Bluebells galore!

As a family we have been getting out for longish walks about 3 times a week. We have a garden which, although not large, gives us some outdoor space in which to breathe and sit, so we don't feel the need to go out every day. We're very grateful for this and appreciate how lucky we are - many have no outdoor space of their own and precious little access to the sort of walks we have nearby. That's one of the reasons we don't go out every day - we feel we should leave the walks for those who need them every day, those with children full of energy or no alternative.

I was reminded by Facebook that this week was the Bluebell Festival at Enys Gardens. It was due to start last weekend and would have run all week, showcasing one of the oldest and most extensive Bluebell Lyes in the country. Obviously the festival was cancelled weeks ago, although the Bluebells will still be there, we won't get to see them this year. You can see a previous visit here.

And so I thought I wouldn't get my Bluebell fix this year, apart from the smattering that appear along the roadside in places. Little did I know that there were Bluebell woods all around me!

Pencalenick - 20 mins walk from my house...

drifts of lovely English Bluebells...

and Kenwyn Churchyard 20 minutes walk away in the other direction! 

I love a good Churchyard - the post-teens say that's weird but it isn't. I think they are restful and contemplative spaces, rather than creepy ones. However when the post-teens asked me whether I wanted to be there in the middle of the night I had to concede that I didn't, not because of ghosts and ghouls but more because I'd probably go flying and end up rolling to the bottom of the hill!

 There was a wonderful mix of Bluebells, Wild Garlic, and Three Cornered Leeks.

Not to be mistaken for white Bluebells. Three Cornered Leeks get their name from their stem which is triangular in section so if you're in any doubt check the stem - Bluebells have a round section stem, below is a white Bluebell and I think it's the first I've seen.

And then as if to make a point we went on another walk and came upon even more!

This day was gloomier so the photos don't show the colour quite so well but the blue haze was intense.

So we haven't missed out on the Bluebells at all. Although the Enys display can't be beaten and I did miss the lovely design and craft fair that is held at the festival, I don't feel entirely cheated - and I may have done some online shopping to make up for the lack of craft fair!

 

Greetings from my family to yours from an obelisk set deep in the heart of a newly discovered Bluebell wood!

It's amazing what you discover when you're bored and forced to explore your local area!!

-x💙💙💙x-

April review

Well April has gone and in so many ways I'm glad it's over. It was a strange month with so much going on but so little happening - my brain has been chock-a-block full - of nothing in particular!

The garden provides a constant as does family and both have been a great comfort. My favourite Tulip and favourite Rose both flowered in April and they were epic.

My Florentine striped Tulip is the only one that reliably comes back each year for me and was inspired by a trip to visit the gorgeous Gardens of Florence with my Mum 7 years ago. I love it - it is large, frilly and unapologetically loud!

It also lasts a good 10 days (if the weather is vaguely reasonable)

My other favourite was also inspired by the Florence trip and is my Banksia climbing Rose.

Thousands of tiny creamy yellow flowers glowing in the sun and smelling so sweet. The sheer quantity of the flowers means that it lasts well, although it only flowers once a year. Some of the Italian ones we saw were enormous and because it's thornless its perfect for scrambling over arches without snatching at passers by.

I was concerned mine might not be at it's best this year as a large section blew off the garage roof in a winter storm and had to be removed. But cheerful and resilient it's already back charging over the garage again already!

April is also the time for blossom - the Apple tree obliged...

and so did the ornamental Cherry...

both looking so pretty in different ways - one so delicate the other so blousy.

So the garden is coming along (I've been careful to give you close ups you'll notice - this is very much a 'curated view' of my garden. The in-between bits do not stand inspection yet (I say that as if they will at some point 😂)😳)

Chaotic and unkempt as much of it is, it's been lovely and a refuge for even the gardening philistines - the post-teens. 

Travelling Eldest has been turning her talents for baking to good use with a string of epic productions that were wonderful, largely chocolate based and no good at all for the lockdown waistline!

