Sunday 15 May 2016

Tulip Love

Hello again! I have loved the wonderfully warm sunny days which we've had lately, as well as the soft (and sometimes not so soft!) rain showers. May really is my favourite month of all, and fills me with great joy. All this rain and sunshine has resulted in a great deal of growing activity in the garden and surrounding countryside and at this time of year that mean just one thing - tulips! The garden has been full of them and they are sadly nearly over. But, oh my, they have been good.




'Angelique', one of my all-time favourites.




 




I love these stripey ones. When the sun goes in they twist shut.


This one is my favourite one this year. I bought it from the National Trust and it's called  'Black Parrot'. It's a beautiful shade of blackcurrant and is gorgeously feathery and ragged.





When we woke up yesterday morning and saw that the sun was shining I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Something that has become a tradition in recent years. We drove to our favourite farm shop, collected a yellow bucket from the kiosk, then headed across the fields. It was warm and gloriously bright. Swallows swooped, sheep bleated and children giggled in the play field - it felt good to be alive. We walked through the gate and stopped to take in the view.


A beautiful field full of pick-your-own tulips, just waiting to be gathered, taken home and admired. I must admit I felt quite giddy and may have hyperventilated slightly at the sight of them. 


I just stood and drank it all in. It's not a very big field, but there are so many blooms in furrowed rows. The colours on such a bright day positively glowed.


There are interesting signs with little bits of information about tulips. I managed to tear my eyes away from the flowers just long enough to read them. 


Where to start? I got down to business and started picking. I picked enough to share with my parents and brother and sister-in-law, so I made sure we had some of each variety. Before long the bucket was full, and it was time to pay. A bargain.



 Before we left we had a milkshake in the cafe (raspberry for me - my favourite), and stopped to look at this rather cuddly little person,


and these gorgeously fluffy people - aren't they sweet?



As we drove home we pulled over to look at some fields of oilseed rape. Wow, what a colour.




 Once home, I divided the tulips up between us, my parents and my brother and sister-in-law who came up to visit today.


Well, I hope you've enjoyed all this tulip love. I've been a bit more absent from blogging than I hoped lately and am sorry I haven't been visiting blogs. I'll show you what's been taking up my time soon. Fingers crossed, I plan to catch up properly with everyone this week. See you very soon x

13 comments:

  1. What beautiful Tulips, lovely day out,there is field after field of Golden Rapeseed here, cute fluffy ducks xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow Cathy, I just love that tulip field and what some beauties you managed to pick. Tulips are amongst my very favourite flowers! I wish we had somewhere like that around here. Plenty of pick your own fruit farms but haven't seen or heard of any flower farms. xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonder what you are up to?? Your photos are a feast for the eye by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  4. So many beautiful varieties of tulip - they make mine look really quite staid. Like Jan, we have lots of PYO fruit farms, but no flower farms - someone is missing a trick! Have a happy week. xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Glorious, especially the feathery ones. Definitely worth a trip to the farm although how you managed to come away with just one bucket full beats me! x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fab I never knew there were so many varieties of tulips. Your pics are gorgeous

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love tulips too! My daughter took me some red tulips and one black from Holland but they bloom only one year.
    Isabella

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Cathy, I love tulips too! My doughter took me some red tulips and one beautiful black from Holland but they bloom only once:( .
    Have a good evening
    Isabella

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your tulips are stunning! I totally get why you love them so much!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gorgeous, gorgeous tulips; I love the dark parrot ones , also those stunning red ones above the photo of the single yellow flower.
    No flower fields here where we're allowed to pick your own, so I treated myself to a £2 bunch of yellow tulips when I went shopping in Tesco. I always put a spoonful of sugar in the water to keep the stems straight and then they last for ages.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh how I would love to grow some tulips in pots or even in my garden! I have tried many times but the bulbs are too irresistible for our resident chipmunks. How lovely to have a pick your own field to go to - lucky indeed!
    Jenn

    ReplyDelete
  12. So many wonderful tulips!! I wish there were fields like that around here in Dortmund! :) Hope the sunny weather will last a bit longer for you! Here in Germany, temperatures dropped again and the sun is hiding...

    Take care
    Anne
    Crochet Between Worlds

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a lovely place to visit and to be able to pick tulips. I do love tulips, especially the ones with fringed petals :)

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I don't always get time to reply, but I look forward to and love to read your comments - they really do make my day x