do so off I go to prepare for tomorrow.  

Turned out to be a baking day today: two batches of granola - the oats bag came in useful for storing Patrick's high energy granola which will be part of his bounty box flying up to Leeds on Tuesday. Then there were the mini marble loaf cakes which look good I think. I used this recipe and the cake is very chocolatey. I also made some damson jam cum coulis for tomorrow's cupcakes. So dinner was very simple: steamed artichokes, new potatoes and a green salad to enjoy with raclette cheese.