A woodland walk ...

On a free morning, I needed to pop in to the local Shropshire town of Bridgnorth which is always good for a mooch while picking up healthy nuts. 

It sits high above the river Severn & has old castle remains & the walls & gates in to town. 

The town has some beautiful black & white buildings with the interesting windows & attic rooms. 

We had a wander around but our mind was set on a countryside walk at Dudmaston Hall nearby. 

Nearby is the National Trust estate of Dudmaston Hall that I visited earlier this year with my cousin.  

We decided on the Dingle Walk through the woods to the lake that is near the house.  

Being there early meant we had the woods to ourselves, it was lovely & cool under the tree canopy, our only companions being butterflies, birds & blue dragonflies darting about.

The walk brings you in next to the boat house on the lake. 

It was used recently in the tv series filmed around this area called 'Murder before Evensong'  along with the nearby village of Worfield. 

The boathouse was unfortunately locked so we could not peek inside but it has the most stunning twisted chimney stack & the lake is really delightful. 

When I visited the house recently, we took an art tour & looked at the work of Anthony Twentyman whose large sculptures are visible from the room in the house towards the lake. 

Our walk brought us to it & it is interesting shape looking out over the lake with a second one slightly higher up on the lawn terraces. 

The view from inside the house towards the lake sculptures & of the view back to the house. 

From the lake, the view up to the house is so interesting with a flowing curve of purple lavender, then a huge bed of roses alongside the house. 

Next to that is a riotous bed of colourful summer flowers that is too beautiful to ignore. That is how summer planting should be - unashamedly bold. 

This deep border filled to the brim with colourful plants is such a delight. It is bold, colourful & also scented; a real delight & an example of great summer planting. 

It is always good to browse a NT bookshop where gifted books are sold to raise money - I bought a lovely one on Kirstenbosch gardens in the Cape for a mere £2. 

We enjoyed coffee & sandwiches in the beautiful orchard tea gardens before taking leave of the lovely estate again. 

We are so fortunate to have these fabulous places within easy reach, I will visit again to take in the house & art at a leisurely pace. 

I hope you have enjoyed my visit too, do stop by again soon. 

Dee 🪾🌳🚤🚶‍♀️🚶‍♂️🥪

Delicate bluebells, vibrant fields & interesting hedgerows

 

April comes with our woods being filled with bluebells, their delicate stems dancing in the breeze. There are some interesting facts & superstitions associated with bluebells & fairy rings. The sap used to be used in book binding. 

We have been on a few local walks through fields of vibrant yellow rape seed / canola & stopped to take photos of the bluebells nestled next to the hedgerows. 

In places on the field, the rape seed was as tall as I am & being at the same height gives you a heady scent. The flowers attract all sorts of little insects & bugs & when I got back to the car & at home, I found all sorts of things dropping out of my hair. 

Our little wood opposite our house had such interesting clusters of bluebells - blue, pink & white ones in clusters under the trees. 

Nature has the best colours under the dappled light of the emerging leaves in the woods. The woods have English bluebells but we have some Spanish ones in our garden that I do not remember planting, just a little patch under the shrubs. This link helps to identify the two different ones. 

I hope you have time to get out in nature too & to enjoy the calm of forest bathing in the woods - just connecting to nature & birdsongs. 

Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment so I can return the visit. 

Dee 🪾🪵🌾💐

Signs of Autumn at home & in the woods ...

 Somehow, the year is galloping by & the misty mornings remind us that Autumn is here. 

The nights are drawing in & the morning light takes its time to arrive now. 

Early morning mists drew us out to some local woods to enjoy the changing seasons & have a walk in the woods. 

I love misty mornings when things seem mysterious, when the woods are more silent & half hidden, when you hear voices long before figures appear in the misty light. 

The dampness highlighted the many cobwebs on the trees - somehow they really like the prickly holly bushes. 

The woodland floor is spongy with decades of fallen leaves & more drifted down all the time, along with the sound of little branches falling. 

I picked up some spindly branches with little pinecones & carefully places their curving branches in my bag where they flapped around with each step. 

I picked up some conkers & one of the pricky outer shells/ They are freshly fallen & very prickly still so had to be content with just 1. 

The cool, moist woods are the perfect growing conditions for a multitude of fungi, nestled in the fallen leaves & twigs. 

I do not know one from another & do not actually like mushrooms so am content to just photograph them. 

I added 2 little branches with red berries & my woodland collection looks rather good. I prefer it to a fake, commercial one & it reminds me of time in nature.

Once home, I carefully put the foraged twigs, leaves & berries in this vintage vase (bought from a charity shop some years back).

The spindly pine bracts I picked up survived their journey around the forest in a shopping bag I grabbed from the car as we stopped. 

The H.J. Woods Indian Tree vase is generous & sturdy enough to hold an assortment of twigs & leaves. It also has similar colours to the Spode plates that I had in mind. 

The conservatory sideboard is long overdue a change. The woodland vase nudged me to fetch the few Spode Woodland plates I have - 6 - from their retail shop in Stoke on Trent a few years ago. 

The 2 yellow deer plates were from Next a few years ago. They sometimes appear at Christmas with their pretty flower adorned antlers but fit in well with the Spode plates so they are out too. They are a good match to the vase too - I must bring them out more often. 

The beautiful ruby glass decanter was a gift from Ms M a few years ago, along with the vintage custard cups with their little handles. They are the perfect size for sherry on dark days ... 

A little jig around & I think it is looking perfect for Autumn. What do you think? 

Do you also come back from a walk with a pocket (or bag) of things you foraged or picked up? 

The Autumn sideboard has things I have had for a long time but they are greatly enjoyed & make a welcome appearance from time to time. 

Thank you for stopping by & visiting. It is always appreciated. 

Dee 🪾🪵🌳🍁🍂

The foraged swag is done ...

I love to have fresh foliage on the wreath on the front door. These are some of the previous ones 

2011, 2012, 2016, 2017 , 2018,  2019 , 2022 

Then there is a small matter of the wreath for the front door.  It is tricky because our door is black & the fresh greens don't show up very well. 

We ventured to one of our local woods to forage for some greenery.  No one mind a few branches being taken for a wreath so we are always mindful to pick up branches or only take what we need. I love the soft woodland floor, spongy from all the fallen leaves over many years. It is a joy to just wander around & find some suitable greens. 

My enthusiasm doesn't match my wreath making skill - I really need to do a course on how to do it properly. However, it all seemed to be ok in the end. I fortunately had picked up some pinecones too that I wired in place. This overly generous pink ribbon & bows had been a recent charity shop purchase with the door wreath in mind & so it was a relief to have something ready. 

I think it looks just fine - the plants in the planters by the door will get ribbons & baubles so it will all look rather festive soon. 

I hope your thoughts have turned to the advancing festive season too. Thank you for your time, do stop by again & share your projects & websites with me, 

Dee 🎄