This weekend, take time to smell the roses or the coffee – be in nature.
forest walks
Kangaroo gate
Sometimes you just don’t know what you will encounter on a walk!
The road less travelled
Today is my grand-daughter, Jasmine’s tenth birthday – I wish for her – a good road; a bejewelled road; a kind road; a healthy road; a joyous road; a peaceful road; a road filled with love, courage and confidence. May this road bring us all together again.
Frozen
Snow bound
We are in southern Bohemia visiting new found family members and mesmerised by the snow covered countryside.
Snow blooms
Stark against the winter snow,
these snow blooms,
sentinels in a row.
Winter in Prague
Strahov monastery gardens in Prague – a morning view.
We’re back
After a long absence, cats and chickens and gardening in the mountains – we’re back posting – missed my blog – hope you are all still with me….
Join me for a cup of tea and a new journey… More to come. 
A Garden Odyssey
November is the time when all the magnificent Open Gardens are on display. I visited one such garden this morning in its splendour. Set on eleven acres and around one hundred and forty years old, Dreamthorpe, is a woodland wonderland with unique garden architecture and, my favourite, the wistful, wisteria walk!
Of course, my interest is stone walls, as I described in my last blog on the Edna Walling cottage garden. As I entered the property, a magnificent stone wall welcomed me beside manicured green paths.
A unique garden also displays unique garden architecture. This garden was no exception: terracotta urns, classical statues, wildlife habitat and some modern pieces.
This one is reminiscent of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and good times. This garden revels in its own beauty!
Fancy a new home for your bird life?
Yes, I did promise some modern garden pieces – which do you prefer?
However, it was the design layout and the plants themselves which stole the show. Here are but a mere snapshot of their breathtaking beauty….
A wall of pink rhododendrons.
a hedged narrow path – leading where?
To a lake, of course!
My favourite was this spectacular lavender wisteria walk – magical, secluded and other worldly!
This property is more notably recognised by its row of gothic ancient cedars which, on a cold, foggy night, are eerie sentinels watching over the garden.
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Dreamthorpeis a must see in autumn and in spring. Open gardens give us inspiration and preserve the magnificence of nature in all its variety and possibilities – an odyssey any garden lover would like to undertake.
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All the leaves are brown….
And the sky is grey… well, I did go for a walk as the song suggests, on a not-so-winter’s day. The sky may not be very grey but winter is just around the corner. The autumnal garden changes so rapidly that I thought I’d better take a walk and show you around the garden and its variant colours.
This weeping cherry puts on a very different display in autumn. Gone are the pinks of spring and the greens of summer, now replaced by gold and russet.
The red hues of the Japanese Maple carpet the ground.
This maple will soon lose its red hues…
There will be much time spent raking leaves during the month of May.
Currently there are many interested Japanese tourists in our area admiring the seasonal changes. These wonderful colours shed a final luminescence before the barren, grey of winter sets in.
The golden elm resplendent in its regal colours!
This particular dogwood could glow in the dark!
Gone are the ornamental apricots on this weeper….
The cats joined me on the garden tour.
What ever the season in your part of the world, I wish you happy gardening in nature’s truly amazing playground! Thanks for following and may all your days be garden days!
crabandfish garden 
