Garden ornaments and Bramley Apple Day

One of the things we like about Newark and the surrounding areas is the relatively large number of independent and antique-type shops, but one of the things we’ve done very little of since we’ve been here is visit shops like this. In fairness we’ve had a lot going on with getting our new house how we want it, and our trips into Newark have been almost entirely functional.

However after having dropped MOH off at the station and with some time to myself ahead of an appointment I had time for a little mooch around, finding two new-to-me vintage shops which I know I’ll be back to visit.

One of them, based in an old Methodist Chapel has plenty to explore, but what caught my eye immediately were the iron garden ornaments and signs.

They were reasonably priced too, so I’m sure I’ll be back at some point as these would look great in any garden, but something that adds height and structure is definitely something I’m keen on for our new build garden. While I have some ideas, they’re very early stages and something like these garden ornaments could definitely help both in the short and more longer term.

There were also stacks of the traditional hooped plant supports, what I would have done to know about this place for our previous garden. I’d often see these types of plant supports in gardens we’d visit and admire them, but the garden centres near us in London had nothing like this, or at least not at prices I’d be willing to pay. Now though, I just need some plants to support but that will come!

The only other picture I snapped in here was of these vintage metal signs, mainly to remind myself to go back and look at in more detail, as I’m sure there will be ones that will make us smile, some for brands we may remember and many more to admire too.

I’m very much of the opinion of the more you look the more you see.

Which I know makes sense, but often when you look regularly inspiration strikes and if you’re very lucky then you might find something that’s absolutely perfect that you didn’t know you were even looking for! As someone who likes a quirk to their decor (which is thankfully mostly accommodated by MOH), these shops provide plenty of opportunities to add something with character into the mix.

Bramley Apple Day

Being new to the area one of the things we’re doing is keeping an eye out for local events, mostly this is through Facebook groups, but not always. There’s a lot going on, especially in the run up to Christmas with plenty of local fairs and Christmas Markets appearing almost weekly.

We went to one, and not a Christmas related one, last weekend. We saw that Southwell Minster were holding a Bramley Apple Food and Drink Festival in the Minster, and as it’s somewhere we’ve been a couple of times now we thought we’d go along.

We didn’t realise the significance of the event, or of Bramley Apple Day (28 October), though as we approached the town we started to get an idea that it was bigger than we’d anticipated as car parking spaces were few and far between. We tried our usual two car parks, both were full and ended up in a third getting lucky with a space.

As we walked back through the town towards the Minster we spotted a lot of apples, and a lot of shops adding them to their windows, this one even had a sign.

Still not realising the full significance until later, when I learnt that the first Bramley apple tree was sown in Southwell in 1809, and the original tree is still there, which seems incredible. To be honest I’d never thought about when or where an apple would originate, but there’s a lot more information on the Bramley Apples website if you want to know more.

Consequently it’s a day, a week after the UK’s national Apple Day, that is celebrated in a town that’s about half an hour down the road. Who knew?!

But anyway, in the Minster there was a throng of food and drink stalls and plenty of people. The church was decorated with apples too and it seemed unusual to see the refrigerated cabinets in the main body of the church, until you think back to the bible stories and illustrations with traders and markets doing this very same thing. Then it’s not such a giant leap from our more established and traditional views of what a church is and should be used for. I’m also sure that churches, of all denominations and sizes up and down the country, like many businesses need to diversify and work with and alongside their communities to survive, and this is no different. It seems odd at first, but it makes an awful lot of sense.

We’ve been to a couple of events where the traditional church set up has been very much not the setup, and it’s great to see. We left the food and drink festival armed with some local cider, and more unusually a homemade keema lamb curry, samosas and a huge onion bhaji, which are now in the freezer ready for a day when we need an easy evening meal.

Obviously the cider’s not in the freezer, that didn’t hang around for long as while chatting to the brewer he helped us match cider to our dinner the following night - a pot roasted chicken cooked with fennel, celery and white beans. And both were very nice indeed!

Southwell has some great shops too, and once again I found myself looking at things I didn’t know I needed, and wasn’t even sure I wanted. These large glass jars caught my eye, and the ones with the larger necks could potentially be used with a candle, similar to a hurricane lamp I think.

And you can’t beat a florist’s display can you? Hydrangeas and eucalyptus are both favourites, but even so I left the bouquet there - and remembered to add both to my plant wish list!

It’s good to get out and do something for fun every now and then, especially when it reminds you of where you are in the country, and why.

Pepping up the grey

One of the things about moving house is that it unearths your unfinished projects, or as I prefer to call them works in progress. And it seems I have quite a few, so I’m going to tackle that, but only when they call me so that finishing them doesn’t become a chore. That may mean picking them up for a bit, and then leaving them for a bit more - which many of you will realise is pretty much my crafting approach anyway! However many of those I’ve rediscovered, like this variegated grey throw, are so close to being finished, but for one reason or another (and in most cases it’s the making up) they’ve been stored away for another day.

This one I’d carefully laid out and decided on how to place the variegated grey outer squares. And I still like that, so that’s good. But, well, it’s quite grey isn’t it? And the greyness doesn’t really sing to me - the work is good, but it’s still quite grey.

