Tree Appreciation Tuesday

 We have a number of local walks, and sometimes all you need is to stretch your legs and  feel the fresh air against your skin. We are lucky to have a regular walk, which can be extended to form a larger circular walk of just under two hours at our leisurely pace taking in the views.  

No planning is required, just deciding whether to take water proofs, and how many layers to wear.  We don't even need to look for car keys, as the countryside is just around a hundred metres from our front door. 

During the winter a walk along lanes and droves is the best option as soils here are clay and not easy to walk over after rain. This walk takes us down on to the levels where the lanes are called droves and these wind their way around fields where during the summer cattle and sheep are let out to graze on the rich grasslands.

If we don't want a walk of over an hour, we just walk along the lane.  Keeping a good space we walk to 'Our Tree' and back in just under an hour.  We do this walk once or up to three times a week. The Tree is question is getting more raggedy each year.  We are lucky however that it is well within a farmer's field, and no hazard to vehicles or other users of the country lane, or it would have been felled like many of the once iconic Ash  trees of the Mendips. Already since moving down to Somerset many trees have been lost in just the last five years. 

This Ash Tree works as a marker for us, and we can guage our fitness, as we recover from whatever we may have caught,  as to how easily we reach this tree, and whether the following walk will be a longer one. 

This side of the hedge is a drainage ditch, which this Sunday was full of water, the hedge yet to be trimmed but with the height of the tree it is easy to see into its canopy and see the number of dead or dying limbs.  I have no idea of how old this tree is.  It is fairly sheltered from northerly winds as there is a ridge of higher ground, crested by small collections of trees and scrub at the crest.  

This is not the first tree that we note on our walk, but this week I wanted to show it as the leaves are still on the tree which is the latest I have know Ash to hold their leaves.  The dead branches are easily identified too from this distance.

She is an old diseased isolated tree and once maybe have been part of a hedge as one can glimpse the remnants of an old hedge growing down the hill from the top.  Her canopy is much reduced since we first selected her as our way marker, Still with her gnarled trunk she is much loved and appreciated. 

 I wonder if birds may nest in her various hollows each spring.  We have seen birds of prey, pigeons, crows, and jackdaws perch but of course not all at the same time. 

A little before you get to this tree just up from the road a little is a dead Ash tree, with her skirt of scrub and bramble. Gradually as the bows decay and fall, and the thicket underneath increases, all memory of this tree will be lost.  Just how long will it take for 'Our Tree' to reach this stage?  If we are around, we shall shall still stop and remember her.

This post is in the series Tree Appreciation Tuesday.

Bicton Park Botanical Gardens - an Autumn Visit

 We were staying down at Budleigh Salterton for a few days, and on one of the drier afternoons we visit Bicton Park. Very much inspired by reading about the great plant hunters in the book 'Flower Hunters' by Mary Gribbin and John Gribbin, I was looking forward this time to looking at the trees, and hoping to find ones such as the Giant Redwood whose seed William Lobb brought back from his plant hunting trips.

Eventually we arrived at the Gardens but not before a wrong turning.

Focusing on the garden, glass houses and arboretum here are some of the wonderful views:

Towards the Italianate Gardens 

As we walked down the path on the far left of this picture I was very much taken by the large golden leaved conifer, and looking closely at the leaves and its form was intrigued as it reminded me of the golden leaved plant I had at home, in a pot. 

Contacting the garden with the tree outlined, I received identification: "It’s Latin name is Chamaecyparis pisifera Filifera Aurea' and it’s common name is Sawara Cypress."  Yes it is the very same!

Bicton Palm House

The Palm House predates the one at Kew, however it is still the second largest Palm House in the UK, build in the late 1820's a gift from John Rolle to his wife.  There was even a Date Palm with fruit, but this was one of the trees without a name label, probably because they did not want people eating the fruit!  How did I know it was a date?

Of course I had to have a tour of the other glass houses and garden.

The gardens have wonderful views and of course magnificent trees and borders and well worth a visit.

With their rarest tree on the site being this Cupressus chengiana var. jiangeensis. It is endemic to China where only one tree has been identified.

