greenbenchramblings

Simply Beautiful – 5 – purple and gold

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 24, 2017

We enjoy growing Hostas in all shapes, sizes and colours many in the garden and almost as many in pots. We simply love them! We often reach the time when we think we have room for no new ones. Until! Until we spot a special one that calls to us!

Our latest member of the Hosta family to join us is called H. Purple Heart. It had beautiful rich apple green leaves but the what made this Hosta special was the purple colour of its leaf stalk and central vein.

In the autumn the plant becomes totally different. Simply beautiful! The beauty is short lived as the autumn foliage soon rots and the glossy purple stems soon follow. All we have then is a pot topped off with its grit.

Tags autumn colours, bright colours, changing colours, colour combinations, colour contrasts, gold, hardy perennials, hostas, purple

autumn autumn colours colours gardens open to the public Land Art light light quality logs National Trust outdoor sculpture photography Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust trees woodland woodlands

The Line – a simple tribute to Richard Long

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 21, 2017
1 Comment on The Line – a simple tribute to Richard Long

Jude and I are great fans of land artists and are proud of our British contingency of these sculptors with big ideas. We have sought out pieces around the UK and loved the work of Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash and Richard Long in particular.

Leaving a wooded shaded area and entering a open grassland mown short by the munching mouths of deer and sheep, the sunlight caught the purity of the white fibres of the sheep wool. A simple white line, a reminder of the work of Richard Long.

Richard Long and his landscape art would soon come back to our thoughts and eyes, as we continued our wandering in the woodlands at our local National Trust property with its wonderful parkland, woodland and walled garden, we had to take a detour veering away from our usual routeway. We took a poorly marked diversion beneath open woodland of long stretched trees with narrow trunks and branches way up creating a high canopy.

Some of these trees, although relatively young tend to weaken due to competition from their neighbours simply growing too closely, and then either die off or get blown over by strong winds. On this day in late November the bright sunshine shone so low down that it lit up the felled trunks. Below I share my photograph of a thin silver line lying beneath the narrow black verticals, a broken birch bough beneath living conifers stretching to reach the light.

It put in my mind the work of Richard Long, the part played in his creativity of lines and paths. I took a few shots to put together as a short appreciation of his work.

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sb1-18 The end of the line ………………..

……………………… for now. Soon more broken bright green moss covered fallen boughs cut across our pathway. the richest green cutting through the deeply carpeted dried browns of fallen autumn leaves.

More lines appear before your eyes when you have Richard Long’s work in your mind, the wash left as a white line across the dark surface of the river, the bright line of light vertically drawn down the trunk of an ancient proud tree.

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So our visit to Attingham Park was made even more special and the experience raised even higher by linking it to Richard Long’s creativity. What a surprise!

Tags deciduous trees, land art, lines, National Trust, outdoor sculpture, Richard Long, The National Trust

buildings renovation Shropshire

Nostalgia Week – Flying Scotsman Ride

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 17, 2017
2 Comments on Nostalgia Week – Flying Scotsman Ride

The Flying Scotsman is probably the most famous railway engine in the world and remains as much a favourite now as it did in its hay-day. Recently it has been given a complete renovation and looks brand new again in its deep green livery. It was taken on a tour around the UK giving as many people as possible a chance to see and experience it and provide a few with the opportunity to ride aboard the train.

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Many people have fond memories of this stately old engine and many would jump at the chance of a ride in a train pulled by it.

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This rarest of opportunities came our way recently when the newly restored Flying Scotsman was visiting the heritage railway near us, Severn Valley Railway where for a few days people were given the chance to ride with the stately engine. Naturally Jude and I with Daughter Jo and Son-in-Law Rob jumped at the chance to do so.

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So as part of my week of nostalgia posts here is the story of that day. So many things we saw and experienced that day reminded us of childhood railway journeys that took us to holiday destinations around the British coast.

We waited patiently for the Scotsman to steam into Kidderminster Station and excitement rose as we smelt heard and then finally saw the beautiful old steam engine pull in. As it got closer the tension rose further! We would soon be off on a journey of a lifetime!

We walked slowly down the platform admiring the beautifully crafted wooden carriages where we would be spending our journey.

