Bartimaeus

Sometimes the news is oppressive. The media prefer bad news and I want to be aware and also to learn what has happened in the past. It can seem hopeless and it is easy to feel despondent.  Meeting Roma and Dave by chance had cheered me up.  Shane had planned to take advantage of the sunny weather and go for a bike ride to a garden run by volunteers. Volunteering itself is recommended to improve the mood but what they achieved didn't just cheer them up.

What a great find it was!  The bike ride itself was already a good start to the afternoon. I looked forward to the garden itself, although the first thing we saw on approach was called the Despair Shop. Nobody was there to ask what despair or repair they were working on at present. 

Once through the walls, we were in the rose garden. It was a haven of peace, and what a gorgeous scent.

Other flowers were interspersed but roses of many shapes and hues dominated, small bushes, climbers, hedges and arches.

Statues and benches added further elegance and a chance to savour the atmosphere. We kept moving though.

It was amazing to think this gorgeous garden was free to go into. It had about as many gardeners as visitors.

There were rows of potatoes and maybe other vegetables, not yet ready for lifting, we spoke to a man among the fruit trees. He described the varieties of apples and pears around him and we went on to discuss raspberries, tayberries and loganberries that were nearby. We saw currents, strawberries and gooseberries further on and as we walked around we saw plum and cherry trees and more exotic fruits that we don't see often in Scotland outside a greenhouse, like figs and grapes. We asked a man to tell us about one we didn't recognise - apricots.

It was certainly hot enough to feel like another more southern clime suitable for peach trees and oranges. There was an orangery but no citrus trees there but we came across a whole host of orange, in a fish tank. They were kept safe from hunters with a cage over and had some water lilies in with them.

We didn't see any herons there by the river but someone had made some larger than life. Shane was dwarfed by them.

We found somewhere for refreshments and while Shane had coffee and biscuits, I  chose an ice lolly. I hadn't expected that option to be available but this place was full of surprises, including a dresser with a tandem on it, alongside the plates and teapots.

The teacosies reminded me of the cafe in Burton where all the teapots had that traditional hand knitted cosy on them, all different colours sizes and patterns. 

There were more roses to be seen beyond the rose garden area and also some trees planted in memory of local people. 

When the house was inhabited there were more than a dozen garden staff and a similar number of house staff. There was a head gardener's house. It was now the place where you could use a toilet, but I was too late, they had already locked it. I just got to admire the stick library for dogs and model dog made from wellies at the front door.

Over the next couple of days we have seen more roses some wild, some planted in gardens and some artificial.

Roses aren't the only flower gracing the side of the canal and we saw this unidentified blossom recently and lots of honeysuckle too.

Perhaps if I look for more flowers on social media, the algorithms will improve my feed with more beauty.