I hope April treated you reasonably well and that the outlook for May is manageable. As we wait to hear what happens next we're trying to stay relaxed here and not pre-judge anything or any one, concentrating on what we have some control over rather than things we don't (although it's mighty challenging at times).

 For a bit of beautiful Italian escapism you can read about our trip to Florence here, here, here and here, it was such a wonderful trip and is evidence that we used to travel, we really did - even overseas! 

And we will again - just maybe not quite yet!

Love from Cornwall 💚x

Easter fun

I didn't have very high expectations of Easter this year. It was due to be sandwiched between a week having our parking area landscaped at home, and a trip to see family and friends up north. Both obviously were cancelled and I was struggling with the disappointment and the feeling that Easter would just be a none-event.

However, I sort of got my creative mojo back (briefly!!).

On Good Friday I made palm crosses from some of the Cornish palm fronds in my garden. (That took some dredging through memory banks of elderly ladies at church whizzing them up on Palm Sunday). I was rather pleased with them and wished I'd thought of it earlier so I could have sent them to relatives that might have liked them. 

I also started baking a chocolate simnel cake from the Sainsbury's magazine, recipe here. It is a great recipe and I would bake it again... with a deeper tin and cutting the baking time by 15 minutes! My cake exploded out of the tin, sploodged down the side and then started to burn. With a bit of sneaky trimming the cake was saved but I did wonder at this stage whether it was worth making the marzipan and icing. I'm so glad I did though - when it was  finished it not only looked the part, it even tasted good!

Saturday also saw me trying my first Easter wreath.

I rustled up an old Christmas wreath base (there are about 5 in my shed as I struggle with single use plastic - here was a chance to reuse!!) and covered it in moss, tying it on with twine. 

The moss came from our lawn - our lawn is 60% moss, 15% clover, 15% daisies and 10% grass, so we have an abundant supply. I was accompanied by a Blackbird (whose nest building need was obviously greater than mine) and a Robin who I suspect was just nosey.

Then a collection of greenery and flowers was picked, added and ta-dah a wreath appeared! I used a skewer/stick to make holes for some of the more tender stems as they weren't strong enough to push through the moss.

I added some foiled eggs and bunnies and put a candle in the centre and it has graced the table all week (even the choccy bits have survived - very unlike the post-teens to miss chocolate)

Globetrotting twin and I enjoyed putting together an Easter tree too - another first for us. 

Crocheted flowers, pearlescent bells (from way back when I was designing my very first M+S Christmas - 2003 maybe?), bows and felt eggs all dredged up from the stash that is the spare bedroom cupboard!

So the Easter weekend was the most productive I've been since the start of this lockdown, though I have to say I've rather stalled again now. I think it's something to do with a deadline - an 'it's now or never' sort of thing. When time is limitless then why do it now?

Anyway - I plan to try and set myself some deadlines to get things moving, but perhaps not today. Today it is raining on and off, which the garden is loving and the family not so much. We are talking about a walk but the rain isn't encouraging however stir crazy we feel.

I took this photo on Easter Sunday night after a jolly roast dinner and far too much chocolate with the family. It looked so cosy, peaceful and still with the Easter candle burning brightly.

So I wish you and your families light and love this Easter (even if it is rather after the event) and I hope you are finding moments of peace and quiet in your days.

xx💙💙💙xx

Spring time walk

Walks are keeping us sane!

We love to walk in times of no lockdown but usually head to the coast or to 'somewhere more interesting'. These days with no driving to walks allowed we are rediscovering or even discovering for the first time our local walks and there are quite a few.

It may be that these walks get less interesting the longer we are restricted to them, but as spring is doing it's thing so far they have been pretty different each time.

And things have definitely moved from early spring to full on Spring in Cornwall this week.

Suddenly the primroses are vying with other contenders:

Wild Lunaria Annua, or Honesty, which gives us lovely papery 'moon pennies' in the autumn...

yellow Deadnettle with its beautifully marked leaves...

the first signs of Cowparsley...

and the frothiest Blackthorn blossom (flowers before it has leaves), the sloe harvest should be good this year!

