A Bank Holiday Bog!

On Saturday my new (ish) boots and I set off for North Norfolk to see Mum and Dad for lunch and a walk.

After some legendary directions from mum along the lines of:
Mum "Go along the road you came in on"
Me  "I came on the Swaffham Road"
Mum "No, not that one.  Then turn right!" - at this point I had no idea which direction she meant at all, but somehow we ended up at the carpark in Wolferton by the sign that said 'Dersingham Bog'.

When we were kids we used to access the bog from the track along the side of the tip and use it as a short cut to the Station Museum at Wolferton where we played (without permission) on the handcar  (as in 'The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery".

Now the area is managed by Natural England  and contains many rare mosses etc.  It's a bog, not a fen, because it's on acidic soil whereas Fens are on alkaline soil.

We had a lovely walk on the board walk, as walked on by Tony Robinson in his recent programme 'Walking Through History', where the cotton grass was everywhere.

Then we walked around to the Wolferton Cliffs from where we could just see across the wash to Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire.  Although Wolferton is now several miles inland the cliffs are evidence of its past shoreline location.

There was a beautiful low lying glade, that I couldn't resist scrambling down into

and of course the rhododendrons were stunning as they always are this time of year.

The rest of my weekend has mainly been spent in the garden dodging the showers and repairing a hearth with fire cement (but more about that another time).

I hope you've all enjoyed the long weekend too.

A Reluctant Day Out

Earlier on this week my neighbour knocked on the back door "I'd like to go to the Hadleigh Show on Saturday, do you want to come to with me?" she asked.  Now what was going through my head was "not really, I'd much rather spend the day in the garden, and it's quite expensive isn't it" but what came out of my mouth was "well if it's a nice day it might be quite nice"! Arrangements were made that we'd leave here at 10am if it was nice.

Today dawned, beautifully sunny and by 9.30am it didn't look as though she was even up so I thought I'd got away with it and we wouldn't be going. I started digging compost into my runner bean bed but a few minutes later she appeared and off we went.

I've never been to a country show and I have to admit that, despite my reluctance to be dragged away from my garden, it was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

We saw lots of rural crafts, stonemasons and woodcarvers as well as the willow weaver and spinners.

We watched a stunning falconry display (no photos they were too fast!) and a display of working sheepdogs herding ducks!

This actually wasn't as daft as it sounds and the trainer talked about how he took rescue dogs and trained them by working with their natural instincts and how our energy fields affect animals.

There were donkeys,

sheep of all different sizes and shapes - some native to Suffolk,

and some from further afield (Wensleydale),

as well as cows and a large range of poultry.

There were some super local food producers, I bought some gorgeous blue cheese from Suffolk Farmhouse Cheeses but I have to admit the food tent was too crowded for me to enjoy so I didn't explore it fully.

Desperate for a cup of tea we then headed off to a wonderful local nursery that I frequent quite regulary, The Place for Plants, for a cuppa and some obligatory plant purchasing (not too many in my case as I'm planning to go to my other favourite local nursery, Paugers Plants, next week).

All in all it was a lovely day, and I'm very glad I went, even if I am slightly sun burnt!

A Bank Holiday Walk

We had lovely weather here over the bank holiday so I decided to set off on a walk to Cornard Mere, the Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve that I'd read about when writing my post on bluebells.  I'd been a little worried that I wouldn't be able to find the footpath but as you can see it was very clear.

The ground was a dry as dust, apparently we get less rainfall here than the Sahara Desert does but we're not classed as a desert as our rain is spread throughout the year.

The website had said to 'take the footpaths to the south and the west to view the reserve' which is what I did.   However 'view' might not quite be the right word.  Every now and then, if I clambered through the nettles I got a tantalising glimpse of the wetland, but it was so over grown I couldn't really 'view' the main mere at all!

(Click on the photo above to enlarge it and you'll just see the main open mere in the background)

At one point there were lots of reeds which must give shelter to many birds and wildlife.

Despite not seeing any water birds, nor indeed hearing the elusive water rail (which was what I really wanted to hear), it was a lovely walk around the edge of the reserve and I did hear and see a chiffchaffs and blackcaps.

Chiffchaff

Time for the return walk, across the field towards the hedges of hawthorn

and the verges of cow parsley.

