Homestead Woodland Garden and allotment visit
Hello m' posh pies,
Let's have a quick cuppa and peek at what's growing in the garden. Then I'll share some pictures from a visit to my brother's new allotment and the Homestead Woodland Garden. With the tulips and daffodils done and dusted, the forget-me-nots are hanging on in there and the pot Irises, Granny's Bonnets and Weigelia have moved to centre stage.
Iris hollandica 'Blue Magic'
Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow' (aka Granny's Bonnets)
Above: Weigela florida
Some of you were getting a bit fancy in response to my pit enterprise, invented 'Bucks Piss' drink a couple of weeks ago (see Blossom and Brick post here).
So here are some Elderflowers that can be thrown in with the grapefruit 'jus'....
is that posh enough for ya???
Before I could plant my dahlias out in the old veggie bed, I had to shoo along some red onions that I sowed from seed two years ago.
They're not much bigger than the ones you would buy as 'sets', but are lovely as salad onions
and thrown into stir fries -
I had a sleepless night thinking about the march of mutant slugs descending on my baby dahlias.
Here they all are, minus two that are currently refusing to sprout -
On my first visit to my brother and sister-in-laws new allotment this week,
I noticed one plot holder was growing their tatties in seaweed -
The allotments over look the Helford River (too mizzly to see the day I visited) and are owned by the National Trust. At £30 a year for a half plot, my brother's got himself a cracking little spot, all turned over and ready to plant. I took along some 'Crystal Lemon' and 'Burpless' cucumbers and a small red currant bush.
Of course, a pre-work pasty and tour round all the plots was needed! -
There's my future house in the background (house left).
All I need is around 1.5 Million. Until then, the willow den will do.
I must have counted at least nine ponds, all with tadpoles.
This plot holder I imagined to have perfectly plucked eyebrows, neatly folded laundry
and a pristine car -
Although I am tempted to get a plot, I think I have my work cut out for me back at Long Mizzle.
I will endeavor to steal some of my brother's Gooseberries though later in the summer.
Last week we visited the Homestead Woodland Garden near Helston.
Here are some highlights -
It was no surprise that the kids wanted to stay the whole time in the woodland play area.
A nice little cafe for icecream and tea, complete with somewhere to park up your horse, if needed -
Does anyone know what this lovely shrub / small tree is (?).
There are plenty of sculptures to seek out -
I personally got a little obsessed with the greenhouse full of succulents -
Thank you for visiting!
Please let me know if you have stopped by in the comments section below.
Most recent posts can be found here -
What a lovely little place, made all the more lovely with the addition of a pasty and ice-cream place! X
ReplyDeleteCheers Jess. Both pasties and ice cream have magic powers! xXx
DeleteGood mornin' lovely lady (I'm sure you must be) ;-) Every time I see packets of pork scratchings I imagine them to be the scabs scritched off a pigs back. I couldn't put one in my mouth if you paid me. I drooled when you took us into that greenhouse. I have a yearning for a long low wooden one and I'd spend my whole life in it. I'd install a little wood burning stove, a kettle and two chairs. It doesn't take much to keep me happy.
ReplyDeletePork scratching are revolting...especially when your get a chunk that looks an ear :0 I joke about the house, but really, I too am happy with a little patch of land and would quite happily live in a shed. Less house work that way. Lulu xXx
DeleteWhat a lovely post - yours are always worth waiting for :) I love the pork scratchings... no idea what that shrub is - looks a bit rhododendron family? I am on a waiting list for an allotment (gave one up years ago as was too busy being important at work and always regretted it so hoping they will forgive me and give me a nice plot, like now! theres a huge waiting list so I could be a pensioner by the time it turns up... oh well only four years to wait then lol. Your BIL/SIL allotment is wonderful and I like your future house although I would have net curtains so the rif raf over on the allotments can't spy on me but a little side gate so I could pinch the odd bit of their produce when nobody was looking :)
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed for the allotment Betty. I don't know how they gage these waiting lists, as they can't really predict people coming and going. Years ago I was on one, and they said "four years" but then phoned less than two years later...by which time I was busy being important in a traveling band so had to pass on it.
DeleteWhat can you do about this allotment riff raff eh!? High security fence? Lulu xXx
Lovely post Lulu. Your garden looks better and better every week! I wonder whether you need to season potatoes grown in seaweed..? Love the look of Homestead Woodland Garden. That curved mirror sculpture is very effective and I also have a growing appreciation of succulents, but sadly nowhere sunny enough to grow them. That said, I do currently have a Black Rose Aeonium on my window ledge, which will be going outside on the patio soon. I fell in love with them when I saw them growing in the flower beds at NT's Arlington Court last year. Property prices are crazy in parts of Cornwall aren't they? We love Dawn French's house on the cliff at Fowey. Apparently she's just sold it for a cool £3m. x Claire
ReplyDeleteThanks Claire :) I bet they'll be proper tasty tatties. Black Rose Aeonium are one of my favourite plants. They seem to grow like beasts down here, and can often be found, with other succulents, at the local carboot sales (when they're on). Ooh, a visit Arlington Court, lucky you.
DeleteI LOVE Dawn French! Apparently in a recent newsletter to Falmouth Uni students (where she accepted the position of Vice Chancellor, on the condition they made her a special crown), she headed it with 'Hello, it's Dawn French here from the '80s'. Lulu xXx
I really enjoy your posts, Lulu. I wonder if that tree is either a red crab apple or one of the red flesh apples? The woodland and sculpture garden looks wonderful - lots to see and be inspired by.
ReplyDeleteHave a happy gardening week.
