Visiting Clumber Park is one of those days out where the minute you arrive, you just know it’s going to be brilliant. We’ve been meaning to visit for such a long time and we finally managed it over the bank holiday weekend. Covering over 3,800 acres of parkland, heath and woods in North Nottinghamshire, Clumber Park was once the country estate of the Dukes of Newcastle. The original house is no longer there but there are lots of other ...
An English coastal country garden
This week's slice of garden loveliness comes from my mum-in-law's garden in Devon. We visited at the start of the school holidays and while the sun shone I spent a happy hour amongst the flowers with my camera. When Penny and Mike moved to Devon 16 years ago their house had a large patch of land at the back but no garden to speak of - so they just created one from scratch. Among the countless hours of work this involved was the scarily huge ...
An unruly Summer allotment
It's been a while since I shared any pictures of our allotment. This hasn't been deliberate, I just haven't got myself organised! I feel like I've been behind the whole way with the allotment this year. Last year I had the plot rotavated in early Spring, which meant I was good to go with the planting nice and early. This year however there's a greenhouse slap bang in the middle of the plot, a few raised beds and some permanent fruit canes, ...
The oldest allotments in Britain
I bet the word ‘allotment’ conjures up an image in your mind something like this: a small-ish site, plots laid out in rectangles, each one completely visible, lots of sheds, greenhouses and compost bins. St Anns Allotments are nothing like this. St Anns allotments are the oldest detached town gardens in Britain, possibly the world; it’s history goes back over 600 years. The Grade 2 listed site is huge - 75 acres with 700 plots. 550 ...
BBC Gardeners World Live: my highlights
Last week I spent an amazing day at the BBC Gardeners World Live show at Birmingham NEC. Such a brilliant show - I barely stopped for a break because I couldn't tear myself away from all there was to see, do and try out. I came away with a head full of ideas and, obviously, some lovely new plants - well it would be rude not to, wouldn't it?! Here are my show highlights - so hard to narrow it down! Floral Marquee I made a beeline for the ...
Blossoms, blooms & seedlings
This week in the garden it feels like I've looked away for a day or two and everything has completely changed. Flowers that were tight buds are in full bloom, seedlings that weren't even above the soil are suddenly inches tall, and there's blossom everywhere you look. I keep grabbing the kids and saying things like "look, last time we checked this wasn't here!". I'm compelled to share the magic with anyone who'll lend me their ear, and so ...
Exploring a Spring garden
Over the Easter holidays we visited my sister-in-law Sarah and her family, this week's post comes from her lovely garden. The last time we visited was back in December, it never fails to amaze me just how different the same space can feel at different times of the year. I always get loads of inspiration from Sarah's garden - and usually a bit of the green-eyed monster too, she has so much space and takes such ...
Digging, Sowing, Dodging the Rain
This week the reinforcements arrived at the allotment, and I don't mean Lily with her tiny trowel - dad arrived with his big spade! Gardening and my dad have gone together for as long as I can remember. He had an allotment when I was little and still has a vegetable plot in his immaculate garden. I love it when he comes down to give me a hand at the allotment, I always learn loads and it’s great to spend some time gardening peacefully side ...
Buds!
At last! My garden is coming to life! It feels like it's been so long coming this year; I don't know if it really has taken longer than usual for signs of Spring to appear, or if blogging about all things gardening has made me more impatient. Probably the latter! Either way, a wander with the camera this week was so exciting; all that longed-for new life emerging! It put a smile on my face and really energised me, I love how stepping ...
Raised bed rejuvenation
I think we’ve all got a spot in our garden that niggles at us. This week I’ve been tackling the one that’s been niggling at me for about 5 years now! We don’t have a garden at the front of our house, but there is a small raised bed which we look out onto from the lounge. This bed was home to a very stubborn ivy which was always engulfing the gatepost, and the soil was constantly escaping through the stones onto the drive. I wanted to ...