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Once aboard, we chose our seats, got ourselves comfortable, settled down and enjoyed a coffee as we awaited our departure from Kidderminster to make our way to Bridgnorth Station aboard the train pulled by our favourite railway engines of all time, the Flying Scotsman.

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The engine pulled its carriages out of the station, in a storm of white steam and black smoke beneath a pall of smuts and the aromas of fire, smoke, hot oil and nostalgia.

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The Flying Scotsman drew crowds wherever a road or footpath came near enough to the track to see and smell its passing. As we passed cameras were raised to eyes and a multitude of photos taken in a few moments of steamy passing. A hoot from the engine driver greeted each group of spectators who reacted with raised waving arms.

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In sidings along the way old rolling stock, goods carriages and line-repair vehicles waited their turn to be used or renovated.

A special surprise awaited as we left the station at Kidderminster, a miniature steam railway line which ran alongside the main railway. The engine doubled as a seat for the driver and children sat straddled the carriages.

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A great day of memories and full of nostalgia which Jude and I shared with our daughter Jo and son-in-law Rob. A day we will never forget!

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Come on a quick tour through my gallery of shots taken during our day with the Flying Scotsman.

Tags Flying Scotsman, old railways, railway stations, Severn Valley Railway, steam engines

photography

Nostalgia Week – Goodwood Revival

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 13, 2017
1 Comment on Nostalgia Week – Goodwood Revival

We are always delighted to get the chance to attend celebration days at the Goodwood Circuit, a special place for nostalgia! Daughter Jo and son-in-law Rob work as part of the time keeping team for the racing and they love to be a part of it, and we love to go along to enjoy and experience this wonderful day.

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We always get excited when our tickets and programme arrive.

Goodwood celebrates all things vehicular and vintage, with an emphasis on those vintage vehicles that move at speed. But surprises pop up among the fast and furious racing and sports cars, to make us smile wherever we went, like these Lamborgini tractors, a vintage ice cream van and milkman.

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There was vintage speed in the air above our heads as well as on the track in front of us on the ground.

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Most spectators dress appropriately too, adding to the unique atmosphere and adding enjoyment for everyone. Jo and Rob, and Jude and I dressed for the occasion!

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There were lots of individuals dressed as workers of the period, including teams of cleaners all called “Mrs Mop”, dancers and all the stewards were suitably dressed.

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The last race started in daylight and ended in the dark, which was quite an experience.

As we slowly walked back to the car in the dark we enjoyed watching the fairground lighting up the darkness.

Let us finish with a gallery of shots to help illustrate this most special of days. Enjoy the pics!

Tags Goodwood, Goodwood Circuit, Goodwood Revival, memories, nostalgia, revival, speed, vintage, vintage cars

allotments community gardening Shrewsbury Shropshire

A Vintage Tea Party – Bowbrook Allotment Community

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 10, 2017
1 Comment on A Vintage Tea Party – Bowbrook Allotment Community

The second post about nostalgia is all about a day back in the summer.

We decided to try something new for our 2016 summer celebrations at our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community – a vintage tea party. Jude and Liz worked hard planning and preparing for the event, ensuring we had plenty to eat and drink, the children had activities and making sure everyone knew what was going on.

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So our members donated lots of fancy home-made cakes especially little buns and fairy cakes which looked so colourful and of course tasty when our tea ladies, the Tea Bags, set them out ready for all to enjoy.

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We always cut flowers from around the site’s communal gardens to use to create table centre decorations and they always add so much to any event.

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We asked members to come dressed in vintage clothes and they rose to the challenge, which added greatly to the atmosphere. Even the Tea Bags dressed in vintage styled pinafores.

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We bought traditional lawn games for the children to enjoy. Many of these games were new to them but they were all enjoyed. It was good to hear so much children’s laughter as they skipped away, wooden blocks tumbled down as they played Tenga and quoits were thrown over targets.

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Once we launched into the tea party lots of our allotment community gardeners came along with friends and family, enjoying the chance to get together, catch up and chat in an informal atmosphere. A great time was had by all! Music from the 40’s added to the atmosphere with Glen Miller being a favourite.

