In the Garden - June

Hi there everyone 😀

It's been a fair while since I've done a monthly garden post, but June has just been so different in the garden this year, and I've taken so many photos throughout the month, that I thought it would be good to bring them all together just to see how far we've come.

Our garden has always given us plenty of interest and colour in the Spring but, come the end of May that has been pretty much it ... lots of lush green foliage but not much by the way of any other colour.

Over the last few years we have been gradually trying to extend the flowering season and this year we have definitely made our way into June.

We were away on holiday for the first week of the month and we couldn't quite believe how much the garden had changed when we got back ...
The pots and baskets of summer bedding had really filled out and the delphiniums were looking spectacular. At just £1 a plant, they have definitely earned their spot in the garden.

The irises that we'd bought from the Osborne House plant sales when we were on holiday on the Isle of Wight last year had also all come into flower and were looking just as we hoped.
The new raised brick planter we added to the patio last year had also really filled out with the pom pom clematis and the Rhapsody in Blue rose in full bloom.

This is the old raised vegetable bed which we used a bit of a temporary bed for bits we'd had to move out of the borders last year. I had intended to plant it in a white theme, but seeing it with this tangled mass of colour has changed my mind. It looks really cottagey, just the kind of look that really suits the garden.

There were even flowers on the wisteria that we planted against the new pergola at the end of last summer.
This yellow rose has been in the garden since I moved into the house over 20 years ago. Up until a year or so ago it did nothing as it was swamped by ivy. Having finally got rid of all the ivy we've been able to let the rose ramble as it wants to and has now spread pretty much half way along the garden fence and has been covered in blooms. I'm so glad that I never actually got round to digging it out.

The strawberries and sweet peas had also come on really well.

We always like to bring some form of memento back from our holidays and this time it was a treat for the garden.

Since we've been back from our holiday the weather has been amazing and we've spent a lot of time in the garden, with plenty of al fresco breakfasts, lunches and BBQs ...

The Rhapsody in Blue has really come into its own ...

Even the succulents have flowered ...
... and we've had a go at taking some cuttings ...
We've managed to use the new pergola seating area ...

... and have now fitted a sail to give us some shade from the afternoon sun ...

Coming into July there is still plenty going on ...
... including an impressive harvest from the Morello cherry ...
... and hydrangeas which we have managed to turn back from pink to lilac ...
So far ... it's looking like July is also shaping up to be colourful, assuming we can keep on top of the watering ...

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Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - July, 1-7

Hi there everyone 😃

Martin has been off this week and its been another glorious week weather wise. In fact there has been more than one occasion when it has been just a little too warm for me. Whilst I do love blue skies and sunshine and being able to spend time outside, I much prefer it just a little cooler and a bit of a welcome breeze is always nice too.

Saying that, the heat hasn’t stopped us getting out and about a fair bit this week, though the pace has been fairly slow at times, with plenty of stops for cold drinks and ice cream.

Looking through the pictures I've taken over the last week it’s surprising how many really lovely moments there were which were worth capturing and, on some days, I’ve been spoilt for choice as to which image to use, but I’ve stuck to my intention and chosen just one from each day which I think pretty much sums up our week ...

Day 1 - Having missed getting to visit both Newton Regis and Lullington Open Gardens, as we were out with the craft stall, we managed to get this year’s annual fix of garden visits from our first trip to the open gardens at Alrewas, another village fairly local to us. I will share more about our visit in a separate post but for now this picture just sums up how pretty a village Alrewas is.

Day 2 - After a busy weekend we spent Monday at home, gently pottering and finishing off a couple of projects we’ve been meaning to get around for a good while, including hanging a fabric sail above the pergola to give a bit of shade against the afternoon sun and building these pebble towers with pebbles collected from our travels.

Day 3 -  It seems to have been a week for finishing off bits and pieces. Today I finished the cross stitch flamingo pattern that I started a month or so ago. Next step is to turn it into a phone case.

