greenbenchramblings

A Family Holiday in Scotland – Part 5 New Lanark

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 31, 2018

On one day during our week’s hoiday in the Scottish Borders, we spent time exploring the heritage site at New Lanark, a once busy place in a steeply sided valley, being reborn with a new identity. It is still a living and working village.

From the carpark we had to walk down a steep but winding path to get down to the site as it was designed and built all around the River Clyde. The view from the top though was so amazing, I just had to get down there, albeit it rather slowly.

Once down in the valley bottom the sheer immensity and solidity of the old mill buildings became apparent. In its heighday it must have been noisy, busy and unpleasant so seeing it now all cleaned up is rather strange. It is good however to see it being reborn. There is a real sense of pride here.

In its former life it was a group of 4 mills and their support buildings, homes for the employees and even “The Institute” formed by Robert Owen in 1816. All the buildings are built of a beautiful pale local sandstone and local slate for the roofs. They look so sturdy! They have now all been cleaned up and given a new lease of life, a new sense of purpose. The river that runs through the valley providing water for the factories is now a nature reserve. The whole site is home for many but also a massive tourist attraction.

On top of Mill 2 is a discovery waiting for all visitors to find, but you have to be pretty stubborn to get there, as the signage is not good at all. It is even hard to find where to start the ascent!

It is a roof garden featuring strong design in the hard surfaces and a collection of sculptures.

Inside the old mills are a few signs of their busy past, now silent.

We loved the sight of this inspiring sign, with words of Robert Owen, a philanthropic social reformer who aimed to make the lives of mill workers and their families more bearable.

Tags architecture, industrial revolution, mill towns, New Lanark, Scotland

arboreta garden paths garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs trees woodland woodlands

A family holiday in Scotland – Part 4 – Dawyck Botanic Gardens

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 27, 2018
2 Comments on A family holiday in Scotland – Part 4 – Dawyck Botanic Gardens

Jude and I had the opportunity to spend a day at Dawyck Botanic Garden, a garden which is part of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. What made our visit extra special was that we took our little granddaughter Arabella with us. At just 20 months old she is a great lover of gardens and especially trees.

Dawyck is a woodland garden rich with trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials to back them up. We have visited so many woodland gardens and arboreta over the years but we were amazed by how large Dawyck’s specimen trees were, the largest in girth and height we have ever seen.

Arabella was fascinated by the disinfectant pads which visitors had to walk through to help prevent the spread of tree desease to help protect our trees. Good to see the garden setting a good example. Too many of our trees seem to be under threat. Once Arabella realised we were off exploring the woodland she wanted her explorers back pack on. Then she was off!

We wandered off trying but failing to follow the yellow way-marked trail, stopping regularly to look up at the tallest trees and touch their bark and study their leaves.

A new word appeared for Arabella when she saw these trees – ENORMOUS! This was always followed a big “WOW”.

Arabella did however wear herself out so succumbed to a sleep time so Jude and I enjoyed a good rest too.

We were so fortunate to visit Dawyck on a day with brilliant light quality that emphasised texture and patterens in foliage and bark.

But trees cannot take all the praise as herbaceous perennials and ferns were of equal interest and beautifuly displayed and cared for.

I have saved this tree until last as it took our breath away and sent our granddaughter speechless for a while until she blurted out excitedly, “More enormous!”

It is rare that you can say that the seats in the cafe were worth a mention but these at Dawyck were beautifully carved from wood and each was original. They were comfortable too! A good end to an exceptional day with trees and a young tree appreciator.

Tags ancient trees, children and gardening, children and gardens, Dawyck, Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, garden trees, hardy perennials, herbaceous plants, ornamental trees, perennials, trees in the garden, woodland garden, woodland gardening, woodland gardens, woodland walks

allotments garden design garden photography gardens gardens open to the public kitchen gardens Land Art landscapes sculpture

A family holiday to Scotland – Part 3- Little Sparta

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 24, 2018
1 Comment on A family holiday to Scotland – Part 3- Little Sparta

For a long time we have wanted to visit the garden at Little Sparta near Glasgow, so when holidaying nearby we just had to pay it a visit. Often places you have waited for with high expectations turn out to be less than you hope for but Little Sparta proved to be more than expected. Jude and I visited with our son and daughter-in-law, Jamie and Sam and our granddaughter Arabella, a twenty-month old garden and nature lover.

