Category: Outing Reports

Devon, better known for its cream teas has orange elephants, a nickname for South Devon cattle, which may account for the bright orange elephant (African type) looking over a hedge with an ice cream cornet: clever advertising by an ice cream company.  Into Cornwall and crossing the Tamar by ferry with only a short drive past multicoloured Cornish stone walls and Scots pines to Antony House.    The house built in 1721 replaced previous properties securing the Lynher estuary for[…]

Tyntesfield, is one of those National Trust properties that provide an excellent day’s visit. The Victorian Gothic mansion retains the feel of a country estate with its magnificent reception rooms and (always fascinating) kitchen. It also houses an ornately decorated chapel. Extensive tree planting now provides a framework of mature trees both native and exotic. The walled garden for cut flowers, fruit and vegetables is located some distance from the mansion. With its working greenhouses, potting sheds and tool sheds[…]

Outings during 2023 have been very well attended and often oversubscribed. As you will know we were looking for one or more people to take on this role for next year, so we are pleased to report that Gordon and Vivienne Smith are volunteering time and expertise to help Sibyl and me with next year’s outings. It means we will be able to organise the usual number of visits in the summer months.  An early start from Bridport for the[…]

May, a time for making elderflower cordial, heading west, may and cow parsley dotted creamy white about the landscape, deeper into Devon a blue haze settled over woods and valleys. Taking the woodland railway gave a wider view of the park than would be possible by foot in a few hours: we rattled along with view of the orangery above formal Italian style gardens, reminiscent of ‘Babar King of the Elephants’.  Passing from sunlight to shade, very close to the[…]

Toby’s Garden Festival Lush Devon the hedgerows resplendent in leaf; coloured patchwork of seeded sand and deep red soil; florescent yellow rape in bloom.Balancing stones from Bodmin. Art, botanics, ceramics, and socks from MelplashFrench, Thai and Persian cuisine, cones of vivid colour on earthenware dishesAnyone for a cuppa:into marquees from damp weatherQueues for coffee and delicious hot chocolateSucculent cakes with succulents in icing. Farm produce, hot cheese rolls, and unusual ice creamsPacked marquees, entertaining lectures and samples to taste.Rusted metal[…]

Primroses pale under distant hedges and roadside banks, magnolia trees beginning to bloom. Bright daffodils and pasture turning emerald green, flock of blackest sheep, and trees waking up, some orange and others acid green. Tamed Somerset, county of dairies, mistletoe hung trees, lush hedged fields leading to gentle wooded ridges. Plant stalls: gentle hues of blue, white, pink and green behind which is the all-important compost zoning.  Raised beds and hard landscaping softened by spring bulbs and vegetable planting.  Rusting[…]

Montacute It is a bit of a gloomy start for our visits to Montacute and Tintinhull, but the leaves are changing colour, fluttering down, and passing through Melplash pale pink crocus are dotted along one bank.  It is a tight fit through the gates to park in what had been the walled vegetable garden, which now has brilliant orange campsis radicans clambering up the wall. The west front of the house imposing grandeur is heightened by the simplicity of deep[…]

Heat, Romance and Drama It started with an enthusiastic greeting of “Welcome, toilets are on the left” then it was out and onward into a pungent scent of rose.  Heading directly for the Allotments: past picturesque shady and bordered lawn overlooked by a pavilion and the yew sentinels of the Model Gardens…  Past the educational buildings to a gate in a dry-stone wall and where amateurs are taught the wonders of growing their own produce by the Rosemoor Edibles Team. […]

The Ladies of Hinton Ampner ‘Constable’ skies of bright blue and towering cloud hovered over the lush May foliage on our journey east to the National Trust Neo Georgian manor house with prospects far and wide across the rolling Hampshire countryside.  Given a Victorian gothic update in 1865, with few facilities, in 1936 John Dutton, 8th Lord Sherborne, envisaged a return to its Georgian roots and again after WWII, redecoration was required which took fifteen years then followed by a[…]