Tag: Shrewsbury

Walking the Shrewsbury Loop

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 13, 2020

Our county town, Shrewsbury, sits neatly and comfortably within a loop of the beautiful River Severn. Our hamlet, Plealey is just six miles south of the town, a very convenient distance for us as we are out in the South Shropshire countryside but a short distance by car to our county town.

As we came out of lock down, we decided to have a day off from gardening and go for a walk along the banks of the Severn, starting at the Welsh Bridge following the loop around to the English Bridge and back into the town centre.

We entered the riverside Victoria Quay passing a plethora of ugly signs and followed the quay with its rather gaudy hanging baskets and planters on the riverside fence. It is from the quay that The Sabrina, a pleasure boat, gives trips down the river for tourists and locals alike. On the left are fashionably popular eateries, including one of our favourites, The Armoury. A very popular riverside public house, The Boathouse sits on the opposite bank just before the first bridge that we pass.

We were surprised to see that the children’s playpark had been updated along a Charles Darwin theme, as Shrewsbury is the town of his birth. Along side the park was a new outdoor cafe with seats overlooking the Severn, so obviously we were tempted by takeaway coffees and cookies. Shrewsbury is famous as the home not just of Darwin but also Sentinel steam lorries and here we found one serving snacks and drinks to walkers passing by. We walked further along the bank-side path enjoying views through the bankside trees and hedges. Some of the willows have been sculpted by pollarding by previous generations who trained them in this way to get long straight whips of willow for basketry, a very important craft at the time.

The final picture in this set shows a lady pulling a canoe on a trailer, who we first spotted on the Welsh Bridge on the same route as us. We couldn’t work out why she was pulling it so far with a beautiful river alongside her. It was obviously hard work as she stopped frequently. It kept us amused!

Signs of an early autumn, golden dried leaves at the bases of the lime trees in the lime avenue, were prevalent As we walked further from the park we found these beautiful apartments in a converted brewery – what a view!

Shrewsbury boasts so many bridges of varied style and age.

The oh so ugly railway bridge!

Our riverside walk was full of surprises, such as a clay tile piece of craftwork created by a local school, a beautiful modern building sat above the ancient town walls, the oh so steep St Mary’s Water Lane and a determined rose bush!

We enjoyed finding this piece of philosophy on a brick wall, before we reached the weir which was our point of walk’s end. Here we turned back and made our way back into the town for a well-earned coffee.

Although we have followed this route many times we still find it of interest!

Tags autumn, River Severn, riverside, riverside walks, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

Christmas Christmas traditions fruit and veg garden arches garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grow your own kitchen gardens National Trust Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust walled gardens walled kitchen gardens winter gardens woodland

A Walk in the Park – Attingham Park December

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 29, 2017
1 Comment on A Walk in the Park – Attingham Park December

We made our monthly visit to Attingham Park, our last one for 2017, just as Christmas was making itself known at this National Trust property. Before we even reached the coffee shop for our usual warm drink to get us fueled up for our walk, we had been met by a snowman, a Christmas tree and we were entertained to some 1940’s music and dancing. The hall was decorated in a 1940’s style so the dancing set the scene.

The trees were decorated with wartime decorations, based on the idea of “make and make do”, as were the decorations in the coffee shop, where paper chains were made from newspaper. The trees were themed with one based on children’s games from the 1940’s and another was book based.

We came across a few other Snowmen, as we followed the one-mile trail, to amuse us on this chilly day. I managed to get around this month without my wheelchair as my recovery from leg surgery is coming along nicely. I walked the mile using a crutch which was very pleasing and rewarding!

Wandering through the woodland areas beneath tall mature trees, we noticed that a few browned leaves were managing to hang on to the branches but the majority were bare skeletons. These frameworks of trunks, branches and twigs were magnificent with no green leaves to hide their structure.

New buds were already waiting patiently on some branches anticipating spring far off on the horizon, while on other neighbouring trees a few dried leaves hung on. One patch of trees still showed some green in its canopy. A few old seed pods hung on having defied the storms, rains and gales of autumn, seed heads of trees, shrubs and perennial plants.

