Leopards, Toads and Scarlet Elf Cups
I have to admit that October is my favourite month of the year . . . The colour shades of autumn Once passed the Autumn equinox the encroaching winter darkness begins to make its...
Category: Gardens
WANTED: Partridge for a Pear Tree
September is the ninth month of the year and is usually called the harvest month. Accordingly, we have been harvesting some of our fruit and vegetables but not always at the time of our...
The Last of the Summer Wine
It was only as I switched on the kitchen light the other night, about 10pm, that I realised the long summer evenings are coming to a close as the year turns onwards through the...
Summertime & the Potatoes are Flowering
Ripen in the Sun In every garden and municipal border roses, irises, clematis and lupins are flowering, vegetables are maturing and in sunny corners, the blackcurrants are beginning to bruise over as the deep...
May ‘Blossom Time’
One of the abiding joys of Spring is the fact that many deciduous trees waken up from their winter dormancy and burst into flower. They are festooned in fragile blossom and look absolutely stunning...
‘Flying ‘Peacocks’ and an ‘Albatross’
‘Peacock’ butterfly A hive of activity There is a lot of activity at the house just now because we have had various teams carrying out surveys. Ecology, topographical and geophysical surveys – basically attempting...
‘March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers’
Spring is well ahead this year. We had deep, lying snow at the beginning of March 2018 and some very low overnight temperatures, but this year has been the warmest February to date and...
“Voices of Spring”
We have been pruning apple trees this week. Not just any old apple trees but the old, gnarled, overgrown, Victorian trees planted in the Walled Garden and at other places on the Estate. Mature...
“Green winter, white Easter?”
On New Year’s Day, 2019, I went up to the house to feed our stray cat and came home with three snowdrop flowers. Such a mild start to 2019, I’m sure you’ll agree, but...
December!!!
Suddenly it is December – and the year is rushing to a close. On the 17th of the month, we shall have been the legal owners of Bannockburn House for the first of what we hope...
