ROCKING CHAIR

Can you help me out with a dilemma...

do I paint this rocking chair in a dark grey or leave it as it is?

MORE SPARE BEDROOM DETAILS

In the cupboard (below) in the spare bedroom are a collection of 'things' that have been gained over many years. 'Things' that are still as important as the day they were bought, found or given to us....

  

Wooden 'Peace' sign from Emily Readett-Bayley - Handmade soap from Sara Maria Strand  

THE COMMON FOXGLOVE

The common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is one of my favourite flowers and suits an English country garden so well with it's grace and elegance.  It's stems are tall and stately, thrive in light shade and are known to attract bumblebees to the garden.

  

It's immaculate tubular flowers hang either side of the green stem, inside are tinged with speckled dots. They come in a variety of colours from purple, pinks through to white.

The foxglove's in our garden are in abundance this year. Conditions under an apple tree are favourable. There is adequate light and moisture. Foxgloves are biennial, producing flowers its second year. We have planted them two years running to have them next year as well, in the meantime, we must enjoy these ones this year.

 

FLOWERS IN FULL BLOOM

A closer look at some of the flowers in the garden....

  

This year has got to be best ever blooms we've seen from the flowers.

This has to be put down to healthier soil. We have worked hard these past few years to produce our own compost by recycling organic materials such as leaves, vegetable scraps and grass cuttings.  We've made a habit of adding compost to the soil each season because it's rich in nutrients and promotes soil microbes that aid plant growth. We are now seeing the benefits of our hard work.  

WHAT A DIFFERENCE

It always surprises me when I come across a photo of the house as we originally saw it...

above is the garden beside the conservatory as it looks now and below is a photo taken on the day we moved into the house.

Quite a few changes have been made since that day!

The original porch (built in the 70's) has been demolished and a new one rebuilt with the door positioned in the middle and windows at the side. 

The trellis has been taken down. Luckily, the honeysuckle growing up it survived its move and is happy in its new position. 

Patio and steps up to the conservatory have been replaced with York stone.  

The horrible crumbly brick path that went around the conservatory, has been turfed with grass. 

The conservatory has had a complete re-vamp (you can read about it here). 

All windows have been replaced and updated. 

One of the main improvements to the look of the garden, is the very tired, worn concrete paths have had gravel added.  It helps soften the area plus neatens everything up.

LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOWS

We are so lucky to have beautiful and interesting views from each of our windows.

Take this one above...it's from the hall landing looking across at our neighbour's field.

The sun is setting after a warm summers evening, the grass has been cut

and bundled into hay bales. Is there anything more lovely to look at?

We look out of this window every morning as we walk down the stairs to the hall below.

Each day, after several years of seeing it, it does not disappoint. 

The lounge (above) looks towards the church across the road.  

You may not be able to see it clearly in this photo, 

as the shrubs and trees against the wall are growing fast but beyond them you can just see the roof of the church.

Richard's office has a special view looking past the conservatory onto the garden. 

The purple Catmint is in full bloom, lush green grass and a Corkscrew Willow.

We are very lucky to have dual aspect windows in the kitchen, offering us two very different views to look at. 

The sink (above) looks out over our neighbour's drive (always immaculately kept).... 

and the opposite side has views of our garden which has lots of green trees, bushes and grass too.

Looking through the windows every day brings a happiness....

it offers a new image to see as the seasons come and go.