A Break From Gardening

Finally, after nearly a whole week of sunshine, there’s been a bit of rain.  The suspense while waiting for dark clouds to roll in is quite unnerving. Cloudy days are what we expect, at least one can follow the usual routine of sighing and complaining about the English weather. I like to know where I am.

To tell the truth, I am also rather bored with this endless gardening; There’s still quite a lot to do before the Open Gardens weekend. On top of it I made a mistake with the date: it’s a week earlier than I had assumed. Even so, I am remarkably calm about the whole thing, not at all in my usual frazzled frame of mind on these occasions. Perhaps there’s something wrong with me.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the front of the house, along the drive and in the courtyard. The sun was still shining when I took them.

This is part of the fernery, to one side of the house, under some mighty old beech, horse chestnut and sycamore trees. I love shady gardening, although it can be rather difficult to establish anything lush. It’s always best to stick with indigenous plants, exotics just won’t flourish. I tried some expensive Australian tree ferns, they were dead within a couple of years, victims of our frosty winters.

This is a quick snap of some villagers on the bowling green, which is only a few steps outside the field gate. I love leaning over the fence and watching them, although I’ve not felt tempted to join them. There is something quintessentially English about these folk and their pursuit. The green is velvet smooth, a chap well into his 80s takes meticulous care of it and only the softest shoes are permitted to tread this hallowed ground.

Spending most of my days out of doors has meant I’ve hardly touched my computer. I’ve missed blogging - well, a little - but doing mentally undemanding, physical work has given me plenty of time to think. Perhaps I will come up with rather more interesting posts again soon.