Thanks to Mr S who was incredibly patient and found places to sit whilst I revisited trees, or back tracked to view more closely trees that looking back I had not noticed. There were many Champion Trees which I may write about a later date. 

I mentioned at the start of this post that we had been misdirected.  Had we not been 'misdirected' by a student of the college, we would have missed this magnificent avenue leading from the Sidmouth Lodge to Flint Lodge. 

Bicton Park - Monkey Puzzle Tree lined Avenue

 At the gardens I would have liked a book with details of the plantings, the history of the gardens with as much background as possible.  A good big heavy book with lots of scholarly work, and I was prepared to spend all my 'holiday spending' on this book.  Sadly apart from the short guides, there was nothing.  On my return, searching on the internet I had a hard time and was sadly disappointed that there is nothing which met my needs.  I did find 'The Trees of Bicton' by N D G James, a 1969 Edition.  Together with a direct question via Facebook to the Gardens, which they kindly answered after a few days, the book has been an excellent source of information with extracts from the diaries of the Head Gardeners making for excellent reading.

About the Araucaria araucana or Monkey Puzzle Tree from 'The Trees of Bicton':

From seed received from South America in 1837, and Bicton received seedlings in 1839/40, in 3 x 3.5 inch pots (No 60) which were moved on to 6 x6 inch pots(No 32), and except for protection in the dead of winter, the Monkey Puzzle Trees were ready for planting, and were just knocked out of their No 32 pots and planted in the avenue,  protected by little wire cages, in 1844. 

In 1842 Mr Veitch visited the avenue to discuss the plating of 25 tress on either side of the avenue, and positions were was marked out, allowing 54 feet between each tree, in a double row 63 feet apart.  

Today some of the trees are much larger and I wonder how much replanting has taken place. The book has a list of all the trees with height and girth at 5 feet, gave the largest tree No 10 on the South side, in 1968 as 85 foot high, and 11' 4.5'' girth. Latest found sizes for 2013 gives the height at 95 feet and girth of 13.5 feet.

Trees in Spring but for how long for the Ash of the Mendips

 On our walk this week, I retraced the steps of a walk taken with my Geology Group, wanting to show Mr S a particularly lovely little valley. All of this is no further than two miles away from home.

Just beyond the last houses along Reservoire Lane, an old original boundary was engulfed by encroaching trees.  From small saplings growing upwards, after many years, the iron railings  are mere 'piercings' with the railings now going through the middle of the left tree, with the bark of the other two slowly growing over the railings. The trees are now holding up the rusting railings. 

Wide spreading Oak Tree

With leaves just about to burst, it was the shape of the trees, lit by clear bright spring sunshine, that brought me the greatest joy. 

For now but for how much longer, we must enjoy the silhouettes of Ash Trees.  Tens of thousands are being felled, and it causes me anguish when I see all the stumps along the lanes and roads.  The very sound of the saws all around the hills, over the last few months has been their death knell . Will it stop now we are in the nesting season?  Will this be but a temporary respite? I really do hope that trees away from roads and paths, and on private land will have some sort of reprieve, if only they could stand a while, who knows, they may survive, and scatter their seed.  But whom am I to judge whether the science is correct, and whether actions to remove all the trees, or leave some will be the right action.   I really think that many healthy Ash Trees have been felled, simply as a convenience cutting long banks along the roads, rather than just the odd tree which is damaged.  Returning in five or ten years was not considered, and it does not look as if any replanting is taking place at the moment, Time will tell. I can just recall the loss of the Elm Trees from the English Landscape....

Mr S and I have vowed to return as often as possible to our little grass covered and Ashy Dell, with its cool limestone stream,  as often as we can.  There was mention of a picnique, book reading and gazing into tree tops...

RIP Mendip Ash.........

Ash Trees on the Mendips

I'm using this Title on this post because I took a picture of a magnificent ash tree on my ride today.  It was a shorter ride at around 8km, with 144m ascent.

The quiet time after Christmas is traditionally a time to consider new resolutions, Normally I don't make any resolutions, well not at this time of the year, but it dawned on me in the small wee hours that I ought to be less timid.    Friends who know the outer me may laugh at this, but the inner self does lack confidence in just getting on and trying things.