Little Sparta is the garden created by artist Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006). It was started 50 years ago, created from the natural landscape and is described in the leaflet given to garden visitors as “a beautiful and shaded place, with trees, flower beds, running streams, bridges, ponds and paths, which lead you past more than 200 artworks many of them carved with inscriptions that will take you into the world of classical Greece and Rome, poetry and philosophy, but also the French Revolution, naval ships, armed conflict and weapons of war.”

So we arrived with expectations of surprises and originality.

We parked in the tiny carpark and followed a rough gravel track for almost half a mile up the slope to the garden entrance. We can’t remember visiting many gardens without vehicle access at least reasonably close. The walk up took us through beautiful Scottish farmland complete with sheep and cattle.

The gateway presented a warm welcome but was somewhat of a trick as it was not the actual entrance to the garden which was a short distance along the stone wall.

With every turn of a path new and very varied vistas presented themselves, close tight places and larger open landscapes.

Surprises in the form of stone sculptures and stone calligraphy add to the delight of this garden and help us understand its designer.

A real surprise was a fruit and veg patch which had the feel of a true old-fashioned allotment.

Tags garden sculpture, Ian Hamilton Finlay, land art, Little Sparta, outdoor art, outdoor sculpture, Scotland, Scottish Borders

landscapes

A Family Holiday in Scotland – Part 2 – strolling down the glen

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 21, 2018
1 Comment on A Family Holiday in Scotland – Part 2 – strolling down the glen

Part 2 of this little series concerning our family holiday in the Scottish Borders, explores a gentle stroll down a beautiful Scottish glen. But first let’s share with you our lovely holiday cottage, a Scottish longbarn conversion, and its amazing grounds.

If the weather is sunny and there are any plants in the garden Arabella loves watering them, but usually has to water her feet first.

Come for us now for a wander around the cottage’s grounds and up its driveway, full of wildflowers, scented plants and mature native trees.

Whenever we went out for the day we began by driving down that lovely driveway which was a great way to start the day. Early on in our week Jude and I with son Jamie, daughter-in-law Sam and 18 month old granddaughter Arabella took off to visit a local glen.

So, come with us on our little walk, a slow walk at Arabella pace.

We were amazed by how many wildflowers we spotted in both quantity and numbers of different ones. Wildlife seemed to really appraciate these plants.

I think the best way to share our walk with you is via a gallery of my photographs, so please click on the first picture and then navigate using the right arrow. Enjoy!

We hope you enjoyed visiting our holiday cottage and its grounds and sharing our walk in the beautiful glen.

Tags family, family time, holidays, landscape, landscape photography., landscapes, Scotland, Scottish Borders

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A family holiday in Scotland – Part 1 – Pooh Sticks in the park

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 18, 2018
1 Comment on A family holiday in Scotland – Part 1 – Pooh Sticks in the park

Back in the summer of 2018 we spent a family holiday up in the Scottish Borders. Jude and I with our children and their spouses, Jamie and Sam, Jo and Rob and our granddaughter Arabella stayed in a beautifully converted Scottish longbarn. So here is a series of posts all about a super week.

“Pooh Sticks” is becoming a bit of a family tradition and a favourite activity wherever a stream and bridge can be found. Such an opportunity was presented to us at the beginning of our family holiday in Scotland.

A beautiful little clear stream made its way through the public park, which was at the centre of Biggar village, close to our family holiday home. This was just what we needed for our Pooh Sticks challenge fun. We have taken part in the World Pooh Sticks Championships in the past which was great fun but somewhat marred by some entrants who took it far too seriously, so we decided a family version would be far more leisurely and enjoyable.

We prepared about colourd 50 sticks (a very time consuming job!) and cut them to length. The whole group then did a serious check of the stream and bridge.

We were then ready for the off! Two at a time we each skillfully dropped a stick into the stream. Little Arabella soon grasped the rules and won a few rounds. As we slowly worked our way through many heats contestants got knocked out and our numbers reduced until the grand final when just two contestants were left. Tensions ran high!