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We had a few other surprises in store too, an old grey Massey Fergusson tractor, an oil engine, and my collection of vintage garden tools.

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The Vintage Tea Party proved to be a very popular event and we have had lots of requests to make it an annual event at our allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community. For more information about our allotment community visit our website, http://www.bowbrookallotments.co. uk .

Tags allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community, Bowbrook Allotments, cakes, communal gardens, community, community gardening, community spirit, Massey Fergusson, old tractor, tea party, vintage, vintage tea party

Cheshire

Nostalgia Week – Oulton Park Gold Cup

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 7, 2017

January is a month for looking backwards and forwards, being named after the two-faced god Janus. The three posts published so far in January 2017 have been about looking forward by sharing the elements of Attingham Park which will be the subject of my monthly posts this year. The next group of posts will be about looking back and will be all about nostalgia.

I thought I would bring together some events we have attended and adventures we have had during 2016 which all circled around the idea of nostalgia. They involved vintage teas, old cars, old trains and other such memory-jogging items.

Oulton Park’s Gold Cup is a motor racing event that we have been attending on occasion for decades. We used to travel the one hour or so north from Plealey regularly when our children were little as they soon adopted my love of motor racing and going to see live races at the circuits local to us. We are so lucky as we have 3 circuits within an hour and a half or so travel time from home. We have never stopped attending meetings and now both our children and their spouses go too. A few times a year some of the family try to get together for a motor racing family outing, and the one event that we try never to miss is the Gold Cup at Oulton Park in neighbouring Cheshire.

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I used to watch the Gold Cup meeting on TV in the good old days of tiny screens and black and white pictures. I always find it odd watching historic races when I see these beautiful old girls in colour. At that time the meeting was part of the Formula One calendar and I watched my heroes, Stirling Moss, Jacqui Stewart and Graham Hill in their F1 cars.

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In 2016 Jude and I with daughter and son-in-law, Jo and Rob went off for the annual pilgrimage to the meeting in July and enjoyed a day of warm bright weather. The racing was equally bright too and the collections of vintage and veteran cars in the infield was so impressive and brought back so many memories. In the last two years our annual visit has added poignancy and deeper meaning as we attend partly to help remember one of our best friends, Tony who sadly died in August 2015. As well as a close friend he was also our daughter, Jo’s father-in-law and he was a great lover of all things to do with historic racing cars especially those with a great British heritage like Jaguar and Morgan. We have enjoyed the Gold Cup with Tony and his wife, Jean along with Jo and Rob prior to August 2015 so we now treat our day out to the event as a special tribute and memorial to him. It is a way of remembering Tony and the great times we had together.

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We spent a lot of time calling out extremely excitedly, “We used to have a car like that!!!!” Since we got our first car back in the early 1970’s, we have had many sporty cars especially those classified as “hot hatches” which were basically small road cars made to look like race cars and engines hotted up to increase their performance. We were little racers! Here are a few of the cars we spotted at Oulton Park which we had also owned and driven.

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The paddock is open to everyone throughout the Gold Cup weekend celebrations and everyone can get up close and personal with the cars, mechanics and drivers. Everyone is so friendly and enjoy the public looking at their pride and joys. There are some extremely brightly coloured vehicles there which makes for a very colourful paddock.

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Some of these old cars are beautiful in their line, and the shape of their bodywork rather than their colour-shape combination. This first car has a totally silvery, polished metalwork body which reflected the world all around it, the movement and colours of other cars and spectators. It had amazing lines within its design.

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This little white race car appeared out of its transporter like a space ship emerging from the mother ship.

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So, a great time was had by all and we are already looking forward excitedly to the 2017 Gold Cup at Oulton Park, but we had another day of old racing cars planned for the early autumn, the unbelievable festival of speedy cars and motorbikes, “The Goodwood Revival”.

Jude enjoys our race days as much as the rest of us but if the sun comes out she likes a little snooze too! Taking her photo when she is asleep isn’t always a good move!! But I am always forgiven with a smile!