The pattern, and what originally attracted me to it, was based on Portuguese tiles with vibrant blues and yellows. I’ve no idea now why I decided to go grey, so I’ve decided to pep it up by adding some colour.

It seems by go to colours for adding colour are pinks, oranges and yellows - and I’ve nothing against using them all together.

I remembered that I also had a bag of small yellow granny squares that I was also planning on using up somehow. I’d thought about making them into a mat for my new drawers (more on that another day), but it didn’t feel right. But they are right for this project though.

I thought my adding some colour could work something like this, with an inner round of yellow and further colour added on the outside with yet to be made squares - as you can see this is very much a thought in progress type blog post.

I soon realised though that I’d need to amend this slightly so that the grey outer border didn’t have gaps. My revised plan now looked something like this in my head:

By laying out the actual squares on the floor I worked out I only needed to make about 10 or so more yellow squares, which were the result of what now seems to be very productive lunch breaks while I was working. I’d take my lunch and the wool and hook I kept in my desk drawer and find a bench to sit outside if I didn’t have other plans, and quickly created a pile of small yellow grannies, which I’d bring home a few at a time.

And so while working on creating the extra yellow squares needed I also started to sew the grey and yellow squares together, still thinking how to incorporate the red, pink and orange wool I’d pulled out. Plain granny squares are easy, but can be a bit dull. I didn’t want full size squares though as I thought having them offset (because of the yellow cross border) would make me twitch.

Then I remembered the vintage sweethearts blanket, which I’d made great inroads on sewing together before we’d moved (but haven’t picked it up since!) and remembered there were some mid-sized squares there which could work.

And I think they could, so once I’d completed the additional yellow squares I started on these.

I’ve chosen three different designs for the pink squares, above is the first design - I’ve already started on the second one, but I couldn’t resist a peek at what the pepped up throw might look like.

It’s feeling a lot less grey, which feels good!

This is also the first time I’ve picked up a crochet hook since my Carpal Tunnel surgery at the start of June - and no ill effects, and that feels good too. Especially as I have the wool for a new knitting project on the way, more on that another day - but needless to say it was love at first sight!

But for now I’m enjoying less grey.

My garden in September

The month I’ve spent some time pottering about the garden, and mostly cutting the lavender bushes - there are a lot!

My houseplants needed some attention and it was good to spend some time separating and potting on my promiscuous aloe vera - as you can see it yielded a good few plants. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but even so. I’d also taken some cuttings from my Maranta leuconeura or prayer plant - that’s the one with the colourful striped leaves. The cuttings rooted well in water and so with the roots developed I plunged them in soil, after first dusting in rooting powder for good measure.

They’re all still doing well, so that’s good - though I do need to find new homes for at least some of them as I’m not sure I need quite this many - I planned to put some on our doorstep in good weather, and then forgot in the recent warm weather, so I’ll try again. I’m thinking as long as it’s not absolutely torrid weather they’ll be ok, and should go, though we don’t get a lot of foot traffic past our door!

Elsewhere in the garden the potted border has coped with the continued mixed weather mostly well. I’ve a couple of plants with some dieback, and one of the trees in the external border is looking a bit crispy. Despite the amount of rain we’ve had recently during dry spells we’ve been dumping water on it to try and help it, though I’m not sure it’s really helping very much. We’ll have to keep an eye on it, and hope it improves rather than worsens.

The pots have fared better nestled amongst plants in the border, which is what I hoped. Some I will plant in the ground where we have some empty spots where the previous planting had failed.

As I’ve already mentioned it’s been a month of cutting our lavender bushes - from memory I think there’s at least seven of them, so it’s taken quite a while. But they look better for it, and another bonus is that our garden waste bin has smelt divine. Next year I hope to cut some of the flowers and dry them, but that’s for next year.

We’ve spent some time trying to get more organised in the garage, or at least get some of the tools organised after getting fed up of stepping over or walking around them as they lay on the floor. The result is probably the most organised our tools have ever been, I’m hopeful they’ll stay this way too!

The grasses in the outside border (and by outside I mean outside our wall) have also started to do their thing - this one looks especially fluffy! Others appear to be shedding grasses, and I vaguely remember seeing Monty Don ‘comb’ his hands through grasses to thin them, so I’ve been doing that with mixed results. I need to look up how to care for them properly though!

Also in the outside border is this wonderful berry-laden pyracantha, when I took this picture the berries were ripening and the yellow berries are now the brightest orange. It’s a favourite plant of mine, and I’m so glad we have one here - especially as it saves us buying one as I didn’t bring any of these from London.

It’s been another month full of the elements, luckily some warm weather as well as rain and wind. I’m always pleased to capture raindrops on leaves, and those on this alchemilla is no different. The raindrops just glisten and just make me smile. The wind makes me smile less so, twice now our large parasol has blown over despite the base being filled with water. Needless to say the parasol part was safely stored in the garage ahead of the severe wind warning ahead of Storm Agnes.

We continue to have mushrooms growing in our lawn, we think it’s a thing with relatively newly laid grass and it looks as if our neighbours also have them. They appear randomly across the grass rather than in a single spot. At the moment they’re more annoying than an issue, but we’ll see how it goes, and see if there’s anything we should do to prevent them reappearing.

October is already here, and the weather is already not always autumnal - but surely autumn must be just around the corner now?