After we crowned Vicky the champion we celebrated with a picnic at the huge table just a few yards from the stream and its bridge. Arabella always loves a picnic and was ready and waiting even before Graham arrived with the picnic from the car.

After a picnic break and a quick game of family football with Arabella’s little plastic colourful ball it was time to explore and enjoy the playground, swings first, with Arabella calling out “Higher! Higher!”

The

Followed by the crows’ nest.

We spent hours in the park that day and really enjoyed family time. It was to prove a great start to a great holiday. See part 2 for the next adventure.

Tags Biggar, family, family time, playgrounds, Pooh Sticks, Scotland, Scottish Borders

birds countryside landscapes National Trust pathways photography The National Trust the sea the seaside the shore

A coastal walk in Cornwall

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 15, 2018
3 Comments on A coastal walk in Cornwall

While on a week’s break in Cornwall we decided to try a coastal walk and also decided that the day to do it would be the anniversary of my surgery to rebuild my right leg. Before my surgeon performed this complex 5 hour operation I was able to walk a few hundred yard at a struggle and in pain, so I was determined to see what I could do exactly a year on.

We had a great coffee and brownies at a beach cafe and took off. Immediately the path went steeply uphill and we could soon look back to the town we had left from, Portreath.

We had not been to Cornwall for years and quickly remembered just how beautiful the coast line is, with every step giving us breathtaking views.

We took regular breaks for drinks of water and a close look at our walk map. We stopped or slowed all the time simply to take in the beauty of the landscape we were walking through and to check up on my newly rebuilt right leg! Just after this particular stop we were entertained by a pair of Kestrels hunting as a duo team playing and following their instincts. We walked alongside them as companions for a good half mile enjoying their antics and acrobatics before they finallyy turned away.

A seriously steep sided couple of valleys were our hardest challenge of the walk. The first we had to zigzag down sometimes using steps cut into the valley side to climb the steepest sections. A fallen plank bridge, the only way to cross a deeply cut stream, meant a scramble to get across the trickling water. It was a great relief to get over and begin the ascent. The second valley side was a walk along steep stone tracks.

We met a couple of brothers sharing a walk who stopped to talk and were fascinated to meet us with me tackling this long difficult walk with a walking stick. They asked if we would like our photo taken, a suggestion we accepted readily. They were great to talk to and gave us chance to catch our breath too.

The half way point was at Derrick Cove, our signal to start the return leg of our walk, but not until a twenty minute rest and plenty of water. We had walked three and a half miles and knew we had the same to do to get back.

We decided to walk a slightly different way to avoid the steepest valley climb, but this meant walking along a road for a while. It meant also dropping down into Portreath from a different direction so we enjoyed different views of the town for the last few minutes of our walk.

So back at the car we felt elated but ached severely. We had such mixed emotions, but overall a sense of huge achievement was the strongest emotion of all.

Tags cliffs, coast, coastal path, Cornwall, National Trust, The National Trust, walking

autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials ornamental trees and shrubs Powis Powys trees Winter Gardening winter gardens woodland woodlands

The Dingle Garden in November

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 11, 2018

Back to wander around the gardens at the Dingle near Welshpool, for our November visit. We expected big changes after recent strong winds and heavy rain. We did not anticipate seeing many leaves left on deciduous trees and shrubs, but hoped for signs of late autumn colours in foliage and berries.

The first pic at the start of this post shows one leaf that was still hanging on against all odds, even after all our recent strong winds and storms. Below is a selection of photos of flowers still going strong in the woodland garden, some late blooms from the summer and some early winter blooms.

Throughout the woodland garden where there was a clearing the ground was covered in low growing perennials often covered with a carpet of fallen leaves.

During our visits over the year to The Dingle Gardens there has been an area that has been much wetter than elsewhere, often with water running off the bank across the paths and on down to the lake. On this visit we noticed and heard that work was in hand to add extra drainage systems to rectify the problem.

Berries are signs of the year’s end, there to help keep the plant populations viable. Alongside them in this garden of trees and shrubs there were signs of new life in the form of leaf and flower buds waiting to unfold for us to enjoy in the future.

