Blog

June flowers are hard to beat - peonies, roses, delphiniums, lupins

I generally pick and arrange flowers on Fridays for Saturday arrivals.  I was spoilt for choice with the variety this week.  Here are some photos of my arrangements for my Saturday guests.  I do think flowers cheer you up when you are tired after a long journey!

Planting time in the garden and greenhouse

The tomato plants have been getting my full attention in the last few days as the weather has been very rainy and the greenhouse was the nicest place to be.  This year I am trying out a new variety (to me) - Sunlight Yellow which produces cherry tomatoes in a fetching shade of yellow and is apparently, an earlier variety.  I will usually have tomatoes to share in August and September but these sho...[More]

Snowdrop time and pruning the raspberry canes

Ilmington seems to be carpeted with snowdrops this month.  The ones in the cottage garden have not really opened up yet but we have some in our orchard.  Notice a rare sight of a bee (we don't usually see them around at this time of year) having a handy snack in one of the snowdrops.   The fruit and vegetable garden now needs attention.  I have spent several days cutting down the old canes to ...[More]

Autumn Leaves

It is inevitable that I would post a few pictures of my Autumn walks around Ilmington.  I can't resist....    From the top of Foxcote hill you can either walk down through the fields to the village this way or go along the road       Meadow next to Sansome House Intelligent sheep with new wooly coat for the winter.

Autumn Raspberries - Joan J and Autumn Treasure versus Glen Cova

Last year, for the first time in 30 years (!) I decided to try growing a different variety of raspberry so this is their second year.   I have always grown the Scottish bush raspberry, Glen Cova and find it produces lovely raspberries for eating fresh and also for freezing.  I also make tons of jam for the cottage and it seems to go down quite well with our guests!   The new varieties are a differ...[More]