Best wishes
Ellie
Thank you Ellie, very kind of you :) I think you may be onto something with the red crab apple. The problem with visiting lovely gardens is I come back with grandiose ideas! Happy gardening to you too. Lulu xXx
DeleteThat sign about kids being sold to the circus is the best thing ever, I love it!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is looking amazing, you ought to charge the general public to visit, it'd keep you in Bucks Piss!
Your borther's allotment is gorgeous, another gardener in the family. Fancy the National trust having allotments and what a great price.
The succulent greenhouse is gorgeous, I fell in love with a Bonsai greenhouse in a park in Delhi a couple of years ago, it was roped off but I snuck in as I couldn't resist it.
Jon's very partial to his Friday night Black Country pork scratchings, I prefer yours, I bet it smells better than those foul things! xxx
Haha, problem was, I think the kids wanted to be sold to the circus Vix! My brother and sister-in-law have really got the gardening bug in the past year or so, and it is so great they have an allotment. I have heard about the NT giving land to allotment societies elsewhere in the country (I must have seen it on TV) but this is the first one I've personally come across.
DeleteI wish I had seen that Bonsai greenhouse when I visited Dehli! Eugh, just imagining the smell of Pork Scratchings makes me heave a little :0 Lulu xXx
that first photo - of your garden - is awesome!! <3
ReplyDeletewe have to wait another month to have elderflower for our drinks....
and your brother got a neat little patch of soil.... love how different the other plots are. and yes - show me your garden and i tell who you are :-D
homestead woodland garden looks gorgeous with the sculpures and playgrounds - love the sign
;-DDD
never saw such beautiful succulents - and the greenhouse itself is fab too.........
xxxxx
Thank you Beate :) There's a daft TV show over here called 'Through the Keyhole' with an exaggerated northern character called Keith Lemon rummaging around under people's sinks and panty draws. The studio guests then have to try to guess 'who could live in a house like this'. I wish they'd spend some more time in the gardens.
DeleteI sense a succulent craze coming on! Lulu xXx
Love your photo at the head of your post - superb. Glad to say my dahlia are now poking their heads out of the ground now. Lots of luck with attracting that 1.5 million! You never know in life ... All good wishes, it is always uplifting to read your posts ~ Mike.
ReplyDeleteThank you :) Yay! Here come the dahlias. A lotto win is out of the question, as I don't play it and apparently you have to be in it to win it :0 Take care Mike , Lulu xXx
DeleteMagical place! love it!
ReplyDeleteXx
Hello Marsia, thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a lovely comment.
DeleteI can see you have a blog so will pop over soon for a nosey.
Lulu xXx
Sorry I mispelled you name Marisa ('Marsia' :0 ) !!! Ol' glass eyed mumrah pointed it out to me. She's still checking my spellings after forty years ;) Never was top of the class with spellings x
DeleteThat allotment is lovely infact the whole place is. I could spend all day in a place like that. I wish I could sell my kids to the circus even if I am missing them terribly at the moment.
ReplyDeleteWe escape the hotel today . I think my dad has an allotment, I know he did have one, but he didn’t like were it was as it was near a motorway. But he did grow awesome swedes!!
I would love to grow veg but they all die on me!! I thought copper tape kept slugs away or are they mutant !! just let them drown in smartprice beer!!
Take care and keep safe
Thank you Allie Jane :) So glad your quarantine period is complete and you can now escape the hotel. My dad used to have an allotment not far from a motorway, but some Manc scamp used to come along and nick all the produce :0 Copper tape with a 9volt battery circuit attached seems to do the trick! I am reluctant to waste beer on those mutant mollusc fiends, smartprice or not, but needs must sometimes ;) Lulu xXx
DeleteThose gardens look lovely. We are coming down to Cornwall for the May half term week and won't be that far from Helston so have added that to my list of places of visits. It's great to have new places to visit so thankyou for sharing that info and your photos.
ReplyDeleteHello Devon Mum, oh lovely, not long then! We just had tea and icecream at the Homestead cafe, but the food looked / smelt good. The sculpture and woodland garden is free and it is £4 per adult to enter the private kitchen & pond side area. I hope you have a wonderful time and that the weather favours you. Will you share some adventures on your blog? Lulu xXx
DeleteI have to say I am worried about the weather with all this rain we are having. We have tickets to go over to St Michaels Mount but other than that will just decide on the day what we are doing. Girls have wetsuits and bodyboards so I shall probably spend a fair bit of time huddled in my coat on the beach watching them! Will try to remember to take photos to post when I get back.
DeleteI love the gardens at St Michaels Mount, but haven't been for many years. You enjoy them! ..but watch, that tide comes in quickly on the path :0 Although the ferry is fun. I will look out for some piccies when you return. Lulu x
DeleteHahaha, I love the Pork Scratchings! I know my husband would say that's me if he saw it (he's asleep on the sofa next to me!) as I have a perpetually itchy back and I'm always trying to scratch it to pieces when I'm in the shower or getting into bed- I can never reach it. Occasionally, he'll scratch it for me but most of the time he refuses saying that he isn't a scratching post.
ReplyDeleteYour brother's allotment is great! So nice he's getting into growing so much! The gardens were also a delight to see. I am quite sure the kids adored the woodland! So nice for them to have the opportunity to visit it!
Haha, I didn't know you were an itchy piggy Kezzie! I wonder if your door frames have the tell tale scratch signs on them, just as those trees do in the video. It was lovely seeing my brother and sister-in-law's allotment and I can't wait to see how it grows. The kids are easily pleased- with fresh air, witchy dens and tree swings. Lulu xXx
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