One of the first outings that I had after the first lockdown was to Woodberry Wetlands. It was in the spring so apart from the lovely spring flowers, New River, which runs alongside the wetlands, was bursting with fluffy ducklings, squeaky moorhen chicks and an elegant swan family. Check back to the blog to see …
Gardens
The bleak North Sea
Last weekend, in between the English Touring Opera’s concerts at Snape Maltings , I squeezed in an envigoratingly blowy morning on the Orford marshlands, stretching out into the North Sea and silvered by a lurking sun. Although now a remote village, home to summer visitors, some local fisherman and Pinney’s oysterage and smokery, medieval Orford …
Horsenden Hill and the Grand Union Canal
This is the tree that tops Horsenden Hill – a wonderfully rolling and hilly park that separates Greenford and Sudbury in West London. Apart from the hill, Horsendens East and West boast one and a half golf courses, lots of open space (on which cattle graze in the summer), a community farm – and the …
Hatfield gardens
The Knot garden at the Old Palace at Hatfield House is the work of the redoubtable Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury who died, aged 94, in 2016. The fiery daughter of the Earl of Dunraven and Mount Earl in County Limerick in Ireland, she married int the Cecil family in 1945 becoming Marchioness of Salisbury in …
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, …