There was so much to enjoy as we wandered the garden paths that I took lots of photographs, so I thought I would finish our November post about our Dingle Garden visits with a photo gallery. As usual click on the first photo and navigate using the right arrow.

So just one more post to go which will be for our December visit to this wonderful woodland garden.

Tags autumn, autumn berries, autumn colours, autumn gardens, autumn leaves, berried shrubs, berried trees, gardens of Powys, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, Powis, Powys, The Dingle Welshpool, Welsh gardens, Welshpool, woodland garden, woodlands

arboreta autumn autumn colours colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture sculpture trees

Autumn in an Arboretum and Afternoon Tea

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 7, 2018

We were lucky to receive a voucher for an afternoon tea from our son Jamie and daughter-in-law Sam, and of course little Arabella and decided to redeem it at a hotel down in the Cotswolds, near the village of Moreton-in-the-Marsh.

We drove down early and spent time wandering Batsford Arboretum, enjoying the colours of autumn leaves before the winds blew them from the branches. It was a dull day but the foliage glowed through the gloom. Most colour came from Acers and Liquidamber of many varieties of each. The wind had already whipped many leaves from their branches.

Of course autumn isn’t complete without the red, pinks, oranges and reds of berries, provided by Sorbus, Malus and here at Batsford by the unusual tree called Zanthoxylum planispinum (photo below left).

One area of the arboretum was strongly influenced by Japanese garden styles, complete with red painted wooden bridges.

While looking at this statue of Buddha we had to suddenly take refuge in the Japanese tea house nearby from a quick but heavy shower in.

We only just allowed ourselves enough time to reach Charingworth Manor for our afternnon tea booked for three in the afternoon. On the journey there it began to rain slightly and the temperature dropped so we were glad to get inside this beautiful Cotswold manor house to the warm and dry. We sat to enjoy our tea close to a huge log fireplace of golden Cotswold stone.

What a great day we had with autumn foliage, an amble around an arboretum finished off in style with afternoon tea.

Tags arboreta, arboretum, aut, autumn, autumn colours, autumn leaves, Batsford Arboretum, deciduous trees, garden in autumn, Gloucestershire, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees

autumn autumn colours colours garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials ornamental grasses ornamental trees and shrubs trees

My Garden Journal 2018 – November

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 3, 2018
2 Comments on My Garden Journal 2018 – November

This is the penultimate post in this 12 part series about my 2018 Garden Journal so here is what was happening in our patch in November.

The first couple of pages dealt with the continued redevelopment of our old hot garden. We intended to give it a completely new look including bark access paths through it.

I wrote, “The re-development of the old hot garden continued to the end of the month and into the first days of November.” The first picture shows Jude the Undergardener holding up a huge root which Ian managed to dig out of the bed. He had to cut it off at both ends as it was extending beneath the lawn in one direction and out of our garden in another. It sat horizontally in the soil just above the boulder clay layer. We have no idea what plant it belonged to originally. One of our gardening mysteries! The second photo shows Ian our garden helper raking over the soil which he had meticulously double dug after adding lots of organic compost. This first addition of compost was dug in before a second batch was added as a thick mulch.

We then laid a path of bark over membrane before getting ready to enjoy planting both our new and saved plants.

On the right hand page I looked at how Jude spent time early in the month cleaning pots, cleaning the glass in the greenhouse and putting up bubblewrap insulation. Once done this allowed us to move my succulent collection into the winter safety to be found under glass. “Jude washed and cleaned all our plastic pots so that we can reuse them. Our hot bench was cleaned up and bubblewrap put up in place as insulation. My succulent collection is now snug and secure in the sparkling clean greenhouse.”

Turning over to my next double page spread I looked at our fruit and the continuation of planting up the new border.

I wrote, “This is the latest in any year that we have harvested our crop of apples from our main trees and heritage cordons. We have used the beautiful book “The Apple Book” by Rosie Sanders to check the indentification of those apples whose labels have been lost. The apples are now ready for storage and we will hopefully enjoy them through to the end of March.”

Sometimes fruit can surprise us. “This year saw us grow the biggest pear we have ever seen. Jude has now put our apples in store and I have printed new labels for every apple tree. The next stage will be to enjoy eating our apples from storage and then next spring the blossom will return.”

