Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - August, 11-20

Hello there everyone 😀

I hate to say it but things are starting to feel decidedly autumnal over here ... we even lit candles the other night and not because we had a power cut.

The garden certainly seems to be saying that it's ready to start packing away for the summer ... the baskets are straggly, the sweet peas are tatty, the beans have gone and some of the leaves are even starting to turn. I don't think I'm ready though. I don't feel like we've really had a summer this year. I know we've had some days that have been real scorchers, but we've just had so much rain.

Maybe September will be different ... maybe we will get an Indian summer ... well, it certainly won't be long before we find out.

It does look like the Bank Holiday weekend is shaping up for some sunshine though ... I'm believing in the forecasters and have been writing BBQ menus for the weekend ... I'm keeping everything crossed and will keep you posted ...

For now though ...

Day 11 - It's been ages since I've done any reading at all so I really enjoyed spending time reading the first of my new batch of books from the free bookshop. I must have really enjoyed it as I finished it in just one day.

Day 12 - Martin was back at work and I was flying solo. I did a bit of blogging, a bit of washing, a bit of gardening, a bit of cooking, a bit of tidying and a visit to a neighbour who has not been feeling so good. It was great to get one job off the 'getting the garden ready for autumn' list ... strawberry bed is cleared.

Day 13 - For the first time in ages I had a walk into town to meet up with mum for a good old mooch, where I managed to get a lovely new lavendar plant for just £1!

Day 14 - Today ... it rained ... all day. This parcel of loveliness arrived in the mail though, which really did raise a smile ... as did my walk round to Jackie's in the pouring rain, where we had lunch and just generally sat and chatted the afternoon away.

Day 15 - Now I know this is not the most inspiring of photos and I don't know why but I was on a bit of a mission today. I got up at 6.30am, which is unheard of and just got cracking ... tidied everywhere, stripped, washed and remade the bed, there was washing on the line before 9.00am, again unheard of, vacuumed all through, made a chilli, took down the beans, converted two tatty looking hanging baskets into a reasonable looking pot of late summer colour and picked a container full of blueberries ... and all before 3pm ... I know 😲😲😲

Day 16 - First new flower on the dahlia that we rescued from the 'dead zone' at our local garden centre.

Day 17 - A relaxing morning for me at the hair dressers getting rid of the ever increasing grey.

Day 18 - The last of our regular craft fairs for now ... where we did the best we'd done at this venue all year. It's a lovely way to pass the day, in spite of it being hard work at the beginning and the end of the day. Sitting chilling and chatting the day away. Our next ones will be for Christmas ... oh my goodness, it really is just around the corner.

Day 19 - A nice relaxing Monday for me after a pretty busy weekend. We have decided we are going to give Slimming World a go again and started off with a steak dinner treat.

Day 20 - A day of crafting is always a treat. It's been sooooooo long since I've made any jewellery but thought I'd start early in preparation for Christmas craft fairs.

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Late Summer at Kiftsgate

Hi there everyone 😀

I must have driven past Kiftsgate Court Gardens numerous times when visiting Hidcote, without even realising it was there. I discovered the delights of the garden back in the Spring, when I made my first visit whilst meeting up with an old friend and trying to make the most of this year's Garderners' World 2 for 1 card.

I liked it so much that I really wanted to share it with Martin and Mum and Dad, who also like a good garden visit. I also really wanted to see it at a different time of year. Ideally we would have liked to have visited in June, to get to see the roses at their best, but that just didn't happen so it was actually the beginning of August by the time we managed to fit our visit in.

The garden doesn't open until lunchtime so we spent the morning at Hidcote, had lunch there and were pretty much knocking on the door as Kiftsgate opened.

We had a right mix of weather during our visit, from a very heavy rain shower, to just a little bit of blue sky and sunshine, but we all still loved the garden ... in fact we all preferred it to it's larger and grander neighbour just up the road.

As I've shared the detail of the garden with you before I'm opting again today to just share my favourite 10 images, rather than give you a virtual tour, so here we go ...

1 - The Sheer Abundance
What pretty much became apparent from the moment we entered the garden was the sheer abundance of planting. There was so much in flower, so much colour and so many enormous blooms, they just took our breath away. At times it was hard to know where to look ...
2 - Agapanthus
Mum and I both absolutely love agapanthus, though we tend to have mixed results with growing them in our own gardens. Neither of us had ever seen any as big as these white ones though. The blooms were literally bigger than our heads ...

3 - Just ... so ... much ... in ... flower ...
The top half of the garden was so full of plants in full bloom. There was something else to see at every turn and in every corner ...