In  my less timid mode, I thought through the things I ought to set my sights on.  An important one is good health and fitness within one's capabilities.After my injury on the walks in Crete and a realisation that my feet would hardly ever be likely to be in shape to attempt even moderate walks let alone walks such as The Tour de Mont Blanc and crossing the Pyrenees as I had done some years ago, my mind has turned to cycling.  We are fortunate to live in a beautiful area, with reasonably quiet roads so this will be my new challenge and offer a variety of 'adventures'.

I have my workhorse of a bicycle, which with its panniers, serves me very well for visits to friends locally and most grocery shopping.  However there is no reason to limit oneself, and this is the third of my rides in my new regime.  I am exploring the area straight around our home.

Another area in which I have been timid, is in the use of the mobile phone!  After years of having first a pager, then a mobile phone for work, and jumping each time wondering what emergency would need to be dealt with, I had decided to use them as little as possible.  I have one and I want it to be a tool.

On my recent two cycle rides on the levels, one of the difficulties was getting out the Ordnance Survey Map from my pannier, opening it, finding where I was, and maybe trying to hold it open in the breeze or in the mizzle, which is the name for very fine rain/mist.

With the new Ordnance Survey Maps there is a facility to download a code, but first you need to upload an app, my first one!, and now I have the map on the phone, with a little help from Mr S.  So today, I have used this for the first time, and I am sure there are many features to explore and will be fun to use.

Another 'must try harder' area is using the mobile phone to take pictures....The picture of my Giant was taken with the phone, and another first for me today was uploading the picture to a 'Facebook' post using the phone.  Another first was sending the picture to my own email from the phone, so that I could upload it to my blog.

The Ash Tree was taken with my camera, and it really doesn't quite look as good.

There are large areas of mixed woodland on the Mendips, with Ash dominating.  Away from the coppiced woodland within the smaller fields 'eye catcher' specimens like this one offer landmarks along the lanes.  After cycling and indeed walking up steep hills pushing the bicycle, there was a steady downhill ride into Wookey, with much breaking. 

When looking up the flora and fauna of the Mendips I read that one of the plants 

"Purple gromwell: A characteristic plant of the Mendip ash-lime woodland frequently found in clearings and beside rides"

which by the way I shall look out for this spring around the edge of the wooded areas,  is growing in the green swath, which stands in for lawn in my front garden.  Was it planted there at some time, or is it a remnant of the original turf?

Somerset Level Alders

To end the year I planned a solitary cycle ride on the levels taking me a little further than a week or so ago.  With ordinance survey opened out, I found a low point in the ridge along which the B3139 runs from Wells through to Wedmore and beyond.  It was across the gap near Panborough that I ventured from North Moor to Knowle Moor which lies wedged between this ridge and the Mendips.

On North Moor the tall willows mark the edges of dykes along field boundaries, and within the grazing areas wide expanses of sedges dot the grasses Over the last few weeks I have come to appreciate the beauty of this low level countryside, and plan to learn more about  its flora and fauna.

Towards the ridge, it was the Alder Trees that started to take over from the Willows.  In the low winter light, their twigs with tight buds shone purple.

With their leaves all gone, the structure of the branches is silhouetted against the low grey clouds,  again forming field bounderies.  The Alnus glutinosa adds fertility as it is able to trap nitrogen with the help nitrogen fixing bacteria. 

At one stage a brightly coloured kingfisher flew ahead of me along a dyke,  and later I stopped to watch a sole little egret, I think, well it was egret shaped and white, but as soon as it turned and saw me, it flew off!   There were the usual flocks of gold finch, long tail tits, willow and other tits.

On the way back I cycled round Knowle Hill, where I found a young heifer loose on the drove.   At the time I was anxious in case it turned towards me, so I made sure I kept a constant steady slow speed, and as it jumped the dyke  in a well trodden area, It dawned on me that it must have done this several times. It had galloped in front of me for half a kilometer before jumping the dyke and then swaggering into its 'home' field by Knowle Farm.

