Garden-work

Tags

cherry-plum, daffodil, garden, gardening, hawthorn berries, hazel, hellebore, ponds, sheds, spring, summerhouse, witch-hazel

Daffodils and crocuses

I managed to do some work in the garden on Sunday; the first time in many weeks that I have spent more than a couple of minutes outside.

Some weeks ago I moved three tubs of spring bulbs – snowdrops with Tete-a-tete daffodils in two tubs and little blue crocuses in the third – from their winter-quarters behind the greenhouse to the front of the house under the kitchen window.  They were ready to bloom and they have brightened up the area near the front door.  On Sunday I moved the rest of the pots and tubs away from the back of the greenhouse either to the front of the house or to the rear near the conservatory.

The area round the greenhouse has become very wet and waterlogged and the pots were sitting in puddles.  Richard and I had a talk about how to solve this problem and I suggested a French drain ( a trench filled with gravel) immediately round the greenhouse and then we discussed again our idea of putting flagstones round the greenhouse to make it nicer to walk on than muddy grass.  We have a plastic compost bin near to the greenhouse and a lidded water-butt behind the greenhouse –  the water-butt will then go on the flags and so will the compost bin.  The water-butt keeps sinking into the ground despite the bricks and flints it is standing on (there must be quite a collection under the water-butt by now).  Also, we often get rats, mice and/or voles getting into the compost bin and having the bin on hard-standing would stop that little game!  They dig tunnels that come up under the bin and then make themselves at home amongst the potato peelings and weeds.

One of the daffodils that have started blooming round the big pond

We also discussed where we would put the new potting shed.  We have a very old tumbledown shed in the middle of the garden.  It is rotting and disintegrating very quickly and we need to replace it and we don’t want to use the same site for the new shed.  We have a very nice tool shed near the greenhouse so the new potting shed with a large window and bench will go next to the tool shed.  This will keep all the out-buildings together in one place and will save us a lot of time walking from one side of the garden to the other.

Witch-hazel by our front door

Witch-hazel

Witch-hazel

I am considering drawing a plan of our garden as it is now and scanning it so that I can include it in this blog.  When we make changes to the garden I can then update the plan.

This is our new summer house

I mentioned in a former post that our old summerhouse was demolished and the base was extended in readiness for a replacement.  The new building arrived and was put up during a gale on 8th February and is just what Richard wanted.  He has been enjoying his room with a view and often sits inside it looking out over the big pond.

Hazel catkins on one of our Hazel trees

A poor photo of a female hazel flower. You can just see the little red tuft at the top of the bud-like object in the centre of the photo

Behind the summerhouse (you can’t see it from the angle the photo was taken from) is our large open compost heap where we put our bulkier garden clippings and waste.  Next door’s chickens are often here turning it over for us and kicking it about and in the summer Richard often finds Grass Snakes sleeping in its warmth.  Richard doesn’t like snakes.

Not all of the Hawthorn berries have been eaten yet. These two had fallen from an overhanging Hawthorn branch above and caught on this Elm twig

I have also mentioned in former posts that the garden is large and is mainly laid to grass.  There are a couple of vegetable beds near the summerhouse and another mixed vegetable and flower bed half way up the garden.  I had started to use this mixed bed when we moved in to this house but I haven’t had the time to do much to it since my father died and Elinor started suffering so badly with anxiety.  Most of my plants there have died and couch grass and ox-eye daisies have taken over.  Richard is using part of the bed for his dahlias and chrysanthemums and there is a rhubarb plant and some blackberry canes there too.

The big pond

The arable field to the rear of our house

There is an old rose arbour next to the mixed bed and on this side of the arbour Richard has made a flowerbed for his favourite flowers.  He has also started to make a shrubbery fairly near to our septic tank.  We have a large gas tank close to the house and I have made a small flowerbed on the northern side of it and filled it mainly with spring flowers.  I haven’t weeded it recently and this will be a project for the next time I get outside.

