Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts

Sunday, 7 June 2015

In English Country Gardens

Morning everyone, hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Yesterday, my bestest and our DDs went along to an Open Garden Afternoon in one of our local villages in the Charnwood Forest.  I usually miss the event due to this and that, but this year things worked out just perfectly.  The weather was super, sunny, warm but not too hot - just as well really as we walked a lot and it was very hilly in places! There were plant sales, and one house opened up it's garden as an impromptu café - the lady there made delicious cakes, Sue and I had pineapple fruit cake and our daughters had the rich chocolate cake - very scrummy indeed.

So, on to the gardens but I must give Due Warning - this will be a very photo heavy post!

The first garden we visited was owned by a sweet couple who had founded the Open Gardens Event almost 30 years ago...








This sweet little chap kept an eye on the proceedings...


The next garden was long and narrow and full of the most lovely things...








And of course, everywhere we visited there were wonderful flowers...






I was delighted to find that one lovely old cottage on one of our walking routes was open to visit - we often peek over the hedge and say "wouldn't it be lovely to visit that garden?"





Summer fruit and vegetables...




flowers, birdhouses and lanterns decorates the borders...





All in all, it was a lovely afternoon.  At the moment we are in the middle of a major "re-furb" of our garden, we have built a new shed and have almost finished replacing the fences.  So now we are almost ready to start planting anew, although there are some old shrubs to be tackled before that can happen.  But looking around these beautifully tended gardens certainly was inspirational, and gave some food for thought!

Hope you get some time to spend in your garden today!

Helenxx

Tuesday, 3 March 2015

Real Alcazar Gardens

Hello again, hope your week is going well so far.

In my last post I mentioned the hugely impressive gardens of the Real Alcazar - what a treat they were, I really wish that I could share the scent of the myrtle and the orange trees along with these photos - it was intoxicating.

Palm and orange trees against the blue sky of Al Andalus...



Sweeping vistas...



The building on the left is a wedding pavilion, built by the King for his bride...


It was a very warm day, 21 degrees Celsius, so a shady part of the garden was a very welcome place for a little sit down and a rest...


These beautiful fellows are really quite tame...



Some amazing flowers and plants...




Running water everywhere, the engineering of supplying water to the population of a large city was something the Moorish designers put in place a thousand years ago, amazing...






Truly an amazing place to visit, absolutely magical - probably the best gardens I have ever visited (and that is saying something as I have been blessed to visit some very special gardens).

Hopefully back soon with our visit to the Catedral and our climb of the Giralda Tower!

Helenxx

Saturday, 14 February 2015

Hearts and flowers

Good morning everyone - hope you are well and that you are looking forward to the weekend.  I have had a very hectic 6 weeks since Christmas at work.  I have fallen behind in so many things, including blogging.  But there have been very nice things happening as well, including my birthday, wedding anniversary and some little local walks out and about.  And now it is the start of the Half Term Break :)

As today is Valentines Day I thought I would share a few "Hearts and Flowers" themed photos.  My DH bought me two lovely bunches of flowers for our anniversary which are still looking great, and the scent of them is quite intoxicating (there was also a yummy box of chocolates but they disappeared quite quickly...)

A fabulous mixed bunch of lilies and roses in deep pink shades...





Then a bunch of lilies in a most unusual shade of purple, here in the photos they look blue, but trust me they are deep purple...



Here are our cards on the mantelpiece, together with a little pot of daffodils I picked up in the supermarket for £1 (bargain!!)...


We don't really celebrate Valentines Day as such as our Wedding Anniversary is so close to it, but I hope you have a lovely day, whether you celebrate or not.

To close, there must be a loving feeling in the air as even the cats (who don't get on that well) are sharing some of my crocheted cushions...


Happy Valentines Day!


Helenxx