My diary moved on to look at us planting up the newly created border which used to be our Hot Border, “After a few days away in London we returned refreshed and ready to continue with our new border. Planting grasses and herbaceous perennials topped off by bulb planting gave us several days work. Work we love doing!”

“We planted hundreds of bulbs and dozens of grasses and perennials, all in the dry week given to us in mid-November.”

Next I moved on to consider one of our favourite tree families the Sorbus and on the opposite page I sought out flowers choosing to brighten us up in gloomy November.

“We love Sorbus in their many guises but particularly delight in the cut leaf berrying varieties. When we lost our mature tree of Quince vranja we decided to replace it with another Sorbus to add to our small collection. November is the key month for Sorbus as the fire like colours of foliage adds another layer of interest on top of their delicately cut foliage and their colourful berries. Below are some of our Sorbus trees.

Sorbus Joseph Rock Sorbus Autumn Spire

Sorbus Autumn Spire Sorbus aucuparia

Sorbus Apricot Queen Sorbus Apricot Queen

Sorbus vilmorinii Sorbus vilmorinii

On the page opposite the Sorbus I share the flowers that cheer up the November garden.

“The flowers of November are fewer than earlier in the year but this makes every one of them extra special.”

The colour orange features on the left hand side of my next double page spread, where I look at the variety of orange featuring in our November garden.

“Orange is the dominant foliage colour in our November garden, as shrubs, trees and grasses set fire to the borders.”

Opposite the oranges was a delicate watercolour pencil sketch of a hosta leaf, about which I wrote, “Take one leaf, a hosta leaf drying out and draining of colour.”

The final page for November considers colours once again. November was a very colourful month overall.

A set of eight photos display colours from our shrubs, and alongside I wrote, “Deep into the month there is still so much colour in the garden. Some foliage deepens to rich ruby shades.”

The final photo is of the foliage of a special small tree, a viburnum with leaves which make you think it is a betula at first sight. “The leaves of Viburnum betulifolium change colour so slowly with subtle deepening from bronze to dark red.”

So there is just one monthly report left to write in my Garden Journal for 2018, December, which will be my next post in this series.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, autumn gardens, autumn leaves, berried trees, berries, fruit and veg growing, fruit., garden in autumn, ornamental grasses, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees, sorbus

architecture buildings London photography townscapes Uncategorized

A Short Break in London – Part 5

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 1, 2018
3 Comments on A Short Break in London – Part 5

Here we are back with my final post about our short break in London, looking at the day we visited Carnaby Street a fabled street when we were teenagers. It was strange though how wide it seems now and how commercialised. And so busy! That aspect of its character certainly has not changed. We were sad that it was our last day, we had loved our hotel and every aspect of our capital city. These great chairs were the highlight of the hotel foyer! Great shape and super colours!

But first we were treated to a special breakfast at TheWolseley, once the showroom for theWolseley Car company. What an impressive building, and so easy to imagine it lined up with glossy black limousines and ultra-smart salesmen. Today it makes an equally impressive restaurant, smart throughout including the crockery and cutlery and of course the waiters and waitresses, dressed as smartly as possible. What a treat indeed!

So now for a wander at London’s well-known buildings, Hatchards the booksellers, Liberty’s, The Royal Academy, Fortnum and Mason’s and Carnaby Street itself. We had a tour of places we wanted to see and places that Jo and Rob wanted us to see. Quite a mixture! It was the day of the great march when nearly 700 000 people called for a new and more honest Brexit vote. We discovered odd placards which we enjoyed agreeing with.

The buildings housing The Royal Academy were proud and imposing. We walked beneath a gateway into an internal courtyard which surprisingly displayed a strange wooden house. I enjotyed spotting a statue of one of my heroes, Carl Linnaeus.

Crazy Carnaby Street was busy, colourful but not quite what we were expecting and it was hard to explain why.

A taxi back to the hotel to pick up our gear then another to run us to the railway station ended our greatly enjoyable weekend break. We just have to go back in the spring and/or summer over the next couple of years. Thanks to Jo and Rob who gave us the confidence to return after so long.