29 February 2016

our woodland garden walk








Ever since childhood I've found something quite magical about a woodland walk. Well this is ours, not a real woodland perhaps, just a few trees, but it has the feel, to me at least, of childhood woodland walks, of a magical place to explore. Each year I plant more bulbs and last year we added a few rhododendron to divide the area and make a proper little walk, so eventually as they grow you won't look back and see where you just came from!

Look back to see this area of our garden in 2013 here.


23 February 2016

lately



  • mimosa in Embankment gardens, London
  • reading Life in the Treetops, by Margaret Lowman
  • wrapped up in my warm coat as I wait for the train
  • made a little mountain at pottery
  • contrasting foliage, Embankment gardens
  • palms outside the office where I work

22 February 2016

garden improvements



I took a few minutes to nip round the garden the other morning and take a few photographs. I wanted to document some improvements we've been making. We are lucky to have a beautiful flint wall running the length of our garden, lucky until a section came tumbling down last year! Fortunately we were able to employ a really skilled guy to repair it (not the section shown here by the way) and when he'd finished the big repair he made good any other little bits while we set to work removing a tonne of ivy that had crept and crawled it's way over most of the wall. So now it's revealed in all it's beautiful flint glory.  We're currently busy putting in a wooden edge to hold all those bark chippings up that bank under the apple trees and keep them from spilling down onto the lawn. I'm also sharing a shady little corner, that's getting quite pretty as the hellebores flourish. 

20 February 2016

our ducks and their garden






If you've been reading this blog a while you'll remember Tit and Pie, our adorable ducks. If not that's Pie in the foreground and Tit at the back, she's extra special to us as we hatched her ourselves in a homemade incubator. Tit's had a tough start to the year, she lost the sight in one eye. We're not sure how it happened but she sustained an injury to the eye which caused an infection. Fortunately she's a strong duck and with the help of some wonderful vets, antibiotics and painkillers she's on the mend. 

15 February 2016

pottery class


I started attending a pottery class last autumn, it's a really nice relaxing way to spend a Monday evening. I've made a few different things, mostly plant pots. But this was something different, some dangly things: a good way to experiment with glazes and whatnot. 


11 February 2016

houseplants enjoying the morning light




I've been working from home today, caught these guys basking in the morning sunshine. 

4 February 2016

lately





  • time for coffee here
  • crossing the Thames
  • on the Southbank
  • birds relax on the river
  • looking up as I wait for the train

I slipped out of the habit of posting pictures as often as I had been, changing to black and white for a week seems to have given me a push in the right direction.