Charlotte's Garden.

Back in July I was looking after a friend's garden for a couple of weeks while she was away on her holidays. She has such a lovely garden, I asked if it was OK to take a few photos to share on my blog and she said yes!

To reach the garden you pass a small yard where even the looped hosepipe and rusted bin lid look attractive. Perhaps not the first things Charlotte will have expected me to show from her garden! After climbing up a steep set of steps you're then in the garden proper.

The greenhouse, which I now covet. My duties were to water any plants which needed watering. As July was rather a wet month this meant I only had to worry about the plants in the greenhouse, so it wasn't an onerous task. In return I was encouraged to pick anything which was ready for picking, more on that later...

 

A small selection of the plants in the greenhouse, included as evidence to show they were still alive when I left them!

In front of the greenhouse there is a small pond bordered by some beautiful wild flowers.

I now also covet the cornflowers, they should be somewhat easier to obtain and install than a greenhouse.

Beautiful daises, some of these would be nice too!

Dotted around the garden are some lovely old brass bells.

I had the flash on by mistake when I took this photo but am pleased with the resulting effect. Yup, I think I'll be planting more poppies next year too, inspired not just by Charlotte's garden but also by our trip to Norfolk where we saw many lovely poppies in the gardens we visited. The purple ones were my favourite.

Lurking in the vegetable plot are these rather sweet little metal bird markers.

Pretty terracotta pots.

A lovely spot to sit on a sunny evening...

... not that I did - too busy of course!

And a lovely view past the sweet peas and over the neighbouring chimney pots.

Just a few peeks at some areas of the garden. I don't really feel I've done it justice, by the time I visited in the evenings some areas were too shady for decent photos. What I like about it is its relaxed atmosphere and the abundance of gorgeous wildflowers and wonderful vegetables and fruits. The little personal touches such as the bells and birds also make it special.

Now to my plunder...

...a few flowers, I'll need to find out what these are, I liked the vibrant colours and they were very long lasting.

...some rhubarb which I made into a rhubarb and strawberry crumble.

...raspberries for muffins.

...a big bag of mixed fruit, mainly raspberries and blackcurrants but also tayberries, gooseberries and a few red currants which I washed and popped in a pan...

boiled...

and strained...

... to make some mixed fruit jelly, a jar of which I did give back to Charlotte. (The recipe I used can be found here)

... and lastly more raspberries and tayberries,which with the addition of chocolate chunks and various other ingredients were made into a couple of loaves, one of which is in the freezer for Charlotte.

It was a pleasure to spend some peaceful time in such a pretty garden, and I feel I did rather well out of the arrangement too!

Back to School.

The summer holidays are over here. In Scotland schools generally finish for the summer at the end of June and restart in mid August, so 2-3 weeks earlier overall than the English summer break.

3 good things about the holidays:-

• The Olympics - I'd liked to have seen more than I managed, but what I did see was surprisingly enjoyable.
• Visiting North Norfolk, a lovely new part of the UK for us to discover.
• Going to see Brave, I really liked it and want to see it again, though perhaps without the little boy perched on my knee telling me he wanted to go home as it was too scary (and he had wet pants!).

 3 not so good things about the holidays:-

• The July weather wasn't the best.
• Spending more time indoors than was good for us.
• Going to see Ice Age 4, the children enjoyed it but I'll be quite happy never to see it again.

 

Amazingly A's shoes from the last school year still fit and are in excellent condition!

Off we go. N was back at nursery too (he's entitled to 2.5 hours per week day from the age of 3 till he goes to school). 

From a rather dreich morning it turned into a gorgeous day. I took lots of photos after we collected A from school in the afternoon...

This is in the field behind the school, you can just make out A & friend as two tiny dots in the centre right of the photo. There is also a faint rainbow in the centre left.

Once home we pin our butterfly chrysalids to the net (A was given a butterfly garden set for her birthday). The we go out to the garden...

Cosmos. I really wanted some of these in the garden this year. Earlier I sowed a whole pack of seeds but none germinated so I had to resort to buying a fully grown plant from B&Q. Still, it was worth it, they're beautiful and add a very welcome splash of colour to the garden. I'll try sowing the seeds in a propogator for next year rather than directly into the soil.