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There are narrow flowerbeds most of the way round the house which I look after and I have also started to landscape the area to the south of the house.  I had made a flowerbed near the hedge at the rear of the house but again, I had to abandon this when Dad died and Elinor started to need more support and I had much less free time.  Many of my plants are in pots and tubs waiting to find a proper home.  I hope to make a gravel garden at the front of the house with paths through it from the front door to the drive way.  I bought the gravel for this project eight years ago!

Cherry-plum blossom in our hedge

Cherry-plum blossom

Cherry-plum or Myrobalan Plum (Prunus cerasifera) is not a native tree but has become naturalised here and is often found in hedges.  It is often confused with Blackthorn or Sloe (Prunus spinosa) but the Blackthorn flowers open before the leaves come out and the Cherry-plum’s flowers and leaves open at the same time.  The cherry-plum isn’t so spiny as Blackthorn.

The corner pond at the front of the house.

My music choice today is a song written by B A Robertson and Mike Rutherford shortly after the death of their respective fathers.  It is sung by a favourite singer of mine, Paul  Carrack, whose father died when Paul was eleven years old.  It is a song about the regret we have when we lose a relative and realise all the things we should have said to them when they were alive.  I am so glad I was able to tell my father how much I loved him and appreciated the love he had for me.

Thanks for visiting!

By Pope! Uncle Ben and Voltaire are Linked to the JNU Incident!

I recommend this post from Knowallsbox

Know-All's Box

Photo source: http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/government-should-have-allowed-jnu-to-resolve-the-issue/

The best thing about blogging…No one gives a damn about what I feel about an issue. But, it’s my blog…and I have the freedom to express ANYTHING I want!

Freedom to express ANYTHING? Really?

Which brings to my topic for this post. for the second time in my blogging career, I am writing about a topic which is political in nature…and this one has divided the nation like no other in recent memory!

If you have been in India last couple of weeks, it’s very unlikely that you have not seen or heard about the events which took place in the Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) campus in New Delhi.Considering the fact that many of my fellow bloggers are not from India, I think it’s necessary that I give a brief background. However, if you are aware about the incident, you can skip the next 2 paragraphs.

Our story…

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Norwich – Chapel Field

Tags

Chapel Field, Chapelfield Gardens, Chapelfield Gardens Bandstand, City Walls, Cornus mas, Norwich, Roman Catholic Cathedral, St Stephen's church, The Assembly House, The Crescent, The Forum, walking

I took this short walk in Norwich on a dull cold day last spring.  I began my walk near the Assembly House.

This building was designed and built by the architect Thomas Ivory in 1794 and, as its name suggests, was a place where the local gentry could assemble and be amused and entertained by recitals, displays and dances.  One notable ball was in celebration of Nelson’s victory off the Cape of Trafalgar in 1805.  A waxworks exhibition from Madame Tussaud’s was hosted here in 1825 and Franz Liszt the composer gave a concert in 1840.  The building incorporates the layout of a previous building – the medieval college of St Mary in the Field.

The Assembly House – some more renovation work was in progress at the time of my photograph

It has been used as a dance academy, a cinema and, during the Second World War, it was an army office.  It was restored in 1995 but almost immediately afterwards was severely damaged by an electrical fire.  With the aid of photographs taken at the instigation of a trustee during WW2, the house was reconstructed and today it appears exactly as it did when it was first built.  It is used as a restaurant and hosts exhibitions, concerts, conferences and weddings, almost the same kind of use it was put to in its heyday.

The Forum

Opposite the Assembly House is the Forum, though the large entrance seen in the photo above is on the further side of the building.

Norwich’s Central Library was located on this spot until it was destroyed by fire in 1994 and this new building, designed by Sir Michael Hopkins, not only gave the library a new home but also was built to mark the Millennium in the East of England.  The main section of the building is an enclosing horseshoe shape.  It is made from hand-made load-bearing bricks and has many windows.

