I headed home yesterday afternoon through the wood to a chorus – no a cacophony – of parakeets and crows. I am sure someone will berate me for being unappreciative but, oh where are the tuneful trills of spring?… Anyhow, emerging from the woods I thought I heard someone singing in the distance, so I …
So, on to Mapperton House – still in the rain!
Mapperton House is a hundred plus years younger than Cothay and was extensively ‘remodelled’ in the 1660s and then again in the 18th century but remains a stunningly beautiful building. Lots of great images on their website but the point of this blog is to show you the gardens in the rain… So, moving on…. …
Cothay Manor and Mapperton House – in the rain
It is such a truly awful day here in Highgate – charcoal grey skies, pouring with rain, thick-cardigan cold – that it seemed the right moment to report on my extremely soggy visits last week to the wonderful gardens at Cothay Manor and Mapperton House in Dorset. I was staying my my keen gardening friend, …
Queen’s Wood oaks win temporary reprieve
Back in July I wrote about the oaks in Queen Wood that were under threat because an insurance company doesn’t want to pay the costs of underpinning the property which they say is threatened by the trees. Well, according to their Change.org petition they have won a brief reprieve:
Victims of the storms
Given this morning’s weather forecast I fear the two below may not be the only trees that we lose on the heath this August. August?….. How come we are losing trees in August!! This huge American red oak came down just above the sports field on East Heath – on the other side of the …
Live at the log
Walking back across the heath this evening checking the storm casualties of the last few days (of which more anon), I found myself following a guy lugging double bass…. Really? But a little further on I discovered where he had been going. To join a small group of jazz musicians who, for the last month, …