We wandered around the walled garden now virtually clear of crops, leaving hazel pole structures bare of the bean plants that once adorned them. The volunteer staff here are adept at creating beautiful and original plant structures.

A green flowered cauliflower had recently been attacked by frost, so had browned a little. Celeriac though recently cropped awaited storage.

The gardeners’ bothy was simply decorated but full of atmosphere, added to by the gardeners and volunteers enjoying their break so the aroma of freshly brewed coffee mingled with the smell of wood smoke.

Whatever time of year you explore the countryside, parkland or even more so a garden, there are always surprises awaiting. An out of season flower, a bud bursting at an inappropriate time or sadly at times the sudden death of a favourite plant. Two surprises were awaiting us at Attingham this December. First were lemon yellow catkins hanging fresh and healthily from hazel shrubs. These are usually key features of the month of February. In December they provided a beautiful diversion for me and my camera lens!

The second surprise was a Rhododendron shrub in flower!

Now that we have explored the parkland at Attingham Park every month during 2017, we need to decide where our monthly visit will be next year. We need somewhere open all year and of interest every month too. We shall let you know in the new year! I hope you have enjoyed visiting Attingham with us each month during 2017.

Tags Attingham Park, bothy, Christmas, Christmas traditions, Christmas Trees, gardens of Shropshire, gardens of the National Trust, National Trust, Shrewsbury, Shropshire gardens, snowmen, The National Trust, walled garden, walled gardens, woodland, woodland gardening

autumn autumn colours colours flowering bulbs garden design gardening gardens gardens open to the public half-hardy perennials hardy perennials kitchen gardens light light quality National Trust pathways photography Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust woodland woodlands

A Walk in the Park – Attingham Park November

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 9, 2017

Number eleven in my series of posts where I report on our monthly visits for a wander around Attingham Park, our local National Trust property. Just as in October I was in a wheelchair pushed around the paths by Jude, the Undergardener so some of the photos will look taken from a low angle. Please enjoy sharing our visit with us!

We decided to follow the One-Mile Walk and as usual made our way firstly towards the Walled Garden. Autumn had settled in although some varieties of tree still held onto a full complement of foliage, awaiting another few days of frosts to join into the feeling/essence of the season. The colourful mixed herbaceous and annual flower borders which have been welcoming us into the walled garden have almost lost their colour with just a few yellow-flowered Rudbeckias extending the show.

The borders around the central circular dipping well still showed colour from healthy-looking specimens of Penstemen “Garnet” and a few white flowers as companions.

The vintage hose-reel held modern plastic hose in a bright yellow rolled up to form tight patterns.

The wooden doorway from the main section of the walled garden which leads visitors into the glasshouse section opened wide to reveal a wheelbarrow full of Dahlias prunings. A gardener knelt nearby preparing the plants for their winter storage. She had lifted the plants, cut their top growth off with her Felco secateurs, thrown these prunings into her barrow and busily cleared soil from around the tubers. These she would take off into one of the cool brick stores to overwinter. Some of the hardier varieties were in flower closer to the gardeners’ bothy.

All of the glasshouses were closed up against the changing weather, but through their windows we spied pumpkins and chilies drying. Nerines added pink cheer to the outsides.

The autumn light shone through the trees at a low angle lighting up the colours of the changing foliage giving the effects of stained glass windows.

Next month’s visit will be the final one of our 12 monthly visits to Attingham Park to study the seasonal changes. We look forward to seeing how the move into the next season, winter, will show itself.

Tags Attingham Park, autumn, autumn colours, garden in autumn, gardens of Shropshire, glasshouses, old glasshouses, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, walled garden, walled gardens

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

A Walk in the Park – Attingham Park – August Part 1

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 13, 2017

As summer moved on we made our August visit to Attingham Park for our monthly walk in the park. We decided to follow the Mile Walk in reverse for a change of view and as we were expecting rain later in the afternoon we kept to the shortest trail that we take. This turned out to be a wise decision because the rain started to fall when we had just a 5 minute walk back to the carpark. Our luck was in!

