Treasures from another age at Coleton Fishacre

Following on from a look at the gardens in winter, today I’m sharing some of the items which caught my eye as we looked around the 1920s Arts and Crafts house, the country home of the D’Oyly Carte family and a must see for anyone interested in that era, and with a love for the elegance of Art Deco.

What I like about the house is that there’s always something new to see, our visit this time was before Christmas and the house was dressed for hosting a lavish party, with plenty of feathers used on the dining table and in between the branches of the Christmas trees.

At first it was the shape of this side table which caught my eye, and then I noticed the well-read books…

And my eye kept being caught as we moved through the house, what with the vanity sets, the tiles in the bathroom and the concoctions on the shelf below the mirror!

I even found a sewing kit, and a grand looking one at that. I couldn’t see what was in the containers, but I did approve of the glass alongside the gorgeous wooden box!

They really do evoke opulence and belong to a different age don’t they?

Then we headed downstairs to the ‘downstairs’ part of the house, which in this case is actually on the ground floor, but there were plenty of ‘downstairs’ items on display - note the blanc-mange recipe on the pudding basin, which of course would be upside down if you were actually using it as a bowl.

In the dining room I was met with the opulence of feathers and crystal - it looks like it was going to be a good party!

Moving into the library a couple more things caught my eye, including somewhere well used for all those telegrams and a nifty looking decoration on the tree made from a playing card - now that’s some inspiration isn’t it?

It’s often the little things you notice that makes these properties come to life, and it’s no different with the treasures on display during this visit to Coleton Fishacre.

And I really do need to work out how that tree decoration goes together….

The gardens at Coleton Fishacre in winter

Coleton Fishacre is one of the gardens in Devon we visit most times we’re in Devon, but it’s been a very long while since I shared it here on my blog - I’m not sure why. But anyway we last visited in December and our visit coincided with some of the celebrations to celebrate their centenary, which also included a visit to the Speakeasy for proper (but understandably tiny) cocktails.

The weather was wet - on reflection it’s not only been wet so far this year, there was so much water around for our pre-Christmas visit, but thankfully we mostly got a chance to take a look at the gardens during one of the breaks in the weather.

And even though it was a wet, wintery day there was still plenty to see around the gardens - and still plenty of colour. We even spotted our first daffodil in flower, in early December - eek!

The colour was more autumnal in other parts of the garden, and this remains of the flowering seedhead from what I think is a ginger lily was typical of the colours on show. Isn’t it fantastic?

Like many gardens in Devon and Cornwall, this one heads down towards the coast, though in this case where the gardens end you reach the coastal path on the clifftops, rather than the sea but with the amount of plants it’s clear to see that the garden has its own microclimate. But even so I was surprised to see the new lush growth on the banana plants with leaves ready to unfurl themselves.

The burnished autumnal leaves were more what I expected and it was great to catch this in a burst of sunshine and to bask in its warm, however briefly.

It was no surprise that the stream through the garden, and especially in the Rill garden (not pictured) was full and fast flowing given all the rain that had fallen in the past few days brought by the Storm Bram, which was almost a memory now that we were among these more tropical plants.

Then I stopped to pick up one of these fallen fruits, curious as to what it could be. While it looks strawberry-ish, it’s harder than that more apple in texture, but clearly not an apple. It almost looks as if its from a more Mediaeval time doesn’t it?

It’s actually the fruit of a dogwood, and gloriously so. I think we’ve seen them here before but never from my dogwoods in my own garden.

As you’d expect in the damp mossy parts of the garden there were plenty of funghi growing amongst them, and if the skies didn’t look quite so heavy I might have had more pictures to share, but instead as we were at the furthest point away from the house we decided to head back before getting rained on again.

But that didn’t stop me snapping a couple of hastily taken shots of these gorgeously coloured berries, and the start of a camellia - again that’s early, surely?

We only made it halfway back up to the house before the drizzle got heavier, but we stopped in the gazebo for shelter and were rewarded with this amazing, if not a little misty, view.

We weren’t there for long though before the weather passed over, and our patience was rewarded with a clearer view over the garden. Coleton is a great place to visit, even in winter. Now my challenge is to visit in sunnier weather to show you how glorious the garden can be all year round.

Floral Art at the Devon County Show

In one of the marquees at the Devon County Show we stumbled across the most incredible Floral Art, which reminded me of some of the exhibits I’ve seen at previous RHS Chelsea Shows.

With categories such as Ladies Day, Gold Cup, Out to Pasture, Winning Rosettes, Parade Ring it wasn’t hard to work out there was a horse racing theme! And all the exhibits far surpassed my ‘plonk it in a vase and tweak’ style of arranging flowers, these were as the competition’s name suggests pieces of Floral Art.

I snapped a few pictures of the ones which most appealed to me, and my view may or may not coincide with the more experienced judges, let me know which are your favourites.

LADIES DAY, JEAN ADAMS - SECOND PRIZE

LADIES DAY, HELEN HERRIDGE

LADIES DAY, DIANNE WEST - THIRD PRIZE

Now wouldn’t any of those be fabulous to wear, hay fever aside?

OUT TO PASTURE, ANN TRIGG

OUT TO PASTURE, HANNAH BEST - SECOND PRIZE

OUT TO PASTURE, HELEN HERRIDGE - THIRD PRIZE

WINNING ROSETTES, JEAN ADAMS - FIRST PRIZE

It was around this point that my favourites tended to align more with those of the judges, so I’m taking that to mean that one or both of us have an idea of what we like, and in the case of the judges the criteria for each category!

GOLD CUP, JUDITH WOOLLVEN - FIRST PRIZE

PARADE RING, KATRINA HOLMES - FIRST PRIZE AND BEST IN SHOW

I told you they were all stunning didn’t I? I really enjoyed walking around and admiring the work that had gone into each and every one, but don’t worry, I know where my flower arranging skills are - and they are way, way below this! These ladies, or those entering competitions anywhere in the country, have nothing to fear from me!