Forget-me-nots are showing their faces...

 fur bobs and catkins...

and the brightest, freshest green of the Hawthorn or May (gets leaves before it flowers - although the buds are all ready!!)

And swathes and swathes of Wild Garlic, or Ramsons as it's known here in Cornwall.

So in the true lockdown, foraging spirit I pick a load and decided to make some Wild Garlic pesto.

I picked a good handful of the newest leaves and flowers and whizzed them up with parmesan, pine nuts, lemon juice and oil and hey pesto (see what I did there?😏)...

delicious fresh tasting pesto! I based mine on a BBC Good Food recipe here although I'm not sure it needed the extra garlic clove - it was quite strong enough. Probably good that we're not mingling too much with others at the moment! 

Anyway it was an easy supper and something new and given that there appears to be a huge amount of food being consumed at the moment it's good to have something healthy. Did I mention that food is keeping us occupied? Walks for sanity, food for everything else - we may have to be rolled out on our walks soon given that globetrotting eldest now has a lockdown baking roster!!😋

Not quite sure what I'm doing with my legs here - but from my family (together at last) to your family I send the best of wishes and hope you are safe and well. Hopefully your good days are, if not outweighing your difficult days, at least balancing them out. 

It is a difficult time for all and it would be wrong to pretend that we are all cheery and happy all the time. There are frustrations, irritations and deep anxieties, but I saw a quote from Terry Waite, who spent 1776 days (that's over 4 years) in a room on his own blindfolded. He said:

Keep your own dignity - get out of your PJs!

Form a structure for the day

Be grateful for what you have - shelter, home, possessions

Read and be creative

Change your mindset,

You're not stuck at home,

You're Safe at home

So I am trying (but not always succeeding) to change my mindset. I'm also massively grateful that we are lucky enough to be together and have a garden and quiet lanes in which to walk, and I'm trying hard not to judge others. We are all getting through this the best way we can. 

That said please don't come to Cornwall for Easter - we'd love to see you soon just not right now.

x💚💚💚💚x

Lock down!

Well this is odd!

Frankly I'm not enjoying it so far. Twin 2 (my twins are post-teen for those that don't know so no home schooling needed) is already climbing the walls and we've had days of cancelled flights, changed plans and misinformation around Twin 1 who is stuck in Australia. She and her boyfriend are now booked on a flight home tomorrow and should be home (I'll only believe it when she walks through the door) on Tuesday. The stress levels are high and we are longing not to have to think about it any more!

But we are all healthy and managing to get out for walks and haven't lost the plot quite yet.

All the lovely art and gardening I thought would fill my days of leisure haven't happened at all! I wander about the house and garden aimlessly picking at jobs and not settling to anything. Others have sorted and cleaned their houses and manicured their gardens already - not me!!! I'm hoping this might change once the family is back together but I'm not convinced.

The weather is still good here which is lovely and the garden is really bursting forth despite the continued neglect.

Delicate Epimediums (those old leaves should have been removed weeks ago!)

Brunnera

Dappled Pulmonaria

Favourite flower #2 Snakes Head Fritillary

Not entirely intentional Crocosmia - this spreads everywhere but this new growth is beautiful back-lit by the sun.

My gorgeous Hellebores are still going strong.

The freshest of new growth on my Fig tree - perhaps this year it will have fruit.

Swathes of self seeded primroses glowing in the sun.

I have also started taking part in a social media challenge started by my other half who is trying to find ways of keeping his photography students engaged.
It's about creating photo-grids from the things around you, in your confined space. If you want to follow or join in find me on Instagram here or look for #stillsfromaplace

So far I have done corners of my home...

and corners of my desk.

I feel like corners of my garden should be next - or maybe corners of my shed! That would be full of spiders, broken pots and recycling - well it is meant to be a challenge!!

So there we are - almost a week of lock down and that's all I have to show for it. Not very impressive but that's ok - I think it's important to be easy on ourselves at the moment. The next couple of days will be tricky for us here waiting for the home comers but hopefully once we are through those we will be slightly more settled.

Stay well, stay safe and stay at home.

Until next time
xxxx