When we arrived we struggled to find a parking space as it was so busy being a mid-summer weekend afternoon but we found out later that it was also weekend when a special event was taking place, a Family Spectacular.

We decided to follow the One-Mile Walk in the opposite direction than the way we usually take and indeed against the signs. We are always amazed how following a path through a garden or the countryside in a reverse direction presents whole new experiences.

What struck us most as soon as we started the walk was the way the texture of tree bark was standing out. This mighty conifer was right at the start of our walk and showed it perfectly.

We also began to identify the shape of eyes on tree trunks where side boughs had fallen or been removed. This can be seen below in that same tree.

I will now share my texture photos with you in the form of a gallery and we can look at how much variety of texture and pattern we managed to find.

The almost circular scars left as a bough breaks away from the main trunk often form eye-like shapes, and on this walk we seemed to see so many. Enjoy a little selection below.

As we searched tree trunks for “eyes” we began to find other shapes and colours as well, some from Lichens and some created by the hands of woodsmen or gardeners. I will leave it up to you to work out how these creations happened.

An added and very unexpected element to our August visit was the discovery of painted stones. This stone decorated with a beautiful little flower we found in a scar of a tree and wondered what it was doing there. We soon discovered the answer by turning the stone over where we were advised to check out “Shropshire Stones” on Facebook. If you want to know more check it out.

Continuing on the creative front we made another interesting surprise discovery as we wandered through the children’s playing field on our way to the orchard and walled garden.

The Walled Garden was so colourful with the main feature being the flowers. We will look at the surprise in the playing field and the walled garden in Part 2.

Tags Attingham Park, Natiional Trust Gardens, National Trust, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, trees, woodland garden, woodland gardens

fruit and veg garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public kitchen gardens National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs photography Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust walled gardens walled kitchen gardens woodland woodlands

A Walk in the Park – Attingham Park – June

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date July 9, 2017
4 Comments on A Walk in the Park – Attingham Park – June

We made our June visit to Attingham Park early in the month to see how summer was coming on in the walled garden and in the wilder parts of the park along the woodland walks. We enjoyed a view of the cottage garden on our way to begin wandering beneath tall trees towards the walled garden.

The walled garden impressed us so much because it was full of colour, with plants in the double herbaceous border bursting with blooms.

We left the walled garden taking the path through the adjoining orchard, where we sat for a while to enjoy some ice-creams. Fully refreshed we followed the winding paths beneath the trees and between the shrubs, taking the Woodland Walk before taking a short cut back to the parkland, over two bridges and past the hall itself. You may notice that as we crossed over the bridges we enjoyed playing Pooh Sticks.

I thought I could share my photographs via a gallery for you to enjoy. Please click on the first pic then navigate using the arrows. I hope you enjoy the views we enjoyed.

Our next visit to Attingham Park will be in July when we will be well into summer.

Tags Attingham Park, gardens of Shropshire, kitchen gardens, productive gardening, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Shropshire gardens, walled garden, walled gardens, woodland garden, woodland walks

colours garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs Shrewsbury Shropshire shrubs The National Trust trees Winter Gardening winter gardens woodland woodlands

A Walk in the Park – February at Attingham Park – Part 2

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 4, 2017
2 Comments on A Walk in the Park – February at Attingham Park – Part 2

After enjoying time exploring the walled garden and its outbuildings we continued our wanderings towards the beginning of “The Mile Walk”, passing along the way this tree half covered by orange lichen, which looked so colourful on this dull day.

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On the way we noticed how much moss was growing at the bases of the mature trees and how bright their green colours were. Of course we enjoyed the white sparkles of snowdrops on the way.

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There is a wide variety of coniferous evergreens growing close to the path, collected centuries ago under the guidance of Lord Berwick, a keen tree and shrub collector. We looked closely at the freshest of branches to compare colours and shapes.