Geranium & bee.

Unkown flower & bumble bee.

Hubby's peas this year have been excellent. They're later to ripen but have produced a fantastic crop.

Love the twirly bits.

Neglected clematis also doing well this year.

The runner beans, will we have beans before it's too late?

Pea harvest.

I think this is some kind of phlox?

Self seeded hypericum. I think the berries are prettier than the flowers.

Globe thistle, these are doing great too. They seemed to take a few years to establish themselves.

A little garden view from beside the deep purpley pink buddleia. We have three buddleias in the back garden and one in the front, all are different colours and are popular with the butterflies. We had a peacock butterfly pass through the garden today, the first one I've seen this summer, but it didn't linger long enough for a photo.

The rowan berries are colouring up nicely.

Lastly I cut a few crocosmia stems which have been obstructing the path and team them with some of the purple buddleia in this wondrous tall pottery jug which was a recent charity shop purchase, a steal at just £2 - I was pleased that day.

So, really a garden update post in disguise I suppose...

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

On the road for 7am. At this stage I still had lots to do for the family celebration we were having on Sunday, but it was very nice to escape the house and the cleaning/tidying for a few hours.

A hazy morning (I had been hoping for one of the lovely golden mornings you can get in August, but it wasn't to be).

Crow on hawthorn.

A view of fields over a brambly hedge.

Seagull on telegraph pole.

Favourite fence post and golden field.

And again.

A different fence post and field, a few miles further on.

This is a good route for golden fields at this time of year. Sometimes though I feel reluctant to head out this way, especially if I'd not been cycling as often as I'd like to and am feeling a little unfit. It's downhill to begin with, which is nice, except that on the way home (when I'm not quite so fresh and the old legs are tired) I have to finish the ride with a steep uphill climb. Ughhhh.

A much zoomed shot of the view of distant Glasgow tower blocks.

Curious cows, I like the expression of the one with the eye patches.

Three black cows are lined up further to the right, here I like the shape of their ears.

Ooooh, bales, I do like taking photos of bales (not sad, honest!). 

I decide to take the road past the Formakin Estate, quite a few of the lovely buildings are easily visible from the road.

The buildings are designed to look old but only date from the early 1900's.

Instead of gate posts there are little stone gate towers around the estate. This one has a rather ferny topping.

It's been a while since I've been along this road and I'd forgotten how pretty the views are.

All the estate buildings are now private dwellings.

Lovely countryside, and look, blue sky.

Umbellifers. In general, there aren't as many wildflowers along these roads as there are along the ones I've been frequenting recently.

A last set of stone gate supports.

More fields of bales.

A little red barn in the distance (for Mrs Micawber)

Now a view over the Clyde as it widens from a river to a firth.

A very green field dotted with cows and contrasting nicely with the rosebay willowherb in front. Some decorative stonework also included.

I faff around for a couple of minutes trying to get a decent shot of the gates nearby. I turn to look across to the other side of the road and...

...realise I'm causing a mini stampede.

The biggest cow line-up yet. Just a shame the hedge is a little too high to see them all clearly.

On again, more Clyde views but sadly the mountains to the north are obscured by the haze.

Up a steep hill, taking a photo of this little tin roofed building is a good excuse to stop for breath.

I like the colours of the roof. It's hard to see in the photo, but the rusting orange matches the colour of the rowan berries in the trees behind.

Harebells.

Almost at the top.

This is the view to my left. The sun is starting to shine more strongly now and it's turning out to be a gorgeous morning.

And this is the view to my right.

Now I'm at the top. It's a wonderful feeling and the views are marvellous (though difficult to capture on camera). After this point I cycle the remaining ten miles or so back home without taking many more photos. I've taken enough and it's good to just enjoy the cycling. I stop in one of the villages I pass through to visit their charity shop (one I've not been to for a while) and must put my jacket back on to make space in my rack bag for a Meakin casserole dish and lid (a not-to-be-missed bargain at £2). By the time I reach the dreaded hill before home I'm feeling a little hot.

Just before the hill I pass the tree at the corner, which always calls for a photo. And I get up the hill without too much puffing at all so I'll fear it less next time I'm out.