Day Trips 1 - The New Forest

This summer for various reasons we haven't booked a holiday away from home. This is unusual for us, and it was in some ways fortunate because it has been an unexpectedly busy summer. I have a job which means I am at home for the school holidays anyway, so for my husband's fortnight off work we decided to have a series of day trips. This has suited us as a family, since two of our young 'uns are now adults with busy lives. So in no particular order I've decided to post about where we've been to capture some of the lovely memories we've had.

Yesterday we headed off to the New Forest which for me has many happy memories as it's very close to where I grew up. My parents took my brother and me there for walks on Sunday afternoons when we were children, and we had picnics there too. The landscape varies between heathland and forest, and at this time of year when the heather is in flower and the trees are green it's very lovely.

The New Forest isn't actually that new. William the Conqueror had it designated a royal hunting park in 1079, and most of it is still owned by the crown. It's a National Park nowadays, but its inhabitants, or commoners, still have ancient rights to graze their animals, cut turf and peat and put their pigs out in the autumn to eat the fallen acorns. These commoner's rights all have wonderful medieval names like pannage, vert, mast, estovers, turbary and marl. The trees are mainly deciduous with some conifer plantations dotted around.

Care must be taken when driving through as there are often free-roaming ponies at the side of the road, and deer sometimes cross as well.

We decided to stop for a picnic at the sweet-sounding Bramble Hill Walk,

and quickly found a pretty spot to spread out our rug.

The heather all around us made a lovely soft purply-pink haze.

I love to look at it closely. There's bell heather as well as ling with the smaller flowers.



I found a tree with tiny apples on it, crab apples I think.

The gorse bushes are wonderfully twisty and prickly.

So weathered and worn.



I love to look at tree trunks and bark too, and there are some deciduous trees which give the New Forest its unique identity. Holly grows everywhere, and has a fairly smooth bark.

Already its berries have a tinge of red about them.

Oak bark is full of fissures and cracks.

It's a haven for tiny creatures and insects.

This one's growing into a fabulous twisted shape.

On the ground are some beautiful plants, like this gorgeous scabious, my favourite shade of purply blue.

Some of the bracken is just beginning to change colour, a taste of the wonderful colours to come in the autumn.

There are still lots of baby ferns just pushing their way up through the grass. I love how they unfurl into such beautiful shapes.

This lichen is a fabulous acid green carpet of tiny stars.

The New Forest is home to an amazing array of wildlife, and I was reminded of that when I spotted this delicate feather lying in the grass.

And on the subject of wildlife my son and daughter spotted this absolutely enormous caterpillar. As long and thick as an adult's finger, I don't mind admitting that it was a little terrifying, but pretty amazing, nevertheless. I'm still trying to find out what kind of moth/butterfly it will become.

This brings me to the human inhabitants of the forest. It's full of the most gorgeous thatched cottages, and I always suffer from a bad case of cottage-envy when we visit. Just look ...

Swoon! So very pretty

Think we'll pop back there in a couple of months to enjoy the wonderful autumnal colours.

***Edited to add: my son has identified the caterpillar as a Goat Moth caterpillar - mystery solved! ***

Harvest Time

Whilst out and about on our travels it's been noticeable that the fields have all turned to gold and in many cases nothing but stubble remains. It's at this point in the year that I suddenly realise that the summer is nearing an end and that the seasons are subtly beginning to shift again as we move towards, dare I say it, autumn. However, we are still most definitely in late summer at the moment am I am determined to stay here for a bit longer.

Harvest celebrations tend to be in late September and early October, although the grain harvest is being gathered in at this time of year. The landscape has taken on a different set of hues recently, going from fresh green to gold and light brown. I love the warmth of these colours, and the way the fields are positively golden on a fine, blue-skied day.

A week ago my husband and I went for an evening stroll locally and watched as the sun set on a glorious day. The colours were beautiful as the trees became silhouettes and the sky turned into pearlescent shades of pinky peach.

Gradually the sky became lilac and blue as well, and the crops looked softer and more feathery.

As the light faded just a strip of pinkish bronze light remained, casting a glow across the ears of corn.

On the opposite side of the road there was enough daylight to photograph these beautiful corn bales. They really are incredibly photogenic scattered across the stubble.

They resemble giant wheels, and it feels as if they might roll away at any moment.

Meanwhile, we've had our own tiny harvest here at home. This ear of wheat has been growing underneath our bird table from fallen seed. I let it stay there so that I could enjoy it changing colour as it ripened.

I put it in this harvest posy that I picked from the garden. I added fennel and some crocosmia, and it looked very seasonal on my outside table.

Here are a couple of corn dollies which I have on a little shelf in the hall. I bought them both a few years ago, and always enjoy them at this time of year. Corn dollies were traditionally part of a pagan custom in which a decorative straw decoration was made from the last sheaf of corn from the harvest. It was believed that the spirit of the corn would live in it all winter, and then in spring it would be ploughed back into the soil when the new crops were planted.

I love the way they have been woven and may add the art of corn dolly-making to my list of crafts I'd like to try one day.

Snapdragons

Just a quick post to share the snapdragons which have been flowering beautifully in my back garden for several weeks now, livening up a border which has done most of its blooming already.

Erm, don't look at the grass too closely - my husband cut it the same day that this was taken.

I bought a pack of 6 small plants back in May for £2.50 and look how they grew!

Lovely colourful spires of flowers which have lots of personality.

If you squeeze either side of the flower, its 'mouth' opens. I loved doing it as a child and still can't resist now.

They come in lots of different colours, all bright, and I love them for that.

When I planted them I had no idea of which they'd be - I like this pink and red combo.

A lovely splash of colour just where it's needed, and with a bit of a cottage feel.

They're almost over now, but I'll definitely have them again next year.