As well as The Millennium Library (the public library) the Forum houses a children’s library, the Norfolk Heritage Centre, the Norfolk Record Office and a business library.  The 2nd Air Division Memorial Library is also here; it pays tribute to the thousands of American airmen who were based in East Anglia during WW2.  There are over 4000 books covering all aspects of American life and culture with a specialist section dedicated to the 2nd Air Division.

Many other organisations have a base in the Forum.  BBC East has its studios in part of the building; there is a Forum shop, a café bar and a pizza restaurant.  The Tourist Information Centre is here, as is MINT – a charity which helps young people gain the skills and contacts they need to find employment.  MINT is run by City College Norwich where my daughter studies.  ‘BBC Voices’ provides film-making and radio-editing workshops throughout the Eastern Region for free.  There is a digital gallery – the Fusion Screen – which gives free screenings of work by artists, and a 120-seat auditorium called The Curve.  The Forum runs regular events and there is a venue hire facility.

Entrance to Chapelfield Gardens.

Not far from The Forum is Chapelfield Gardens which takes its name from the chapel of St Mary in the Field.  The chapel (built where the Assembly House is now) was founded in the 13th century by John le Brun and soon acquired many generous benefactors.  It became a college and the premises were expanded.  In 1406 the citizens of Norwich claimed 4.5 acres of ground that belonged to the Chapel and this land began to be called Chapel Field.  In the 16th century it was leased with its cherry yard and dove house to notable citizens and then, after a proclamation in 1578 it was used as an open area for mustering the trained bands, archers or the artillery.  It was the ‘fit place’ to charge guns with shot and powder for the exercise of shooting.  The Lord Lieutenant had his ‘City Tent’ there for the general musters and the yearly reviews of the city regiment took place there in the 17th century.

Crocus and daffodils in Chapelfield Gardens

The Field was first surrounded by fencing in 1707 and the main walks were laid out by Sir Thomas Churchman who leased the land in 1746.  The tree planting began then too.  A large water reservoir (about 300 yards in circumference) was dug in part of the Field in 1792 and was filled in again in 1854 when larger reservoirs were built elsewhere by the newly established Waterworks Company.  The reservoir in the Field had been used as a skating pond by the people of the city and it was much missed when it went.  For a few years the Field declined into a rough area where children played, washerwomen hung out their linen and where sheep were grazed.  Eventually, new iron palisades were erected in 1866 and in 1877 a landscape gardener was employed to make the Field into a beauty spot.  The newly laid-out gardens were opened by the mayor in 1880.

The bandstand

This lovely Victorian bandstand in the middle of Chapelfield Gardens is still in use.  During WW2 Glenn Miller visited Norwich and gave a concert here in 1944.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral is close to Chapelfield Gardens

City wall

City wall

City wall

City wall

I then walked along Chapel Field Road which follows the line of the old City Walls.  As you can see from these photos the new and the old rub shoulders in Norwich.  The weather had also improved by this time!

Building work on the City Walls began in 1294 and took 50 years to complete mainly due to complaints about the cost being levied for their construction.  They were completed in 1343 after a very generous donation by a Norwich tradesman, Richard Spynk who was rewarded by the Corporation by being ‘quit all tallages, tasks and costs’ for both he and his heirs forever.  When the walls were completed they had 12 gates, now all gone.  Ber Street gate – taken down in 1807, Bishop’s Gate – taken down in 1791, Brazen Doors or Newgate, taken down in 1793, Conisford Gate, at the south end of King Street – taken down in 1793, Heigham Gate or Hell Gate – fell down in the 18th century, Magdalen Gate – taken down in 1808, Pockthorpe Gate – taken down in 1792, St Augustine’s Gate – taken down in 1794, St Giles’ Gate – taken down in 1792, St Martin’s or Coslany Gate – taken down in 1793,St Stephen’s or Nedham Gate – taken down in 1793, Westwick or St Benedict’s Gate – taken down in 1793.

