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!