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It is only in the depth of winter that we can really appreciate the beautifully gnarled lower stem structure of rhododendron bushes.

Old tree trunks hollowed out over centuries always bring the child out in us. We were drawn to it as soon as we spotted it along the riverbank.

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Closer study revealed wide varieties of texture and pattern.

It is always good to find a little humour in gardens and parks. This worm was enjoying nibbling away at the big apple. What a great way to take advantage of an old uprooted tree stump. The final photo shows a seat which we imagines was rarely used particularly as it was just a few feet from the river!

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Our next visit to Attingham Park will be in March so we are already looking forward to searching for changes. Of course we will be full of anticipation knowing that the new coffee shop is getting close to its opening date!

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Tags Attingham Park, gardens of Shropshire, gardens of the National Trust, mosses, National Trust, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, shrubs in winter, snowdrops, texture, textured bark, The National Trust, winter, winter garden, winter gardening, winter shrubs

fruit and veg garden buildings garden design garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grow your own kitchen gardens National Trust ornamental trees and shrubs Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust walled gardens walled kitchen gardens Winter Gardening winter gardens

A Walk in the Park – Attingham in January – Part 1 – The Walled Garden

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

So here we are with the first of this year’s monthly visits to our chosen patch, Attingham Park, a National Trust property and without doubt one of the most popular. It is so popular simply because there is such a choice of walks. For our January visit we chose a cold but bright day and we enjoyed the company of the winter sun.

We began our wander by visiting the walled garden to see what the gardeners have been getting up to within the protection of its walls. We took the soft path where the surface is made from chipped bark which feels friendlier and more natural under our feet than the alternative gravel path which runs almost parallel. It is good to feel a path giving slightly beneath each footstep. The path leads us beneath tall mature deciduous trees bare of their leaves. The leaves from the fall remain carpeting the ground as a reminder of autumn but there are also signs of things to come, the leaves of bulbs have broken the surface and look like green spears thrusting towards the sky. It won’t be long until they are flowering away brightening up the woodlands. Buds on the branches of the trees are fattening up ready to open in the spring and clothe the woodland with greenery.

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As we approached the walled garden the freshly painted bench glowed white strongly contrasting with the brick-red wall which provided support for trained fruit trees.

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Entering the walled garden we could appreciate the vastness of it and marvel at the amount of produce grown in the past for the “big house”.

We could see straight away that the gardening team of employed gardeners and volunteer gardeners had been busy creating beautiful structures from hazel and willow for climbing crops to clamber up. They had also been spreading a thick layer of rich compost as a mulch where needed, in between which deep layers of chipped bark had been lain to make soft comfortable paths.

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The most important crops remaining in the ground and currently being harvested are the members of the brassica family, such as cabbages, kales and sprouts. They are very decorative crops with their coloured leaves with each cultivar sporting its own texture. One crop is hidden away beneath terracotta forcers, keeping the light off their developing stalks, rhubarb. The forced stalks will be pale-coloured and sweet-tasting.

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Blackboards keep visitors informed of the current gardening tasks being carried out in the garden. The one info board sadly explained that the chickens were under cover because of the current “bird flu” scare.

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An annex to the walled garden is enclosed in a similar fashion but contains the range of glasshouses and cut flower beds. In this area there is a collection of the herbaceous bulb, Camassia. In the summer their many shades of blue and white will brighten up their corner border.

On entering the bothy we discovered the gardeners and volunteers enjoying their mid-morning break and a chance to get together to discuss the work in hand. They were a happy bunch laughing and enjoying their company. As always the bothy had interesting displays on view for visitors to enjoy and learn from.

We left the walled garden via the wooden doorway into the orchard. We found that the trees had been treated to a dose of wood ash from the bothy’s fire and woodburner. The outer walls are also used for training fruits possibly grape vines or kiwi fruit. We shall find out when the leaf buds unfurl.