On the last leg of the cycle, I had a few hills to pass through as I cycled through Yarley and back towards the Ben Knowle and Hay Hill Gaps, passing Fenny CastleVineyard.

The weather was mild.....

Somerset Levels Willows

Each landscape has its iconic trees, and on the Somerset levels in the area surrounding Godney, I would say they are the pollarded willows.  I stopped at the edge of the narrow lane, which was subsiding slowly into the soggy ground, along which pollarded willows stood sentinel along a flowing rhyne, to allow a car to pass.

  Here stood two willows whose main trunks survived sufficiently to support numerous small branches which sprouted following pollarding maybe three to four years ago.  If they are not pollarded when this old and hollowed out, they collapse into the soft earth.

What starts off  as a road, becomes a lane as it drops to the levels from the Mendip slopes, and it soon straighten out to become a network of narrow droves that crisscross Godney Moor. Only drivers trying to reach one of the small hamlets or farms ought to venture on these narrow lanes, but for the cyclist they are a pleasant way of viewing the wildlife, cattle, hills, skies and flocks of birds. With the ever present Glostonbury Tor giving a marker and aid to orientation, if the sun is hidden behind a low blanket of cloud.

Day on the Lassithi Plateau

Travelling up through the mountains by coach  we had views of the hills cloaked in their 'springtime' evergreen shrubs and I could pick out the dry river beds by the ribbons of oleanders with their pink blooms.  We stopped at a view point and although early in the day the heat haze had started to form.

Ruins of threshing floors and derelict windmills for grinding the corn  signaled that we were going through a pass.  These are ideal spots where chaff would be blown away on the stiff breezes, which also turned the sails.

This is just one of the many types of Phlomis growing on Crete.


We started our walk at the edge of Lassithi Plateau. Just looking at the handful of windmills with full sails left me with a sad feeling that all the other windpump, and it is reckoned there were ten thousand, are now defunct.  Instead diesel powered pumps bring up water.  It is relatively cool at this higher altitude.  The plateau gets covered with snow during the winter.  With its very fertile soil, its no surprise to hear that  this area has been farmed for centuries, since Neolithic times.

Even with strong sun the fields were being irrigated with a fine mist which seemed to evaporate before it could hit the ground.  I've been thinking about this, and maybe it was to keep the recently sown crops cool enough.

This butterfly probably a speckled wood stopped long enough for me to 'capture' it.  All around there were birds.  Hopefully I shall receive a list from Dee Doody of the ones we saw.  We watched a very rare bird of prey...but I did not have my note book on me!!

After walking across the plateau, and through the village of  Psychro, we started our walk uphill towards the Dhiktean Cave.  These days I seem to get confused, unless I can pinpoint places.  I found the different spellings and names particularly difficult:  Psychro Caves, Dhiktean, Dikteon...how many more names/spellings can there be for the Cave where according to Greek Legend Zeus was born? 

 I had to keep up with the party, but I was tempted on several occasions to hold back to enjoy the wild plants and flowers along the path.

Above the mouth of the cave, large fig trees grew from cracks in the limestone rocks.

As you descend into the cave, there are interesting formations, along the walls, as well as stalactites and stalagmites.

Its the lovely blooms that caught my eye.  The first picture here us Centaurea raphanina ssp raphanina, an endemic of Crete.  Its stemless and has the most intricate bloom.

Orchids dotted the sparse vegetation along the path.

Here a very hairy yellow flowered plant tried to muscle in on a centaurea

The most striking plant of this hillside was one whose leaves alone could hold my interest for a very long time. Here they are fresh and completely unfurled.  Its bloom still at the tight bud stage.  I saw several examples of Drcunculus vulgaris: the voodoo lily.

This plant's leaves had started to curl and dry, but now the flower is fully open.  

We drove through some of the very pretty villages, where cherries were starting to ripen, and walnut trees had only just come into leaf.  

On the way back we stopped at Krasi.  What an enchanting place.  Here stands the oldest and largest plane trees in Crete, said to be around two thousand years old.  

