Post Comment Love 6-8 January 2017

Hello there and welcome to the first #PoCoLo of 2017! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas and New Year and are raring to go for whatever the year has in store for us. Truth be told I'm only just getting the hang of what day it is again, and that's after being back at work all week.

We escaped London for Christmas taking our bikes, and a boot full of stuff to Hastings. A bike ride on Boxing Day was both chilly and hilly, but also good fun. And quite un-Boxing Day-like.

Last night saw me Googling when Twelfth Night was, I was hoping for an extra night's reprieve but no luck so I spent an hour packing away my baubles and folding up the tree. Now we can look forward to the next eleven months or so picking up stray pieces of tinsel! 

Christmas baubles back in their box
Now for the next eleven months picking up tinsel from the tree

Blogger Showcase: Tessa from Grumpy Mum Reviews

You can read Tessa's answers to the PoCoLo questions over on Morgan's blog. But before you pop over there, let me tell you a little more about Tessa and her blog. Tessa introduces herself as "Grumpy Mum, or Tessa as she's less formally known" and she's currently on maternity leave and has an interesting set of past hobbies. And she says she's not called Grumpy Mum for nothing as she loves to have a rant and set the world to rights.

Connect with Tessa here

Blog  -  Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Google+  -  Pinterest  -  Bloglovin'  -  Instagram

It'd be great if you could share some Social Love!

2016: French gardens, my garden and on the plot

As well as my usual end of year round ups, this year I thought I'd also look back at some gardens I've visited, my own garden and our plot too. I've realised that I enjoy sharing my love of gardens and gardening here on the blog and so I thought I'd acknowledge that with a gallop through the gardens in the Loire from our cycling trip in the summer.  

French gardens

Most of the French gardens we visited had a rather large chateau attached to them too, which were also great to wander around. Our first chateau was Chambord and while the grounds were extensive, and the chateau breathtaking, the gardens not so much. In fairness we arrived just as it reopened after the floods, but thankfully the gardens at Cheverny and Chenonceau made up for it.

And would you believe it but I stumbled upon a garden full of hedges too!

And the good news is I've still got at least a couple more French gardens to share.  I've been rather slow to get on with these, I think because so much has happened since we've been home. But coming up you can expect more hedges, this time from the very famous parterres at Villandry, which was one of the places I designed the whole holiday around. As well as those little hedges, there were plenty more "garden rooms" there, and the chateau, which for me was a side event, exceeded all my expectations. 

The other post I'm excited to share here is our cycle through a French allotment site, which we *may not* have done entirely by mistake <insert innocent face>. I'm also rather a little bit too proud of these photos as many of them I took "on the go" as we cycled around looking for a way out...

A year in my garden

In my garden 2016 will forever be known as the year of the circles. Although at the rate we're going adding the edging that could easily stretch into at least 2018! But it's good to have a project, isn't it?

Obviously there was more going on than just circles; it was also the year of the gardening gloves, and mouldy pears and much, much smaller trees. At least that's a job that won't need repeating this year.  

This year in our garden we'll be making progress with the edging (we will make progress, we will make progress!) and there'll be all the usual maintenance jobs. This year the greenhouse needs a good scrub because it the glass is rapidly becoming green, ahem.  

We'll be aiming to get the black sheeting down and top that with slate so we can finally get rid of the giant bags of skate that have been decorating our garden since 2013. I'll be looking for some low maintenance plants to accompany the little Christmas tree and other plants I keep acquirin, and we'll be getting our garden summer party ready - as this year we'll be having a 110th celebration out there. That's two significant birthdays and a tenth wedding anniversary in case you were wondering.

A year on the plot

We've had a good year on the plot and are still pulling up turnips, and eating our homegrown butternut squash. There's still the promise of some celeriac (fingers crossed), some leeks, although the ones that survived MOH stomping on them are pencil thin - but the small ones are more expensive to buy right? 

And there's all my brassicas too.   

And because I'm a geek a hear I've been keeping a spreadsheet of what we picked and costing that against the price of produce in the shops, it was prompted by MOH questioning if it was worth having an allotment.