4 - Lilies ...
I believe these are tree lilies, but they were literally 'as high as an elephant's eye'. None of us had ever seen lilies like this before, they were spectacular ...
5 - Blue garden furniture ...
Not something that I would have thought would have gone well in a garden, but here it seems to work a treat. I remember being taken by this when I first visited and I liked it just as much on my second look. It just works really well against the backdrop of the borders ...

6 - Hydrangeas ...
These are one of my absolute favourites and this display in the corner of the old manor house was just stunning. It was hard to capture as it was so dull but the colours were really vibrant and really stood out against the honeyed stone ...
7 - Pure & simple ...
I have absolutely no idea what these flowers are, I just know that I really liked them ...

8 - The fountain ...
The pool and the fountain are so different to the rest of the garden ... far more formal and modern with clean straight lines and no flowers at all. I love the leaves of the fountain though ... especially watching as the fountain springs back into life and gradually works its way along, until all are flowing ...

9 - Just like we have at home ...
It's always nice to see flowers on a garden visit that we have at home. I love the bright orange of this crocosmia, against the deep green of the foliage, which had plenty of room to spread out and hadn't just flopped to the ground like ours always does ...
10 - Another striking contrast ...
Here's another plant that I can't name but I really liked the striking contrast of the bright yellow against the deep, almost red to black, leaves ...

So there you have my 10 favourite images from our late summer visit to Kiftsgate. It's not a huge garden, we probably spent just a couple of hours there, including a visit to the tea room, but it certainly is worth a look.

I've already made a mental note that we need to go and have another look in June next year 😀

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Oh no! Not another Garden Post

Hi there everyone 😀

It has not escaped my notice that my blog posts of late have been very garden heavy and I'm not sure whether to apologise for this or not. Obviously if gardens aren't really your thing then you may be thinking 'oh no, not another garden post', is this blog really for me? I do hope not though, as winter will be here before you know it and I'm sure that then I will have to find something else to write about 😀

I just seem to have found myself, this year more than ever, drawn more and more to exploring new and beautiful gardens. I could almost spend every day wandering round new gardens, enjoying the tranquility and calm that they seem to bring and being awe inspired by some of the planting that we've seen ... it really is no wonder to me that gardening is said to be good for the soul and can really lift the spirits.

Being members of the National Trust and now trying to take advantage of the Gardeners' World Magazine 2 for 1 offer we are never short of somewhere to visit. Whether it be a return visit to a favourite garden at a different time of year, or somewhere totally brand new, there is always somewhere waiting to be explored not too far away.

Yes, there are some weird and wonderful opening times and I can't say we've never planned to visit somewhere, only to find that it doesn't open on a Wednesday, but I don't think we've ever been anywhere where there wasn't something joyful to be found ... and a good tea room is always a bonus.

I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by plenty of friends and family who like a good garden visit too and this last couple of years I've found gardens situated halfway between home and long distance friends act as very good meeting points, giving a bit of a walk, plenty of time to chill and to chat over a cuppa and a piece of cake.

Last week we had two big days out. One with Mum and Dad, when we made a re-visit to Hidcote and I also got to show Mum, Dad and Martin Kiftsgate for the first time and the following day with our good friends Jackie and Phil, when we got to see Winterbourne and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

All were lovely in their own way and I've lots to share with you about our visits ... too much for one post so I'm going to start with our visit to Hidcote.

Since I've been writing this blog I've visited Hidcote twice, with this being my third visit. The first time I went in July 2017, the second was in April 2018. Both times I met up with an old friend and both times the garden looked and felt completely different.

As I've shared my thoughts of Hidcote with you all before I thought that this time I would do things a little differently and have limited myself to picking just my 12 favourite images of the garden to share with you.

So, in no particular order, here we go ...

1 - The Red Borders

When we checked in on arrival the chappie on the desk told us that the red borders were looking fabulous and we must be sure to see them. As the weather forecast was pretty dire and we were expecting a 90% chance of rain, we thought we'd head straight there and try and catch them before the rain set in. There wasn't actually that much red on display, but the borders were looking very full and lush ...

2 - The Manor House
Whenever I visit Hidcote I always love the view of the honey coloured manor house across the garden, framed by whatever is in flower at the time. This time whilst, sadly, there was no blue sky to be found, there was plenty of other colour in the stocks, lilies and clematis ...

3 - Striking Contrasts
I just loved the look of the frilly silver grey against the almost lime green, with just the odd hint of purple in the background ...

4 - Pots on Tables
I always seem to be taken with these displays of random higgledy-piggledy pots on a pretty metal table. It's something I would love to replicate at home and probably wouldn't be too difficult to do ...
5 - The Stream Garden
Looking particularly lovely on this visit, with lots of big drifts of planting, with plenty of colour ...

