A Famous Garden

It was around twenty years ago that I visited the famous garden of Monet, the Impressionist artist, at Giverny in France. I went with a friend  as part of a short coach holiday that we both thoroughly enjoyed. But Monet’s Garden was the undoubted highlight of the trip. It was August and the lilies in the water garden area were in full bloom, while outside the house across the road the flower beds were a riot of colour. We both said we wanted to visit again at different times of the year.

I haven’t made it yet, and it’s looking less and less likely that I will. But yesterday I received an email with this photo of those water gardens with just a few lily buds beginning to show colour. My friend was there again, this time with the husband not yet in the picture all those years ago. I am envious, but grateful that she thought of me while she was there and was thoughtful enough to communicate that with me.

I don’t believe she will mind me sharing her photo of the place from which so much inspiration was drawn, producing paintings revered the world over. I have some old photos of it somewhere myself, but I'm not sure where to put my hands on them. 

Bristol

Had a great time visiting Bristol with friends this weekend. We walked over the historic Bristol Bridge that you can see in the picture. Mostly we went on a pub crawl. There's nothing like chatting and catching up over a pint of real ale, or in my case a half pint, since there was going to be so much of it. One of my friends prefers beer to food. The rest of us like them both in equal measure. I was surprised to find so many pubs that don't do food, since many establishments these days can't survive unless they do. Anyway, we were eventually forced to go to Pizza Express to get something inside us to soak up the wet stuff.

We did take time out on Sunday morning to visit the Botanic Garden. The route there took us past the wide open spaces of Durdham Downs. We saw lots of dog walkers with their charges, which made me think of Jade who stayed at home with my menfolk and who was to give me a super welcome when hubby brought her to collect me from the station later.

Pic by Linda Bailey - licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. 


Anyway back to the Botanical Gardens which are part of Bristol University and a really educational experience, because they chart the development of the plant world through the millenia and make references to the thousands of species of each plant growing there. They are very well tended and have many beautiful specimens in a lovely landscaped space. Before we left we visited the glasshouses kept at various temperatures to suit the plant life within.

After this it was pub time again, but we did find one more thing of note - the Bristol Lido & Spa. It is hidden away in a terraced back street - a really bizarre location. We glimpsed people swimming through the glass door as we passed and stopped to find out more. Apparently it is a quite exclusive club, although members of the public can swim in the heated outdoor pool at £20 a time. It has a bar and restaurant as well, and does special deals for a swim and a meal that just add £5 or £10 or so to the cost of the swim. You can read more about it at the Bristol Lido website.

We spent some time on the waterfront, making a couple of visits to the Watershed, an event venue which also houses a cinema and restaurant bar. My real ale devotee friend reckoned it had the best selection of beers of the weekend, and for me it had really good decaffeinated coffee before heading to my hotel at the end of Saturday evening.

Pic by Keith Edkins - licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

And after getting my batteries recharged in that way, today it has been back to work, which meant researching and writing about the riveting subject of voltage optimisation. I'm always surprised at how interested I get in these topics that seem at first glance to be really dull and dry.

Earth Art at Kingston Lacey

As we wandered around the grounds of this stately home looking at the snowdrops, we came across a sign saying, "Earth Art".  We weren't sure what it was referring to, but soon we came across some examples.

 

I thought this one looked a bit like a dancing bear.

These reminded me of dancers in a ballet.

While this one could be a bird about to fly off this tree stump.

What do they remind you of?

Compton Acres to Cheer Me Up

We are having such terrible weather here in the UK. Towns in the north have been flooded out and I just saw on the news that some people are being allowed to go back and look at how the floods have affected their homes and businesses, which they were forced to vacate days ago. There was also news of a police officer losing his life when a bridge collapsed.

Here we are much luckier. While we've had the wind and driving rain, our homes and businesses haven't been affected by flooding. One of my husband's acquaintances told him there has been such a run on fencing that he found it hard to source what he needed for his normal business, but having your fence blown down doesn't equate to people having to leave their homes to the mercy of the floodwater.

Of course, it's all relative. I know people in other countries have even worse disasters and even less help to get over it.

Anyway I thought I'd try to cheer myself up with some photos of happier times. These pictures, taken a few summers ago, are of Compton Acres, a beautiful garden not far from my new home that's open to the public .

We'd fully intended to visit the national collection of old English roses yesterday. I had been trying to get there in June when they are in their full glory. I wanted the experience and to take some pics to illustrate and article idea.

But it was not to be. Something came up and hubby had to work in the morning. The trip would have been too long a drive after that. We compromised and went to a nearer National Trust garden at Tintinhull. I took these pics there.

An Uncertain Future for Dartington

I was in Devon for about 24 hours last weekend, visiting friends of long standing. These visits usually involve a bit of ‘culture’ and lots of pubs.

This time the culture was almost all in gardens, as it was the National Garden Scheme Open Gardens weekend at Bovey Tracey where I was staying. We did slip into the Great Hall at Dartington on Sunday morning, where we learnt about its first owner, John Holand, who was a half brother of Richard II. The estate was given to him in 1388 and the size of the Great Hall, which still survives with its minstrels’ gallery, and is often used as an event venue, gives an idea of how grand it was.

Ownership changed to Champernowne family in the 16th century. They held the estate right up to 1925, when it passed to Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst. They set up the Dartington Hall Trust, and enthusiastically researched the history of the estate so that we owe much of our present knowledge to them.

I’m quite fond of Dartington. My mother told stories of being in service there in her youth, and I enjoy the peaceful ambience in the magnificent gardens. So I share the anxiety of locals who have recently learned that its College of Art is to close as it has been merged with a local university. Noone seems to know how this will affect the buildings and the gardens, and the trustees are not being publicly forthcoming.

I wonder if we will see the death of its famous Literary Festival. It is still due to take place this year and you can find it here. I note that my college pal, Mavis Cheek, will be speaking about her new novel, Amenable Women.