Pots of charm at Perch Hill

You could be forgiven for thinking that on a rather bleak April day there would be nothing to see at Perch Hill. But a useful nudge, courtesy of  F.B,was all it took to get me Down the Lane and up a hill to visit Sarah Raven's cutting garden yesterday afternoon. Whilst we are definitely a good 6 weeks behind in terms of Spring, there was still much to enjoy. In actual fact, I rather appreciated seeing the architecture of the garden, the bones of it....support structures and evergreen muscles in the shape of box hedges.

There are brave artichokes making their first frond like forays and some purple sprouting broccoli that made my head swim with pasta possibilities...



Once inside the greenhouse the thrill of spring colour! And it is a thrill after this long winter and our abnormally naked landscape. Singing, glorious primroses with egg splotched centres and their friendly petal faces, luminous in the weak sunlight.All in generous groups made sensible by Sarah's lovely colour combinations.In a way, these early Spring flowers are heralds...we keep the faith that Spring will be along and they both cheer us and trumpet what's to come.




My very favourite still life of the day was this...delicate lilac lined shells in a beautiful glass container paired with a purple glass vase tumbling with green and mauve hellebores...delicious...oh, and the cacti...fuzzy, spiked perfection.

Perch Hill will be open again on April 27th, more details here. You can read more about my previous visits to Sarah's garden here.

Reports of a fine and warm weekend to come!

Along the drive way, towards the Cowshed, the cherry trees are heavy with bud and longing to burst open...the hawthorn hedge is finally tinged in the freshest of green...I think of this...

~~~

As the month draws on, there is a sudden rush of warmth and in a day or two the garden is a changed world, as in a fairy story where a spell has been suddenly lifted. Barely budding trees thicken with green, the spinnach is rampant, and the rhubarb, that a few days back was pale and stubbly, is like an enormous tropical plant. The cherry trees that should have been in bloom for Easter, now burst into festoons of hanging blossoms....

Extract from Four Hedges by Clare Leighton

~~~

Here's to festoons all round!

-x-

Spring where are you?

Such days, when trees run downwind,

Their arms stretched before them.

Such days, when the sun's in a drawer

And the Drawer is locked.

Norman MacCaig

Looking back on photographs from my garden this time last year and favourite pins from my Springtime board and longing for Spring to come...

