A quick post to say good-bye because I will be away until Monday. I'm going visiting to Nottingham. One of the days there I'll be taken to Wollaton Hall, which looks pretty interesting.
At the last count there were 34 sweet pea seedlings from the sowing I made 2 weeks ago, the tallest of which is about 2 inches.
I was up the street a couple of hours ago and bought a copy of "A Year in a Victorian Garden" by Henry Bright, 1874, in the local hospice shop. It's rather pretty-pretty, which normally puts me off, but when I read a few lines I was won over:
"Nothing is more stupid than the ordinary way of planting Crocuses - in a narrow line or border. Of course you get a line of colour, but that is all, and, for all the good it does, you might as well have a line of coloured pottery or variegated gravel."
I see that near the beginning he refers to the garden's 4 mile distance from a major town as a problem because, "there comes down upon us every now and then a blast, laden with heavy chemical odours, which is more deadly than either smoke or salt". It makes me think atlhough it's all too easy to find problems with our current way of life, the things we are lucky to be without tend to be harder to keep in mind.
Have a great weekend Emily!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll love Wollaton Hall, its a beautiful place to go. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteI love that quote about crocuses!
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ReplyDeleteand I've just checked about Wollaton - there's a Camellia House, it says it's the oldest irong conservatory in Europe and recently restored. For a glasshouse fanatic, that's quite something! (I've just been cleaning the windows of ours, and I'm embarrassed at the state it's in. Must make a big effort to clean it all up, the next rainy day we have.)
Have a fab time and take photos!
ReplyDeleteThe stones - we used post-crete in the end, not allowed on the plots, so sshhhh! There just wasn't any other way. We've covered it all over with soil and it wasn't much concrete, just enough to hold them in place then we stuffed stones and muck in to the holes too.
Hi Emily.
ReplyDeleteI see that one of your favourite places is Mottisfont Abbey, mine too, I live about 20 mins away so we are always there. I have just posted a couple of photo's of the Mosaic Angel from Mottisfont on my blog, if you care to look. I took them on a visit last week.
Funny thing is that I have friends who have been going there for donkeys years and have never seen her. I am so nosy especially where arches and corners are concerned, so I found her on my first visit about 2 years ago. They didn't even have a sign showing where she was, but I see they have now, makes more sense, but I have to say the delight of just coming across her was brilliant.
Carrie - aha, sneaky! But I think I'd have done the same.
ReplyDeleteMaureen - wonderful, I shall go and have a look now. At your pictures I mean - we are several hours' drive from Mottisfont and I've only been once. I have asked to go for our wedding anniversary though :)
Have a nice weekend Emily. That book sounds interesting, I like the way the Victorians gardened, it must have been THE time to be a gardener to the big house. Did you ever see the TV series called 'The Victorian Kitchen Garden'? Its really worth watching if you get the chance. Bob.
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