A beautiful Cornus mas growing in a garden on the opposite side of the road to the City Walls was in flower

A row of attractive houses in a private road (The Crescent) off Chapel Field Road

The houses were built in about 1820 and are a mixture of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, many of which are listed.

St Stephen’s Church which is next to Intu Chapelfield – a large shopping mall.

St Stephen’s church has it’s tower over the porch on the side of the church.  I hope to visit this church later in the year and write about it in more detail as I also hope to write about the RC Cathedral.

Thanks for visiting!

 

 

Nothing In Particular

Tags

'The Company', Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None, Berwang Holiday Music Course, Candlemas, Christmas Cactus, church, family, flowers, funeral, hellebores, house improvements, Kerry Camden, Mozart, phalaenopsis orchid, renovations, Serenade for 13 Winds, snowdrops, wet weather

Snowdrops under the crabapple tree

As the title of this post states, this is about nothing in particular.  Since Christmas we, as a family, have been nowhere and have done nothing except the usual chores of housework and shopping and driving – and in Elinor’s case, going to college.  Richard has just returned from three nights away in Manchester staying with his brother and enjoyed a visit to a mining museum and a trip to Bury Market and the East Lancashire Railway.  Elinor and I stayed at home.

A Hellebore flower

We have found the changeable weather a little trying but fortunately for us we haven’t had to deal with flooding, just lots of deep puddles and mud, mud and yet more mud!  My car was half brown and half blue and the mud had oozed into the car round the doors, so just before he went away Richard hosed it down for me and restored it to its original blue-all-over colour.

Another Hellebore

The next two weeks will be very busy as we are beginning on our house renovations.  The new garage doors were fitted today and most of the windows and doors in the house will be replaced next week.  I am not looking forward to the disruption at all but when it is done the house will be warmer and more secure.

Snowdrop flower. Please excuse the horrible red finger!

One of my aunts died last Sunday 24th January and I will be travelling to Kent with my brother tomorrow for her funeral.  Richard will be staying at home and will be driving Elinor to and from college.  It will be good to see my cousins again despite the sad occasion.   My aunt was my late father’s older sister and she was the last of Dad’s siblings.  I have six first cousins on Dad’s side of the family and I am hoping to see most of them tomorrow.  Andrew (my brother) and I will be meeting up with Francesca (my sister) when we get to the church.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

I am also going to visit Alice in Sheffield on the 12th of February and I will be watching her perform in another play, ‘And Then There Were None’ – an adaptation of the book by Agatha Christie.

Here is the trailer they have made for the play.  I think you will be amused!

All my Christmas Cacti are re-flowering. Perhaps these are now Candlemas Cacti?

It is Candlemas today.  We had a Eucharist service at Rumburgh on Sunday and celebrated the festival early.  At Candlemas we remember three things; the presentation of the child Jesus, Jesus’ first entry into the temple and the Virgin Mary’s purification.  Traditionally, candles are also blessed at Candlemas and Richard our priest gave us two new altar candles.

My choice of music today is Mozart’s Serenade for 13 Winds in B-flat major.  My first introduction to this piece was when I was nearly 14 years of age and I was on a music course in the Austrian Tirol.  I was lucky enough to be given the first (lead) clarinet part and I loved the whole experience – the great responsibility, the team-work, the music itself.  I will never forget that feeling of euphoria as we played through the whole piece together!  As soon as I hear the opening bars of music I am transported back in time to Austria, I am 13 years old and full of hope and excitement.  This was my first ever trip abroad and I and a friend travelled there with our clarinet teacher and Kerry Camden the bassoonist who drove us from London all the way to the Tirol with a stop overnight in the Ardennes.  I had a one-year passport and my parents had given me £15 spending money!

Thanks for visiting!