A nice walk, just not quite what I'd expected - I hope you all had a good bank holiday too.

A Walk Through Bluebells

There's something special about a carpet of bluebells.

Fran and I had nipped over to Arger Fen (part of Suffolk Wildlife Trust) and even on a dull day they were beautiful.

The contrast with the new green growth on the trees was soul lifting.

Some were in areas with other wild flowers, Greater Stitchwort and Yellow Archangel here.

We also saw an Early Purple orchid and heard a chiffchaff, cuckoo and a blackcap.  (The blackcap  warning call was identified thanks to the amazingness of twitter).

Close up bluebells always amaze me with their delicacy.

I've now discovered that I can walk from our country park to another Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve, Cornard Mere - it has Water Rail, I am rather excited. I'll let you know how I get on.

A Touch of Lace

Whilst sitting around giving the needle eating cat lots of attention and cuddles I've managed to finish a knitted lace shawl/scarf.

It's a beautiful, fine, baby alpaca and silk yarn from Eden Cottage Yarns which I bought at the Knitting and Stitching show in October.

The pattern is from Ravelry (Daisy Chain Shawl)

I've never used beads in knitting before but they were surprisingly easy to do and add a nice weight and slight sparkle to it.  There's one in the centre of each flower and one at the end of each point.

And just as I was wondering what I could knit next the latest Brooklyn Tweed pattern book fell into my inbox, so that sorted that one out - new yarn ordered and pattern downloaded, oh and more knitting needles ordered as despite having a drawer full I don't have the right size ones to knit Merle (how can that be?)!

As for said cat, he's fine, 100%!  Enjoying a little snooze in amongst some fabric earlier on

Everything's Coming Up Tulips

Over the last few weeks the tulips in the garden have been beautiful. Some I planted and know what they are like these:

Doll's Minuet

Black Parrot

Spring Green

I love how the rain makes them bend over and then they ping back upright in the sunshine

Others were here when I moved in so I have no idea what they are but I always love this purple one as it contrasts so beautifully with the exochorda above it.

When the sun shines these red ones in the front garden open right up to reveal their yellow centres.

Other just appear from nowhere.

Apart from taking photos of tulips and planting seeds not much has been done in the garden this week due to a certain black cat deciding to swallow some thread and the attached needle on Tuesday evening.  Cue emergency dash to vets where the needle (and thread) was removed from his throat under sedation.  He's recovered fine, it's taken me longer!

Whatever you're doing this Easter weekend I hope you have a lovely time (well mainly be avoiding needles!).

Fashions in London

Yesterday I took myself off to London for the day.

It was a beautiful sunny day and after a cuppa at the Festival Hall I wandered off along the south of the river, past many sights, to the Fashion and Textile Museum.

It was my first visit here and I'd taken Gina's advice to go on a Wednesday when there's a free talk at 1pm.  The talk and the exhibition were fascinating, tracing the history of 20th century art in textiles.

It's hard to pick favourites but here are a few:

1950's Designs by Andy Warhol

Screen prints by Estelle Laverne (1947), Ben Rose (1951) and Angelo Testa (1947)

1955 dress designed by Clare McCardell in a fabric designed by Picasso 

and these gorgeous dresses from Horrockses in the 1940s and 50s made from textiles designed by Alastair Morton and Graham Sutherland.

I also loved the smaller exhibition by Sarah Campbell 'From Start to Finish' (of course I knew I would as I'm a big fan of her work) - a room showing a film about her and her work and huge boards like this on the wall showing the journey, from start to finish, of a design  (this one is for M & S bedding 2013).

After spending quite some time in the museum I then wandered up to Somerset House as I wanted to see the Boro exhibition.  These are items made by the Japanese poor who couldn't afford the new cotton cloth so literally pieced together scraps and rags to make clothing and household goods.

Some were quite geometric whereas some really revealed the original shapes of the scraps of cloth.

Outside Somerset house, a costume drama was being filmed, so I stayed and watched for a while. 

I have no idea what it was, or if any of the actors are famous, but it was fascinating to watch and the costumes were amazing.

Finally I made my way to John Lewis, really to look at curtains for the lounge but I seemed to end up in the dress fabric department and ended up coming home with this little lot (and no curtains!)

There's a distinct 1950s influence in the fabric I bought isn't there!