I could feel its energy, which I felt drawn to.  Its one of the finest trees I have been close to.  It felt full of life and long may it live.  Just across the street are the village springs where water clear and cool seeps from the mountain.

We strolled along the lanes, and here at the front of this Taverna my eye was drawn by the rose tree.

Most of the forecourts were places to display favourite plants.

Here a settee was placed on the road...so welcoming....is that a hand woven rug?

Dare I knock...but I have no Greek...What would I say?  But then I see a very old lady all on her own, sitting in her garden in the shade, and I just smile, I receive a  smile and then a wave, I wave back, and she smiles some more.  We have said all that was required...she an I.

Holiday to Frome

It was just for a week, a week to relax, to 'claim' some of my birthday treats, to unwind......

It was hot, we visited loads of places, our flat was very near perfect, a total success.....

Chosen from the internet, our flat on the outskirts of Frome, but still within easy walking of the Town Centre and the station,  was peaceful, with great views.  I spied a Kingfisher on two occasions, a balloon and many cows who wondered round their large field throughout the day, seeking shade and sipping from the river from time to time.  We watched the birds flitter amongst the trees and wheel over the fields. The flat was very well appointed, clean, quiet and comfortable and we wished for nothing more...

On our way down we stopped at Avebury.  We had visited there many times, but not since the latest restyling by the National Trust.  At first I felt that we were walking through a 'film set', but gradually as the usual relationship melted away, with the help of the room stewards, we came to feel that we could touch and explore far more things than is normally allowed.  Mr S took a shine to the living room, and enjoyed a cool rest.  There was music of the period playing over the radio, and lots of artifacts to look at.

In the dining room I had a go on the 'exercise horse', and then spent ages intrigued by the hand painted wall paper, no touching of this,

but D was invited to sit at the head of the table and imagine that lunch was about to be served.

He had a go in the library at the billiards, whilst I read an Edwardian Gardening Book.  The Gardens at the Manor are coming on a treat, and were well tendered.

The small room again with hand painted wall paper was a delight

As we had a schedule to follow, there is much in the house, to draw us back again.  We made the Horse at Westbury with wide ranging views for our lunch time picnic, and watched hand gliders waiting for a favourable wind, well any wind would have done, it was perfectly still.

When we got down to the flat, and had unpacked the car, we headed into town...as soon as we hit the first shop: James Gaunt Interiors in Church Street, I spied some really wonderful hats in gorgeous fabrics.  Although this is not a hat shop, a local hat maker has a few of her hats in the window featuring the fabrics.  I tried some on, all too large, I have a small head...but the hat maker was in the shop collecting some fabric.  She offered to make me a bespoke hat, in fabric of my choice.  When I went to collect my new hat later in the week, she had made two, it took me ages to choose... I chose one with ferns and dragon flies, lined in green, totally reversible.  The other one I left behind was the same fern fabric but with moths!

Mr S also got his Panama Hat from Matico on Cheap Street.  We had passed the shop when it was closed, when we saw a Panama Hat in the window.  After being disappointed all season not finding a hat to fit, we were not holding out .  We had a lovely conversation with the owner, who had been to Ecuador to meet with the Hat Makers.  During the past seasons she had many chaps with large heads come in the shop, so she had specifically asked for larger hats to be made.  As we entered the shop, one was already walking out with a gentleman.  Mr S even got stopped in the street in Frome with questions about the hat.  Also on Cheap Street, Mr S bought three belts...yes three from a lovely leather shop.  He has been looking for just the right ones for several years now, and the old ones are years and years old!

Saturday we spent walking around Frome, visiting the markets, and found the same cheese we had bought down in Bridport.  We bought some of Wootton Organic Dairy's sheep's yogurt, a whole soft cheese, and a wedge of their Millstone, which Mr S claims is the best sheep's cheese ever.  We bought various other goodies to keep us over the coming days.  By the river, near the market, in Frome grows a wonderful large multi stemmed tree.  I love trees, and I was straight away attracted to this one.

