It’s September but we still have rosebuds. We also have clay soil which roses love – thus still so many buds. Plus mini heatwaves with bouts of rain which has meant happy roses and vases filled with them inside the house. This week I cut a bud off each climber and shrub still blooming then put them in little bottles. Gather…
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There’s a lake in the woods where the water lilies now bloom. The path around the lake is all overgrown but the wild birds know where to find its quiet waters. Whence, O fragrant form of light, Hast thou drifted through the night, Swanlike, to a leafy nest, On the restless waves, at rest? Art thou from the snow…
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One of my summer pleasures is being surrounded by wild flowers wherever I go for a walk – or even in my garden. At the same time I’m determined to learn their names and slowly build up my repertoire on identifying them. Sometimes I spend ages searching through my wild flower books as I want them to each have a name…
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According to my twins and their friends “epic” means ten times awesome and extra special. Needless to say, I was rather pleased when my eight-year-old son’s reaction to the results of a planned bedroom makeover was a big smile and one word – “Epic!” When my son Theo was four he graduated from a junior bed to a single bed….
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I like to think of my visits to Nymans as courses from a seasonal menu. I could indulge in an all day banquet by touring the 33 acres of formal gardens, the house and the 265 acres of woodland trails but prefer to taste what it offers throughout the year. Already this year I have savoured the sight of cyclamen waking…
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Often at dusk I like to sit out on our garden deck and listen to the wildlife awaken as night approaches. Owls screech and hoot, muntjacs and foxes bark in the valley’s woods while the hedgerows and meadows surrounding our house stir with all creatures great and small. One evening this July at first I thought a unicorn had joined this…
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