Day 4 - After a morning doing some gentle tidying in the garden, including clearing the strawberry bed, I spent a while at the dining room table, dodging the heat of the afternoon sun, having a go at something new on the craft front.

Day 5 - We visited Coughton Court, NT with friends in the spring and were making a return visit, with mum and dad, to see how different the gardens looked at the height of summer. It was a scorching hot day and the highlight for me had to be paddling with mum In the ford just down the road.

Day 6 - As Martin was off for the week and we knew we had a week of sunshine on the cards we pretty much BBQ’d every day. We didn’t want to just have halloumi, burgers and chicken kebabs every day so we tried to keep it interesting by trying out some new recipes. This jerk chicken with pineapple salsa will definitely be making a return appearance 🍍

Day 7 - We had another big day out at the Statfold Barn Railway, this time for their Family Day with this little monkey and his mum. We had a lovely day and were home in time to see England win their quarter final World Cup game against Sweden. What a day 😃

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Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - June, 28-30

Hi there everyone 😀

Just a really short one from me today to share the images of the everyday ordinary that me smile during the last few of days of June ...

Day 28 - It was a sewing kind of day here. I made up three new peg bags and these roll up shoppers with the fabric that I bought from Ikea in the week. I just love this summery botanical print.

Day 29 - We pretty much decimated this rose with last year's pruning as it had grown really tall and only had flowers right at the very top. We weren't expecting much from it at all this year but I was really pleased to see its first blooms today

Day 30 - I met up with a friend I haven't seen in ages for 'brunch' today and we sat and chatted for hours. I couldn't resist one of these flowerpot gingerbread muffins, which were amazing and I bought an extra one home for Martin.

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Weekend Catch Up - #1 Nunnington Hall, NT

Hi there everyone

You'll probably remember that back at the beginning of June we were away on the North Yorkshire coast. It was time for our annual weekend catch up with old work friends and we were meeting up in Robin Hood's Bay. As it's a bit far for us, just for a weekend, we had decided to stay on and make a week of it.

It’s the 7th year running we’ve managed to have our weekend catch up and it’s a great way of keeping in touch and having some good quality time together ... the trick is to get the date on everyone’s calendar early ... we already know we want to meet up in Broadway in The Cotswolds next year, just need to sort out the date.

It’s become a bit of a thing for us to try and visit a National Trust property on our way and this year we headed for Nunnington Hall, somewhere that we thought we hadn’t visited before.
However, as soon as we saw the comfrey growing in the woodland, walked over the wooden bridge and heard the peacocks calling, it all came flooding back ... yes, we had definitely been before, but not to worry, the gardens of these places always look different at different times of year so there would still be plenty to see.

First stop was definitely a comfort break and as I was making a mad dash I was stopped dead by an “excuse me ...” it was only Sue and Phil, one of the couples we were meeting up with, they’d obviously had the same idea and had arrived at pretty much the same time as we had.

Next stop for us was the tea garden out back, where we sat in the sunshine and had a quick lunch, under the watchful eye of some of the local inhabitants ...
There’s something very special about a National Trust tea garden. They always seem to instill a sense of chilled out calm, especially when the weather is as good as it was for our visit, and this one was no exception.

I was thrilled to bits to find a peahen feather in the tea garden for my natural collection and that was soon safely stowed away to be added to my gull feather from Stratford when we got home. I lived in hope that I might find a vibrantly coloured peacock feather, but that was sadly not to be.

The gardens were looking lovely, with plenty of wild flower meadow to wander through.
We followed the peacock ...

... and couldn’t help but compare how he looked to a bride in her wedding dress ...
There was lots of my favourite colour going on in the herbaceous borders and lots of plants that we have at home, which was really nice to see.

The alliums were looking particularly good ...

As were the irises ...

We wandered back towards the house via the cutting and vegetable gardens ...

Composting NT style ...
... and past the tree covered with brightly coloured ribbons ...

... for a quick look around the house before heading off on our onward journey.

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