Cannington's Cacti

Did you know that at approximately one fifth of the Earth's land surface is desert? No me neither, but nearly 10 million square kilometres (or 3.9 million miles) is true desert, where rainfall is extremely low. I learnt this, and more, in the Arid Zone in the Botanical Glasshouse at the Walled Gardens of Cannington.

As we know deserts aren't devoid of plants, but the plants have adapted to their conditions to store and make the most of the water available. While I know very few of the cacti names, that doesn't stop me admiring them, that means in this post there's few, if any, plant names, but there are some great plants.

See what I mean?

The symmetry and patterns from cacti are fascinating. As are the succulents, I couldn't resist shoving my phone almost into the succulent below to capture the texture and colour.

I was pleased - and amused - to spot more Cowboys' Bums, which still has to be the best plant name ever.  Perhaps it's a coincidence, but I last spotted them in Cornwall, so are they a South West thing?

I wasn't expecting to be hit with this lime green-yellow flower though, it's as exquisite as any cactus in this biome, it's stunning isn't it?  

There were plenty of cacti to follow, the one below doing its best to blend in to the gravel, no doubt another survival ploy.

And don't be fooled, these look fluffy, but are far from fluffy.  I tried.

We had the glasshouse to our self and it was great to be able to get up close to the plants, capturing the water drops on the cactus below.

As we were leaving and even I thought I couldn't take any more photos of cacti, I proved myself wrong, as I spotted this snail snoozing quite comfortably in the prickliest of places.

There were six biomes - or areas - in the glasshouse and this post covers just one of them. There is another photo I'm sharing on my Facebook page today which really made me smile. It's not a great photo, but pop over there and maybe it'll make you smile too.

A snippet of my long weekend in Devon

If you've been following along on Instagram you'll have seen some of my Devon photos from the weekend. We left London early Thursday morning, and spent a good couple of hours on the M25 in traffic. There was nothing good about them, but with some hasty journey replanning along the way after the M25 we avoided traffic for the rest of the journey. The weather wasn't great (read, it was chucking it down so much the wipers were going double speed) so instead of heading to Lyme Regis for breakfast, we thought about Marlborough, another favourite.

Somehow though we missed Marlborough - no idea how - and stopped instead in Wincanton, for a coffee at the local Morrisons, which I promptly drizzled onto my chest. Thankfully it wasn't so hot, so a blessing really. The day could only get better hey?!

Cramming a lot into four days

Our first stop was the National Trust property Montacute House in Somerset. I've written before how I much prefer to stop somewhere like this rather than a motorway service station, and with views like this it's easy to see why. Our first stop though was the cafe for breakfast - and a cheese scone and a sausage roll hit the spot nicely.

It was a lovely place to explore, and even better when I discovered the wibbly wobbly hedges. I'll share more from my visit but the photos above are just a snippet to keep you going. Back in the car we decided to head towards another National Trust property nearer to MOH's aunt's house, who we were visiting.

So our next stop was Castle Drogo, who were having some work done. I don't think we could have chosen such a different property, there were some fun exhibits though. We'd visited here many years before, and all I remembered was the garden and even that wasn't exactly how I had in my mind's eye. It was good to go back and put my memory straight.

Friday we headed further south and towards Overbeck's, the Devon weather completely spoiling us and the sandals and summer dress I'd packed on the off chance got an unexpected airing, but I'm not complaining.  The views here were stunning.

It's a small place though, and there's a lot of ups and downs in the garden as it's built into the cliff. There is a house but I found it a bit odd and wasn't a fan of many of the collections there. After a quick tour round the house, we were done and on our way. We decided to head into Salcombe, again somewhere we'd been before, but not for a while and the last time there was traffic there too. 

That was clearly earlier in the year as this time was completely different. We also left the car out of town a bit and walked into the centre, which was a much better idea. Lunch was on our agenda, and that quickly became fish and chips on the quay, there's nothing better. Well maybe apart from these pretty pastel buildings.

Not done for the day, we stopped off at the South Devon Chilli Farm on our way back towards Newton Abbot. You'll not be surprised to learn I left with some seeds and some chocolate - chilli flavoured of course. As it'd been a while since we'd eaten(!), we also sat for a while in the sun enjoying a chilli chocolate crisp bake and I had a chilli hot chocolate. It wasn't really hot chocolate weather, but they are good.

I'm always fascinated by the number of varieties of chillies and their colours. I've had a good chilli crop this year, but next year I'm hoping I'll have grown prolific plants from seed. We'll see...

Saturday saw a solo visit to Killerton for me. MOH was keen to stretch his legs on Dartmoor and conquer Haytor, which I believe they did, although the weather had its revenge on them. So ahead of meeting me for a pub lunch, his group had a swift trip home to change into dry clothing before heading out again.

Somehow the rain passed me by and I had my own encounter with a wasp to deal with, after settling down to read a book in the library, explore the fashion exhibitions upstairs, a wander around the gardens and find a bench in the sun, under a tree that didn't attract the rain. Quite a feat, but entirely do-able it seems. And I can tell you first hand that vinegar works like a dream on wasp stings.

When we're in Devon our Sunday morning jaunts are usually relatively close to the house. Often they're to nearby Shaldon, Dawlish or Teignmouth, but this weekend we set off to Cockington Court, in the pretty village of Cockington near Torquay. There's plenty of easy walks there and it's a magnet for tourists and locals alike. I like to visit the craft studios in the old stables and since our last visit, we discovered there's also a walled art garden. A quirky place and definitely one for another day.

Later on Sunday while speaking to mum and recalling our adventures I mentioned Cockington to her. And would you believe it, but it turns out that as a girl she'd walk down through the fields through Cockington and onto the seafront (a walk that's signposted today, and is probably through less fields than it once was) while her nan cooked Sunday lunch. 

I knew mum had family around Torquay and that she'd been evacuated there during the war, but I had no idea it was near Cockington, so that was quite a coincidence to discover for us both. It just goes to show it's a small world doesn't it?

So that was my weekend - although it was twice as long as normal, we still managed to cram a fair bit in, before heading back to London after a traditional Sunday lunch with family.  

How was your weekend?

W is for... Waterlily

My W is for Waterlily and this photo is from our visit to Tintinhull Garden in Somerset over the summer.  For more on that visit see - Six delightful courtyard gardens at Tintinhull Garden.  I'm particularly pleased with this photo as I've captured the ripple in the water and some pacman shaped waterlily leaves!