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Tags Cheshire, Gold Cup, historic motor racinf, memorials, memories, motor racing, nostalgia, Oulton Park, racing cars, veteran, veteran cars, vintage, vintage cars

architecture buildings gardens open to the public landscapes log piles logs National Trust Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust

A Walk in the Park – 3 -The WW2 Walk

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 5, 2017
2 Comments on A Walk in the Park – 3 -The WW2 Walk

In readiness for my new monthly visit blog postings for 2017 we have visited Attingham Park our subject for next year a few times during the late autumn and early winter to walk the paths and introduce them to you.

Today it is the turn of the World War II Walk, a walk we had never tried before, so we set off not knowing what to expect.

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During World War Two Attingham Park was the site of an RAF airfield, which was built over existing smallholdings. It began life as an RAF fighter station but during 1942 it was handed over to the USAAF when it was used as a training station for American fighter pilots. It closed in the Autumn of 1946. We were not really sure what to expect so set off full of anticipation.

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We set off on an overcast chilly day for our walk and the weather was to remain dull for the whole walk.

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We first crossed the corner of the Deer Park and made our way alongside ancient dying or dead trees. We were pleased to see that plenty of new young trees have been planted to replace them. The old trees were left after they had died to become valuable wildlife haunts from woodpeckers to beetles to myriads of micro-organisms. This is a healthy way to manage woodland and parkland. Fallen wood has been left where it dropped or piled up to create wildlife shelter and food. A local beekeeper has established a good colony of bees with several sorts of colourful hives set alongside the woodland fenceline.

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Jude the Undergardener and I are both very imaginative and love looking for shapes in clouds, flames and here within the shapes of fallen rotting wood. The tree trunk in the photo below reminded us of a Komodo Dragon!

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We love the textures in rotting tree wood – the patterns, lines and colours creating works of art.

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We wandered along a woodland path beneath dark tall conifers, the path soft beneath our feet made from chipped bark and topped with a layer of pine needles.

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Site Number 10 is where we found the evidence of the Atcham Airfield, ruins of barrack huts, officers’ quarters and latrines. To begin with an odd brick or two then signs of an old wall and then even the ruins of a building.

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After experiencing the discovery of the ruins of the airfield complex, we left the artifacts behind us and made our way back through the deer park towards the hall.

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We will no doubt re-visit this walk and its WW2 ruins during our monthly visits in 2017.

Tags Attingham Park, NT, parkland, Shropshire, The National Trust, world war, world war 2

autumn autumn colours colours garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public light light quality National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust woodland woodlands

A Walk in the Park – Part Two – The One Mile Walk

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 3, 2017
1 Comment on A Walk in the Park – Part Two – The One Mile Walk

Returning to a second post about Attingham Park, we would like to introduce you to another part of this Shropshire National Trust property. The One Mile Walk was our chosen walk on a November afternoon visit to Attingham Park. We only had a short amount of time available as the light disappears far too early for us outdoor types at this time of year. Attingham will be our featured monthly visit during 2017 when we will chose one walk from the several available, clearly marked throughout the parkland and woodlands.

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We decided that our chosen walk would give us the chance to relish in the beauty of autumn, trees and autumnal sunlight all working together especially for us. Come with us and see!

The Mile Long Walk begins close to the stableyards and is a circular walk which has distinctive characteristics for the clockwise or anti-clockwise directions. So far on our many ambles around this path we have always followed it in a clockwise direction, really simply because given a choice we always go clockwise. So for this visit we broke our habit and took off in the anti-clockwise direction, and we were amazed how different it not only looked but also felt.

For a while we ambled riverside, getting glimpses of the shining blueness of the surface of the little river.

Some trees look special in so many ways. Sweet Chestnuts grow as tall as giants reaching for the passing clouds so have a magnificent presence. They have deeply textured striated bark of delicate grey. On the floor below them they carpet the floor in golden long-fingers of leaves and the spiky cases of the nuts, mixed up like a tasty granola.

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Lime trees decorate the tips of their branches with delicate seeds partnered with seedleaf wings which have the translucence of clear local heather honey.

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The surprise trees for us though were the Tulip Trees which dropped their leaves at all stages from the palest green to the darkest brown. Combined with the unique leaf shape it all added up to a great carpet.