I just had to take a picture under my theme of 'fifty shades of green'.  The bark is well groved and mirrors the ripples in the river below, and from which the sunshine was bouncing back lighting the otherwise shady area.  This multistemmed tree I discover is a wing nut, Ptericarya x rehderiana.  It has long pendulous catkins but by this time was displaying its fruit which gives the tree its common name: wingnuts.

The following day we took a trip out to Cranmore to the preserved line and railway modelling shop.  We had not realised that it was father's day, so were very lucky to get a cancellation at the nearby Inn for Sunday Lunch.  We had one of the best Sunday lunches out for ages at the Strode Arms.  The Ale was very well kept.


We were so hungry that it was not until the desserts, that I got my camera out.

On the way back to Frome we popped into Nunney Castle, just perfect with its moat...

Monday was the day I had plumped for to claim one of my birthday treats:  A day at Bath Thermea .  It was wonderful, after the treatments, delicious lunch, and sessions in the various steam rooms, the room pool, and the other pool, I was totally relaxed.  In the evening our friends Peter and Catherine took us out a meal at Raphael.  We were thoroughly spoilt, and then caught the return train to Frome.  Bath has redeveloped the area around the Station, and the whole City looked very smart.

Tuesday saw us having a bit of a drive around before our special meal.  We stopped for a cuppa at a small cross roads in Chewton Mendip at a cafe called Lynda's Loaf...we could not have been more surprised.  The place was a delight, and the food looked sublime, but we knew what was ahead of us, so only had a drink.  We sat at a big table and had a nice chat with someone from the village.  He pointed us in the direction of a short walk which was totally hidden from the road which lead behind some cottages to the source of the River Chew.

I had recently been reading Paul Hollywood's Biography, and one of the Restaurants he said he would want to go to again and again was that at Ston Easton Park.  I had looked up the restaurants he had mentioned and found this one close to where we were staying, and their taster menu was within our means for this special 'meal of the year'.  The house and grounds were grand and well kept, and we were booked in well in advance.

 We had our drinks in one of the drawing rooms looking onto the 'back garden', and there rested awhile, before having a walk round the walled garden, which was growing fruit, veg and flowers.

 After lunch we went to Wells, and had a 'cool' time visiting the Cathedral, and saw the beautiful 14th century clock

 Wednesday was the day we went to Bath on the train again..this time to claim another of my birthday treats:  tea at the pump rooms...delicious, and with live music.

In the morning, we visited the Victoria Art Gallery.  In all the years I have been to Bath, this is the first time I've been there, and it won't be the last time.  They have a good selection of paintings, porcelaine and glass.  I found this beautiful screen depicting St Dorothea: Patron Saint of Florists, and St Elizabeth of Hungary.  The inscription on one side reads In his celestial garden fruits and roses that never fail, and on the other, and in her lap there lay the red and white roses of paradise.  As a gardener and rose lover this really touched my soul.

After that we picked up a picnic from a little cafe on Pulteney Bridge, and got this picture from their window, whilst we waited for our sandwiches to be made up.

We made for the Holburne Museum,

round the side is this delightful 'garderner's cottage', my name for it.

and had our picnic amongst many other picnickers in their back garden.

Thursday was picking up the hat, more walking around Frome, and I bought two plants from the Country market:  a variegated scented pelargonium, and a fern:  Athyrium Niponicum Pictum.  As a coincidence there was a very good Pelargonium House at Stourhead, though I had to be politely assertive, after I had obviously been told a 'cock and bull story' by a young very confident ticket person, before someone from the shop very kindly went and found the key and opened the house for me.  She was very suprised about the 'story' and said the glass house was usually open!  They have a really good collection, and the names were only visible from the glasshouse walkway, there were fern like pelargoniums,

succulent pelargoniums, and many others...after the doors were opened many other followed me.

Friday saw us decamp and head home, via two super sites well worth visiting: Farleigh Hungerford Castle and The Courts Garden.  As usual I spied a pretty pink ground cover plant which I am yet to find its name.  So if anyone can name it, please let me know.

We did do other things too, like walking on downs and visiting long barrows, admiring architecture, and going for walks.  All in all perfect....now back and the garden really bloomed during this hot week, so its been early morning dead heading to get it looking tidy, and looking up to see when rain is expected again.