Pffft!

The number of years I waited for one, I'm not about to give it up yet! 

And gardens closer to home too

I've also visited plenty of gardens in the UK. I was wowed by my first visit to RHS Hyde Hall in Essex and rekindled my love of roses, which started in the Loire.  It was a gloriously sunny day the day I visited and I was glad I was able to wander around the gardens instead of the long bike ride MOH was doing. 

As well as Hyde Hall I've been to RHS Wisley in October and I haven't shared anywhere near enough photos from there. In October we had a few days in Devon and I clocked up many National Trust property visits, and have shared none of those yet. And of course, in November there was unquestionably my garden highlight, when I got to visit River Cottage HQ. Yes, that was the day I drive to Devon and back  and yes, that was slightly mad!

So quite a lot to look forward too garden-wise in 2017, and that's before my trip to Munich later this month. It is just a flying visit, but I'm pleased to be visiting the STIHL and Viking factory at Kufstein. I will, of course, be sharing what I get up to. 

What's your garden plans for this year? 

A year in Greenwich Park: December

Understandably December has been the month when I've had the least 'park time' since I started this series. I don't think I walked home through Greenwich Park once in the whole month, so there's an immediate fifty percent reduction right there.

Actually, I'm wrong - I walked back through the park in daylight on 23 December as the office shut at 12:30 for Christmas, how could I forget? That was also my last visit to the park of 2016 too, and now almost two weeks later it seems funny *not* to have been there for so long!

Throughout December I'd been experimenting with a more reliable morning route too, one that removed the need to walk across the grass, as with dew and frosts I'd prefer to stick to the paths. I probably didn't choose too well when trying this path for the first time. Not only was there a bit of frost, but I also had mid-height heels on instead of the flats and trainers I usually walk in. 

Great light and frosty mornings, and heels, possibly not the day to try a new downhill path

Not my best decision making skills on show, but I made it to the bottom safely and it must be said rather gingerly. I've since decided that this isn't my morning route, or my regular one at least. That's entering the park on Maze Hill and rather than taking the path that seems most logical (and leads to the slope above) I've discovered taking the path straight ahead leads me to my favourite avenue of trees, and has meant I can pick up my grass-crossing route a bit further along. There are though, as you can see, a cross-cross of paths on the way. 

Settling on my new winter route for the mornings

And this route which I've settled on means I can still keep an eye on that tree, the one that now the leaves are down has exposed a rather large nest.  

A clearer view of the birds nest in 'my' tree in Greenwich park

So with a shortened path route in the mornings, my rough calculations mean I'm seventy five percent down on a summer month, that's quite a lot isn't it? But the shortest day has been and gone, so things can only be getting better, even if it is just by minutes each day.  

And my mornings now start with some brick wall love, perhaps January will be the month I capture that well enough to do it justice. I view it from outside the park, but marvel at its size, materials and even lack of straightness (really) and it looked even more mysterious in the December fog. 

Fog creeping along the perimeter wall of Greenwich Park

There's been quite a bit of fog this December, but as all dog owners know dogs still need walking fog or not. And so there's a more business like feel to that, it's been about getting the job done, heads down, hands in pockets, and getting home again.   And who can blame them?

Fog inside greenwich park made for some eery views and I knew I had to take some pictures
a foggy morning and spooky shots in Greenwich Park

The fog has made for some rather atmospheric photos though, so while I may not have many photos of this month, they are still pretty special.   

Turning right at the tree stump on my new route each morning
trees on the horizon on a frosty morning

Today I'm back at work and am keen to walk through the park again, to see if my regular nod dears are also back at work or still have the same routines, I expect they will. And I wonder if there'll be a spurt of New Year fitness activity to spot, I suspect so. Who knows, maybe even I will finally get my bike out for my daily commute, I know I've been threatening that for a while now.  

But in the meantime, now seems the right time to wish you all a very Happy New Year and thank you for reading. I hope 2017 is a corker for us all, as well this year I've got some celebrating to do (think significant birthdays!)