We had to look all about us as there was so much going on to catch our attention, lovely tree silhouettes against the blue sky right down to dried multi-coloured fallen leaves which became kaleidoscopic like pictures as the beams of the sun kissed them.

We would love you to come with us and explore the wonderful “One Mile Walk” at our favourite parkland, Attingham Park. As usual start the gallery by clicking on the first photo then navigate by clicking on the arrows.

Tags Attingham Park, autumn, autumn colours, autumn gardens, autumn leaves, National Trust, ornamental trees, The National Trust, woodland, woodland gardening, woodland gardens, woodland walks, woodlands

autumn autumn colours colours flowering bulbs fruit and veg garden buildings garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grow your own kitchen gardens memorials National Trust remembrance renovation Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust walled gardens walled kitchen gardens

A Walk in the Park – Part One – The Walled Garden

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 1, 2017
3 Comments on A Walk in the Park – Part One – The Walled Garden

Near to us, a mere half hour drive away is situated the parkland of a National Trust Property called Attingham Park, which is a place we often visit for an afternoon walk. The parkland affords us the opportunity of following different lengths of walk depending on the time we have and how fit we feel and of course on what the weather chooses to present us with. The parkland contains huge collections of trees and shrubs but few actual gardens, formal or naturalistic. It does however have the added element of a productive walled kitchen garden which the NT has lovingly and meticulously restored. So there is plenty to love about Attingham Park. We hope you will enjoy meeting the parkland and getting to understand its sense of place, or put more simply getting to know it like a new friend.

In 2017, rather than make monthly visits to a garden and reporting these visits in blog posts on a monthly basis we will visit Attingham Park each month of the year looking at both the Walled Garden and one of the walks. So there will be 2 posts featuring Attingham each month.

To help introduce you to Attingham Park we enjoyed a sunny day visit in November to take in an autumnal woodland walk and a quick exploration of the walled garden. Just a taster really for what we hope to share with you in 2017.

The Walled Garden

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After a half mile simple level walk along a woodchip track we found the Walled Garden. To reach it we walked beneath giant hardwoods and softwoods, deciduous trees and evergreens from many parts of the world discovered and brought here by some of the great plant hunters.

A first glance through the mature gnarled tree giants highlighted the gardeners’ bothy framed in low boughs almost parallel to the leaf littered ground. What a setting!

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The walled garden features restored glasshouses, bothy, gardeners’ stores and outbuildings as well as an orchard and the main productive vegetable borders.

The glasshouses looked magnificent wrapped up in their thick coats of fresh white paint. The yards around them were clear but we will see great changes throughout next year’s visits. Sugar mouse pink Nerine blooms provided neon strip of colour along the bases of the glasshouses.

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The orchard hosts rows of ancient fruit trees gnarled and their boughs leaning low to the ground. On this visit it was home to a “Remembrance Tree” and a collection of photographs of the staff “then and now”.

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Displays in the bothy showed the plants of the season, the pumpkins in all their orange glory and they also were used as parchment for messages written in them all about the garden in wartime.

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The garden staff and volunteers had grown cordon tomato plants up against the inner brick wall of the productive garden, Tomato Andine Cornue. They were “forcing” chickory and endive to sweeten them and here we discovered even more pumpkins.

As we begin our Attingham monthly forays early in 2017 we will have a look at the main body of the productive walled garden.

Tags Attingham Park, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, glasshouses, old glasshouses, orchards, pumpkins, walled garden, walled gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening gardens hardy perennials light light quality ornamental trees and shrubs outdoor sculpture Shropshire trees Winter Gardening winter gardens

My Garden Journal in December

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 29, 2016
4 Comments on My Garden Journal in December

Welcome to the final monthly look inside my Garden Journal 2016, when we see what I entered in it during the month of December. Then it will be time to close the 2017 Garden Journal for now, but we share all the journals with our garden visitors on our open days so they regularly get a fresh airing.

“December, the month with the shortest days, the sun getting up late and retiring early. On sunny days the light emphasises the texture and colour on the bark of our trees, which have stark networks of branches looking skeletal and see-through.”

“The colours and textures of our snake-bark maple, Acer rufinerve, become much more visible in the low sunlight of December. Every branch is different. The texture roughens the lower down we look.”