The volunteers and gardeners followed us out of the walled garden each wheeling a wheelbarrow in which they would soon be loading more mulch for top-dressing the veg beds. Leaving the productive area of the park we decided to move forward and follow the path leading us to the Woodland Walk. In part two of my January Attingham post we will share the woodland walk experience with you.

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Tags bothy, fruit and veg, fruit and vegetable growing, gardens of Shropshire, gardens of the National Trust, National Trust, productive gardening, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Shropshire gardens, vegetables, walled garden, walled gardens

autumn community gardening fruit and veg garden buildings garden photography gardening gardens gardens open to the public grow your own kitchen gardens National Trust renovation Shrewsbury Shropshire The National Trust walled gardens walled kitchen gardens Winter Gardening

The Walled Garden at Attingham Park

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 6, 2015
1 Comment on The Walled Garden at Attingham Park

Our local National Trust property, Attingham Park, is just a 20 minute drive away. We are so lucky as within the grounds are several different walks to choose from including woodland walks, but we also love visiting the renovated walled gardens. When we first visited Attingham Park years ago now there were very few walks accessible, the walled gardens were in a poor state of repair and the refreshment facilities were poor. Things have certainly changed for the better!

In late November we decided to go for a walk around the woodlands and explore the walled garden to see what was going on. The improvements become immediately obvious as there is now a new entrance building and a newly refurbished Carriage House Cafe in the stable yard. After sampling the delights in the cafe we wandered off towards the Walled Garden one of our favourite elements of the Attingham Estate. In the Stable Yard sits a little sales hut selling produce from the walled garden, freshly picked and delivered by bike.

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The Walled Garden was originally created way back in 1780 and its job was to provide the estate with fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year. Looking at it now it is hard to believe that it fell into total disuse and dereliction. An amazing team of volunteers have recently brought it back to life. It no longer produces food for the “big house” but instead sends its organic produce up to the restaurant and cafe and for sale to the visitors.

One of the impressive features of the Walled Garden is the amount of information boards placed carefully to keep visitors fully informed. Before passing through the gateway into the garden itself we always love seeing the beautifully trained fruit on the outside wall.

Taking a step inside and the garden came to life before our eyes, volunteers busy harvesting, weeding the beds and clearing ground ready for winter digging.

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The volunteer gardeners enjoy getting creative with Birch and Hazel boughs and branches and their bean supports, tunnels and wigwams always look impressive.

It was good to see sound organic principles being used here, barriers, green manures and companion planting and herbaceous borders to attract beneficial insects, predators and pollinators.

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As we moved into the glasshouse area we were impressed by the renovation work being carried out on the glasshouse ranges. Information boards show visitors what the area looked like prior to its rescue.

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Cut flowers were also grown here and even in November the Dahlias were flowering well due to the protection of the walls and protection from Earwigs provided by the old fashioned method of putting a pot stuffed with straw on top of a cane.

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On a cold day a look inside the gardeners bothy proved to be a welcome time to warm up and enjoy the displays.

Exiting the Walled Garden via the orchard gave us a chance to look at the front of the old red brick buildings. The Walled Gardens here at Attingham are worth visiting throughout the year as there is always something interesting going on. We are so lucky having this national trust property so close to Shrewsbury.

From the walled gardens we wandered off into the woodlands following one of the marked trails. My next post will feature what we found there.

Tags Attingham Park, fruit and veg, fruit and veg growing, fruit and vegetable growing, fruit training, garden restoration, glasshouses, parkland, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, The National Trust, walled garden, walled gardens

allotments community gardening Shrewsbury

Allotments on Show

This summer we were contacted by the organisers of the Shrewsbury Flower Show to see if we could put on a display about the work our allotment community does with children. There is a marquee at the show called the Futures Marquee and we were allocated some space in this marquee to illustrate how we work with the youngsters at Bowbrook Allotment Community to encourage them to become the gardeners of the future, the wildlife lovers of the future and ultimately the wildlife gardeners of the future.