Brambles - Part One

My all-time favourite fruit is the blackberry, or bramble, and already the fruits are beginning to ripen, albeit a few weeks early. In September I usually use them to make pies, crumbles, purees and jams, and I'll make a post about that later. But for now I want to rewind a bit and take a look at the flowers. Brambles grow along the sides of roads, lanes and railway lines and on waste land as well, and as a result they tend to get a bit ignored, but this year I've been noticing just how attractive and varied the flowers are.

Looking at the flowers in close up they are amazingly pretty. A soft pinky-mauve, the petals look as if they're made from crumpled silk.

There are lots of stamens, very much like the centre of a rose (they are a member of  the rose family), and the sumptuously wrinkled petals remind me of faded vintage fabrics. 

We have in our garden a thornless, cultivated variety, and its flowers are very different with seven elongated white petals.

Even bramble stems are attractive. The thorns are very sharp, as anyone who's tried to reach into a bramble bush to pick the berries will confirm, but the stem is covered in a soft down and is a soft shade of pink.

Last week when we were at the river I was very happy to find this lovely bramble bush with flowers which were a deep shade of purple. The purple is a pre-taste of the berries themselves, and I like it very much .

I looked more closely at the flowers.

There are masses of stamens, and the centre is already beginning to form into a little blackberry before the petals fall.

I can't wait for the blackberry season to get going, and am so looking forward to the smell of blackberries cooking in my kitchen. 

Orange

We've arrived in August, and as always I suddenly become aware of all of the hot colours around me, especially the colour orange. It's as if nature's colour palette has suddenly exploded from the pretty pinks, lilacs and blues into reds, hot pinks, oranges and yellows. When I was younger I didn't like the colour orange very much. I found it a bit garish and loud, and it seemed to clash with all my favourite colours. However, as I've got older I've realised that I actually find it quite energising and uplifting.

Just look at this day lily, frilly and unashamedly bright - isn't it great? Someone at work gave me these plants back in the winter, and when he said they'd be orange I remember wishing that they were pink or crimson. Now that they're in bloom I'm delighted that they're orange - just right for this time of year.

Orange snapdragons positively glowing in the sun. There's a bit of yellow and pink on these flowers too.

My favourite orange flower, nasturtiums. I like to grow them from seed in pots against our blue kitchen wall and often stop to admire that eye-scorching orange and blue combination.

Here's a little crocheted orange flower brooch that I made a while ago. I love orange against a green background too.

Zingy calendulas also grown from seed in pots by my back door. This orange is a bit more yellowy, almost citrus.

I couldn't resist buying a big bag of apricots at a greengrocer with the idea of making jam, inspired by Sue at the Quince Tree. Unfortunately my efforts at jam-making often yield mixed results, and it turned out a little on the over-cooked side shall we say, so it's probably best to admire the apricots as they looked pre-jam.

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PS I've just discovered that Jill at Emerald Cottage has just made a lovely post entitled 'Orange' too - what are the chances of that? Go and take a look - it's full of orange things I haven't noticed and lots of summer fun and creativity x

Wild Swimming

Hmmm, that post title is a little misleading as it's actually the rest of my family who like wild swimming, and not me. Wild swimming is swimming outdoors in rivers, lakes, pools and the sea. My husband has been an enthusiast for several years, and much prefers it to swimming in chlorinated indoor pools. He likes the skin-tingling buzz of swimming in rivers alongside reeds, banks and rocks in the fresh air. I really enjoy a swim in the sea, or a paddle in a clear stream in the mountains or on a moor. However, I do draw the line at water which I can't see through. The idea of standing on mud and brushing up against river weed and fishes makes me shudder, so I sit on the bank on a rug whilst the rest of my family jump in and out and swing off rope swings. It works for me, and I get to enjoy beautiful surroundings like this.

Yesterday was my son's 18th birthday and, among other celebrations, he decided we should all go to a favourite local swimming place, the river swimming club at Farleigh Hungerford. It was an overcast day with the threat of rain, but still very warm.

As you can see, we were one of the first people there. On a hot weekend this field is packed with picnickers and bathers sitting on rugs.

There are little steps and a jumping-off point with a rope swing, which my family always take full advantage of, leaping into the water with a huge splash.

After a bit of swimming and leaping, the bathers in the family came and sat down and we ate a picnic together. I brought my crochet with me, and have started to make Lucy's Bower Bird from her brilliant Attic 24 blog. I was so pleased that she has so generously shared this pattern for free, and couldn't wait to start it. Next to it you can see my first version of her lovely bag - I use it all the time, and it's a few years old now.

I didn't do a lot of crochet as I was finding the surroundings very distracting, looking at these lovely flowers. These purple loosestrife flowers are gorgeous against their watery background.

After a while we decided to head for another wild swimming place a couple of miles away. As it was only mid afternoon, we got back in the car and headed to Warleigh Weir, a popular place for swimmers and paddlers in hot weather. Although it was still warm, the sky clouded over and threatened rain. My husband, son and youngest daughter all swam in the river and were delighted to see two kingfishers while they swam. I did a little crochet before nodding off on the blanket for a short while. I hadn't intended to, but the rustle of the breeze in the trees and the sound of the cascading water conspired to make me feel very sleepy. Such a peaceful spot.

Finally we decided to pack up and head somewhere for a cup of tea. Warleigh Weir is on the river Avon near Bath, and running parallel is the railway line and canal. You can just see a narrow boat in this picture.

We walked along the canal a couple of weeks ago in this post, and this time we headed to a cafe further along it. As we were having our tea it finally rained, just a short heavy shower, but enough to freshen things up a bit. 

I'm glad we went wild swimming. Although I didn't get my feet wet, I still loved the countryside and relaxation, and even managed to get a bit of crochet done too.