My entries for December continue to consider the trees of our garden, “During our 13 years developing our patch at Avocet, we have continued to increase our selection of small trees. Having just a quarter acre of garden to play with and paint our pictures with plants, we have to choose trees carefully. We have to be careful of the shadows cast and the size and spread of the canopies. I thought it would be fun to list all the trees that now grace our garden from those we planted 13 years ago to tiny seed-grown specimens still in their pots. So I shall take a journey around the garden and find and list of our trees.

In addition to selecting trees for their growth habit we look for more than one season of interest. We linked interesting foliage shapes with good autumn colour, and interesting bark colour with texture. Many of our trees also afforded us the add interest of berries in many colours for us to enjoy in the late summer/autumn and birds to devour in the winter.”

Turning over the page we discover a group of 6 photographs I took in November with the intention of taking the same shots from the same places in December to see how things change.

“In November I took these 6 shots of places that looked good around the Avocet Garden. I have now taken them again from the same location to show how things change in a month.”

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November December

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November December

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November December

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November December

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November December

I thought it would be fun to look at the bark of lots of our trees, both their colours and textures, so took close up photos of sections of the tree trunks.

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I wrote, “We are enjoying the varied texture and colour of the bark on our trees. The sun is at its lowest in the sky this month which emphasises the interesting aspects of bark.”

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Salix trifolia “Blue Streak”, Salix erythroflexuosa, Salix alba “Brizensis” (our own selection we call “Wendy’s Orange”)

I can now share some close up shots of the bark detail of some of our trees.

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Oullins Gage Liquidamber Damson

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Strawberry Tree Morello Cherry Cornelian Cherry

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Crataegus i. splendens Quince Vranja Prunus Sub. autumnalis

I then took a look back at my December entries of my first ever garden journal and found the words, “Let’s have our look back at my December entry in my first ever garden journal. I wrote, “Visited David Austin Roses nursery to buy roses for obelisks and arches. We did this but also bought nine shrubs for winter colour plus an Arum italicum “Marmoratum” and two willow trees.” All of these plants are still going strong and playing important roles in our garden borders, with the exception of an acer, Acer pennsylvanica Ethrocadum, which sadly succumbed to “an overly strong rootstock and unobservant gardeners!”

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Two other plants from our original batch of plantings back at the beginnings of the Avocet patch are looking particularly good now and are strong performers.

Mahonia “Winter Sun”,

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and Pittosporum “Garnettii”

Over the next page we find my look at winter structure, where I wrote “December is the month that reveals the importance of structure in the garden. Teextures, light and shade, view points, invitation, archways, pathways, box balls, cloud pruning, entries and exits.”

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I then included a set of five photos illustrating, as I wrote, “structures revealed as leaves fall and plants die back.”

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We have taken a close look at our Agapanthus collection on occasion over the last few months in my journal and promised a final look in December, so here is “the return visit to our Agapanthus collection” which I have linked with a page of photos of our collection of Libertias sharing my pics of their “berries and seeds” and their “sword-like foliage.”

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Libertias ………………………

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December is the month guaranteed to surprise! End of year surprises! Winter months do have a tendacy to throw up their special surprises, those flowers that pop up out of season to cheer us up with their colour that sparkles in the greyness of the depth of the season.

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Inside the back cover of my now completely full garden journal, I have glued my tree list that readers can pull out to study if they wish.

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In the tree list I wandered around the garden from front to back recording all the hardwood plants classified as trees rather than shrubs, making allowances for our particular methods of pruning some shrubs into small trees. I recorded their seasons of interest and their main points of interest or reasons for growing them in our garden.

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The Avocet Tree List gave us a bit of an extra December surprise for when we added up the tree list to see how many trees we have planted here in our beautiful patch of land which is our garden at Avocet. The count revealed that we have planted exactly 50 trees during the last 13 years. That is a lot of tree for a quarter acre but every one is so special to us, like a big expanded woody family.

So that is my 2016 Garden Journal. I hope you have enjoyed sharing it with me. Next year I shall create another Garden Journal the format of which is still being worked on. I shall share it with you again.