But to give a full picture we need to go back a few days to a wet morning on the allotments when we met with some families and committee members to put together some insect hotels and wildlife shelters and pot on some tree seedlings the youngsters had sown 2 years ago. The pots we were using had also been painted by the youngsters. We had great fun! And dirty hands!

2015 08 06_4486_edited-1 2015 08 09_4619_edited-1 2015 08 09_4626_edited-1 We arrived to set up our exhibit a few days prior to the first day of the show but struggled to find the correct marquee as there were no signs up, but by asking several stewards we did manage to locate it and parked up our two vehicles right outside. We definitely needed to be close as our car and Pete and Sherlie’s camper van were loaded solid without an inch to spare. We unloaded our materials and miscellaneous bits and pieces.

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We had a message from the show organisers informing us that our tables and screens were all up ready for us to be creative and put up our display, so imagine our despair when we walked in the marquee to find nothing in place and a huge dividing wall cutting through our space. We had a pile of tables and some some broken and the others the wrong size!

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So we set to work getting help from the marquee erectors and a very helpful steward. We found enough screens, we put up our tables and even got the dividing screen moved.

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Once we had sorted the problems out we could at last get creative. We arranged our 3 trestle tables and display screens in the design we wanted and unloaded the vehicles. There looked so much to do! We covered the table tops with black paper to give a uniform look …….

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….. and started pulling it all together.

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Frequent coffee breaks were essential!

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On the back side of the long run of screens we created a photographic journey around our Interest Trail.

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After a few very busy hours it all came together and we were pretty pleased with it. Our display illustrated how we encourage the children of Bowbrook Allotment Community to engage with wildlife and to discover the joys of gardening. It showed how we help develop the gardeners of the future, and ultimately the wildlife gardeners of the future.

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We featured mini-meadows our youngsters had grown in terra-cotta pots and insect shelters and hotels they had made.

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We left the show site to return 3 days later to meet the public and talk about our work with children at our allotments. This is the display as we arrived ready for the show.

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Day one was extremely wet so quiet at the show but day two was brighter and busy all day. We went home with sore throats and aching legs.

Tags allotments, Bowbrook Allotment Community, children in gardening, communal gardens, community gardening, Shrewsbury

buildings Church architecture countryside hedgerows landscapes memorials outdoor sculpture remembrance sculpture Shrewsbury Shropshire trees

Walking the Shrewsbury Battlefield – Part 2

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 15, 2015

Back at the site of the Battle of Shrewsbury we return to look more closely at the church and the sculptural tree. First though it might be a good idea to say a little about the battle itself. The Battle of Shrewsbury took place in 1403 just north of the town. Here two armies met in what was to be a ferocious and bloody battle. The rebel army of Sir Henry Percy, locally known as Harry Hotspur, met the Royal army of Henry IV on the land of the medieval Manor of Albright Hussey. There is now no sign of the village but there is a building known as the Albright Hussey which was built over a century after the battle in 1524. So many lives were lost during the battle that a memorial chapel was built in 1406 in their memory.

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This church is now known as St Mary Magdalene’s Church. Below is my photographic record of our visit to the church. We loved the detailing around the door knocker with its design based on a crown, and all the different gargoyles around the top of the building from which would originally have spouted rainwater.

Inside the church we soon found its famous stained glass windows, but we were also drawn to the reed lamp holders and the oak carved figures on the ends of the pews.

The ancient lych gate is looking worse for wear but its intricate carved detailing is still here to be enjoyed and appreciated, but I wonder for how much longer.

Over 5000 men died in this battle and their remains lie in an unmarked mass grave below the churchyard. Some of the headstones found in the churchyard here are very simple and others show very stylised carving.

When we finished looking around the church and its surroundings we made our way back along the footpaths around the site of the Battle Field. Half way back we spotted a pool in the middle of a field which still showed signs of medieval ridge and furrow farming patterns. Close to the hedge we saw a wonderfully sculptural old tree. The tree must have fallen years ago and has now lost its bark so was smooth in texture. This is Mother Nature at her most creative. Please enjoy looking at my photos of this natural piece of sculpture.