Outside the back door last year...blousy blooms and frilly blossoms...

~~~

This year cheery cards created by the lovely Funky-Boho team...head over to their website for more info here

Longing for drying days...

In the meantime..

 I'm sure she'll show up soon...

Only do hurry!

-x-

Drinking in the morning sun...

Woken by streamers of golden sunlight dancing across the bedroom floor....stencilled beautifully onto the carpet, cut from the gaps in the hastily pulled, make-do-and-mend curtains.

SUNSHINE! 

bright and pure...quickly to the top of the stairs to gaze out at The Tree...then across the garden to the fields. My heart begins to beat faster, oh sunshine, how I've missed you...I hadn't realised until this very moment just how much.

Grab assortment of clothing, pulling on socks...Boodle senses outdoor shenanigans, gives me the hurry up! Outside it's bright! The light! We head for the gate nearest the back door, looking back,  the house is still asleep, all the curtains shut. We push on...

The last snow fall was powdery and dry...a mixture of persil and finest caster sugar. 

The shadows are pink and blue. 

We walk around to the Cowshed, the end wall has just been illuminated by sunlight. 

The sun is still climbing, rising from behind the tallest trees in the woods, shadows are long.

 Into the woods then..."Morning" singing, ringing tree...we always take a little detour to see her. A gentle touch on her huge heavy limbs...this morning Jack has dressed her beautifully in a restrained dusting of  snow.

A steep incline and we emerge onto a Lane that is opposite our own. There is one spot, where, in the winter, when the hedges are cut you can just make out The Lane.

Yes! 

Above the ballet dancing shadow, to the right a little, is a white rectangle floating in the treeline...that's home

Time to head back for a cuppa, to shake the house awake...so we walk, I hum  made up tunes and Boodle truffles through the last remaining drifts...It's good to get your insides singing again.

I sat outside with my cup of tea and drank....

-x-

Tulips from Amsterdam

    
Whenever I am in a new place I find myself taking mental snapshots of all the things that interest, excite, charm, surprise me. My eyes become a cine-camera...processing and panning...I often trip over! This recent trip to Amsterdam was as full of the wonderful and the new as I had hoped. I can't help looking for the pattern and rhythm of a place, for me Amsterdam was blue, Delft blue? Van Gogh blue?! I am sure that much of that was to do with the temperature, brrrrrr!

Let's deal with some of the cliches ~ yes there are bikes everywhere, it's very cool. At times it was as though we had been transported back to the early 20th Century. There is no limit to what one can load upon ones bicycle...a large painting wrapped in brown paper, a wedding dress, a dog/dogs and many, many children! Bakfiets are the order of the day, see them here. Most bikes we saw had a beer crate or apple crate attached, brilliant!

The canals are amazing, on and on they go, charming streets chocka-block with amazing buildings, tall and narrow and decorative, I just stared and stared...wide mouth frog style! On and on, like dominoes squeezed  side by side, each impossibly narrow and tilting, as though being held up by the proximity of its neighbours. And each with unique details.

 I was especially delighted to see that shops, bars, houses, flats appartments, cafes, everyone had flowers. Every window seemed staged by a Dutch Old Master...still life groups, it was wonderful.

Speaking of wonderful...that doesn't even come close to the Van Gogh exhibition, currently in the Hermitage. So beautifully staged, I am not ashamed to say that I was reduced to tears...twice. I have always wanted to see the almond blossom paintings and they did not disappoint. Not to be missed...

Another treat was lunch in the greenhouse at De Kas, another long held ambition, more about that another time...

Obviously there was retail therapy...here

 
and here...by the square where the Noodermarkt is held...De Weldaad

...and yes we tried the famous Apple Pie from Winkel

Oh and in the Nine Streets, loved the Nine Streets, brilliant clusters of canals intersected by little streets full of creativity and good food! I loved walking along these canals at dusk as the strings of lights began to reflect in the water...

...and finally...Yes! 

There were tulips from Amsterdam...brought home on the plane and lovingly put into pewter jugs here  

thank you Mr.Lane

 -x-

 

Magpie

So it's Mother's Day! 

Seems to have come around quicker...time speeding up? 

So I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day...hope you have a delicious day.

This image triggered a memory, sent me rummaging around for a photo of Magpie and little brother Faraway from long ago...

ah! at last, here it is...

Aren't they gorgeous...a sweet moment between Mother and son, my brother touching Magpie's cheek so tenderly...

I recently stumbled upon this by Jonathan Carroll and it resonated, are you reading this Magpie? Sounds familiar...

"The two women at lunch~mother and daughter, obviously. The girl is beautiful, tall, eighteen or so. She can't sit still in her seat. She bounces around, tosses her hair, eats too fast, talks a mile a minute while looking all around just in case there is something interesting she hasn't seen yet. The mother is also beautiful, perhaps fifty, her eyes alone are a 500 page novel. Serene and smiling she is a total contrast to the young women sitting across the table. How happy she is to be here with her daughter, how proud. Not many years ago this is the same child who frequently tried every bit of patience she had. The difficult student, the one with dyslexia or ADHD, or just wildly impatient about anything that didn't interest her. But now look at her~this wonder, this young woman who is moving away too quickly out of my life and into her own. She has already set sail and I can only watch. But today she is generous enough to have lunch with Mum and talk about things that matter with her first, her greatest pal. She doesn't even know it is a gift. But Mum does."

I know it now Magpie, love you.

Happy Mother's Day

-x-