6, 7 & 8 - The Kitchen Garden
One of the other things listed as being at their best for this visit was the kitchen garden and it did not disappoint. The last time I visited it was spring and the kitchen garden was looking decidedly bare, but not today. It was jam packed full of fruit, vegetables and flowers ...

9, 10 & 11 - In Flower
Whenever we visit any garden there are always some flowers that really do just stand out. It may be the colour, it may be the shape of the bloom or it may just be something new ... these are what really caught my eye on this visit ...

Frilly yellow daisies

Abutillon, or ablutions as mum calls them!

A purple and orange delight

12 - Plant Sales

The plant sales area at Hidcote is one of the best that we've come across. I particularly love this display that they always have, which shows some of what is in flower now and what they are...

Whilst we didn't come away with anything from this list, we couldn't resist a very healthy looking salvia, which is still to flower ... we just have to find a spot for it now.

Oh ... I know I said I'd keep it to 12 photos but I couldn't resist these last two ... they must have known mum was visiting 😜
So there we go, another lovely visit to Hidcote, managing to totally dodge the rain and ending with lunch in Winthrop's Cafe, interrupted with an impromptu fire evacuation, before heading off just down the road to Kiftsgate for our second garden of the day, but I'll save that for another time 😀

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Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - August, 1-10

Hi there everyone 😀

Well, following three weeks of being off, Martin is back at work this morning, and for the next two weeks. The house feels very peaceful and calm, though I'm sure in a couple of days I will be missing my pottering partner in crime.

We've had three weeks of very mixed weather, we've done a fair bit around the house and garden, been out visiting lots of new gardens and had plenty of down time too.

I've nothing really on the cards this week, so will be just doing some gentle pottering, catching up with bits and pieces that don't tend to get done when we're both off and starting to try and get ahead with some things for when we go away in a few weeks time.

The high winds and heavy rains have took their toll on the garden and there is definitely some 'end of season' activity that needs to start to get under way ... taking down of the French beans, trimming the conifers, a last tidy up of the baskets and pots and a last trim of the privet. We know only too well the frustrations caused if we leave these jobs too late and the benefits we will feel next spring if we have a really good autumn tidy up.

So, plenty to be keeping me busy whilst the hubster is at work, but for now, here are our last 10 days ...

Day 1 - We had a trip into town today for long overdue eye tests and managed to have a bit of a potter through the castle grounds which always look lovely, especially on a bright sunny day.

Day 2 - The cliome that we grew from seed are absolutely fabulous, with some of the flowers almost as big as a football. I will most definitely be growing these again next year.

Day 3 - Saturday ... and we had a weekend with no plans whatsoever. It was a glorious day and we decided to head over to Tutbury Castle for a vintage fair and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours just mooching around the stalls and having a look at the castle, before calling in at a garden centre for another mooch on the way back.

Day 4 - It was another glorious day and we spent it in the garden, moving a few bits around and having a general tidy up. We also potted on this agapanthus that we'd bought on our visit to Tutbury. Having split my old one into three last year and having only one flower between the three pots, I couldn't resist adding to the collection.

Day 5 - It was a day of blogging and washing for me and beer bottling for Martin. Whilst I was pegging out the washing there were four of these beauties buzzing around, which were just beautiful and not something we normally see in our garden.

Day 6 - It was a day of garden visiting. A rerun of a trip I'd made earlier in the year to Hidcote and Kiftsgate, this time with Martin and Mum and Dad. Both gardens were lovely but Kiftsgate absolutely blew us away. It was beautiful. None of us had ever agapanthus the size of these ... they were literally as big as our heads.

Day 7 - Another big day out. This time to Winterbourne House & Gardens, followed by the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Winterbourne is on the Birmingham University site and I hadn't even known it was their until very recently. It was absolutely beautiful, definitely worth a visit.

Day 8 - After two pretty full on days, it was definitely time for a bit of a rest day. It was a real treat to see the first of the hibiscus flowers in bloom.

Day 9 - It was a day of an impromptu lunch with Mum, Dad and Daniel, my eldest nephew, followed by shopping. I did get chance to have a look at how my succulents are coming on though. None have died as yet so I am hopeful for a stack of new plants to replace those that we've lost this year.

Day 10 - And finally ... a non garden photo! I spent a good couple of hours working through the photos that I have left from Will Sidney's WW1 bits and pieces. I spent ages trying to work out when and where this photo could have been taken and can't tell you how thrilled I was when I was finally able to date it with certainty. You will be able to find out more in a coming post.

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