Decorated Focaccia

 Within my WI we have a crafty group that meet each month, and our leader suggested that I do a demonstration of a decorated Focaccia.  

There are loads of eye candy type coverings on the internet, and our leader already tried an instant shop bought focaccia mix.  We ought to have a proper base!  Yesterday I had a trial run at home, and just wanted to try to see what replacing half of the flour with sifted wholemeal flour would produce.  

Decorated and ready for final rise

I didn't quite get the process right as there were not the "consistently inconsistent bubbles", probably dimpled it too many times, but it was very light, delicious.  Anne said she would be alright with just white flour, so I shall be taking two batches of dough on Tuesday for the ladies to decorate.

Out of the Oven

Everything else was in accordance with Jack's recipe and technique.  The focaccia was cut up and filled as in a sandwich with home made pesto, and sliced ham to take to an Italian picnic today.

First visit to Caisson House Gardens

 The reason for the 'First Visit' description in the title of this post, is that I know for sure that there has to be several more needed to take in the structure and planting of this garden and simply just to enjoy the beautiful surrounding landscape. 

One can read all about these delightful gardens so except for some fleeting impressions, it is best left to the owners Phil and Amanda Honey to describe in their own words and with some lovely pictures how they came to meld themselves into the rolling hills along a deep valley tucked just beneath Bath.

Coombe Hay Locks which have not been navigable for a very long time, and the surrounding land have been pivotal in the way the garden cascades down to the The Pound, where a little jetty forms a shelf along the edge of the water.

On the eastern side the stone bridge gives views overlooking the stretch of waterlilies

The western end below which the locks continue is now dammed to form The Pound, and also the point at which some lovely white waterlilies remind us that we are in mid summer.

The planting is mainly white throughout except in the Walled Garden where the borders are full.  Having walked through the glasshouses bordering The Potager still within the walled garden, seeds for next year's plantings were just showing through in their trays, and no doubt these will all be pricked out into modules and thus strong plants will be ready for the allocated positions later in the year.  Sweet pea arches and tunnels already in flower wafted their perfume.  

Walking along the cut paths through uncut meadows, one just had to marvel at the range of wild flowers, and we saw at least two types of native wild orchids.

Our group of ladies from Wells WI gardening group seemed to split into two groups, and the group I was with entered the garden along the back of the house, the northern side which offered opportunities for a different sort of planting with generally the luscious green foliage set off a limited colour of white plants.

This led along to the Mulberry Terrace where we were impressed again with the selection of plants and the many large planters.

Just as we were passing the Potting shed and pigsty, over the wall down in the Potager we waved to the other part of our group.

As one walks across the stone bridge towards the house  one cannot miss this statuesque tree, which seems to dominate the top of the locks and declares all  it sees as perfection. On my next visit I can certainly like more than just a distanced view. All around and below the wild flower meadow and along the path that takes one to the south side of the locks, goes through a little more woodland.

There were teas on offer in the old stables, with the range and quality reflecting the chic design of the gardens.  On my return I was inspired to baked one of the cakes which was a great hit with himself.  Several of the ladies bought and took home pieces to share or to just enjoy on their own.  This was an afternoon visit but to start with Maggie took us all to one of her old haunts where her book club meets.  I can thoroughly recommend 'The King William Inn' at Tunley, which is not far from Caisson House.

Broadleigh Gardens and Hestercombe- A visit with 'Blooming Fun'

With WI 'Blooming Fun' friends we set off last week on a two garden tour outing.  The first and for my inner 'plantswoman' Broadleigh Gardens was a dream.  

With its beautiful lawns surrounded by woodland beds, and bulbs growing through grass under the Cathedral ceiling effect of a magnificent Cherry, as well as a long double bed of alpine plants growing alongside a beautiful old brick wall, the range number of different and interesting plants, meant that the visit with a band of generalist gardeners was far too short for me!

Deciduous flowering currants were used to great effect and nicely underplanted with bulbs, this one shone out.  I even wrote to the owner to find out its name, but the response was it was grown from a cutting from a friend's garden meant that I was grateful to fellow Blooming Fun Carolyn, and also Facebook for identifying it as  Ribes Gordonianum, also known as ‘Gordon’s Currant’ or ‘Beatonii’, and is a deciduous shrub that is a hybrid between Ribes Odoratum and Ribes Sanguineum.

We were free to have a look through the nursery part of the garden, where there were of course beds of specialities being grown for sale.

Scilla hughii

At first I thought these were a 'superior' selection of Scilla peruviana which I have in the front garden.  At the sale area I found a group of three pots with the label Scilla hughii, and bought just one.  Scilla hughii is endemic to a small island off Sicily, it has broader leaves and the flowers as described on some sites as being on 'steroids'.  The Rare Plants site explains the difference clearly.  I am going to keep growing in it a pot for a couple of years, as I being it will they make side bulbs and I hope to plant up a group of three.  I wish I had bought all three! I did buy three plants but just one of each, of course to be propagated in due course.

It was a first time visit for me to Hestercombe, which is a garden on a grand scale, with lake, fabulous trees, extensive views towards the surrounding countryside and a great parterre.  It was probably well before its best time as far as the gardens were concerned.  Wisteria time would be probably the start for the gardens.

Hestercombe is where we chose to have lunch, and my 'cooked breakfast' which included to my surprise home make beans in tomatoes on sourdough was excellent.

Working with Wire Workshop

 A bunch of  our WI ladies went on a 'Working with Wire' workshop on the 'extra' day at the end of February.  Carolyn had already been there with her daughter.  The course was run by Kate Westcott at her home.  Seeing  Kate at the Snowdrop Festival at Shepton, and having admired some of her creations there, I became even more excited about attending this afternoon workshop .  As I like form and shadow I was looking forward to trying my hand and coming home with my own creation.

At the start of the afternoon Kate here sitting on the right side in white shirt, went through with us the tools, materials and some of the techniques.

During the first half of the session we got to grips with the tool and wire, and with some of Kate's examples on the table, with laughter and chatter and sheer will to forge forward, we each came up with different pieces of wire flowers or foliage. After a short break with great home made cake and drinks, we then went on to plan out the grouping on the blocks of wood, and Kate had the task of drilling in the small holes.  

My first Wire Work creation

Everyone came away with their unique creation.  Carolyn added to her previous creation and was inspired to create with heavier wire to create a charming snowdrop group.  

Using a heavier wire gave its a different character to those with a lighter wire.

The arrangements look great against a wall, and the finer wire gives the flowers movement.  

We thoroughly enjoyed the day, so many thanks to Carolyn who first spotted that this would be an interesting activity for some of the Crafting group, and to Anne in whose car five of us were conveyed. Anne was particularly fast, and had a couple of brilliant creations, none of which are featured here.  I am sure we shall be carrying on Wire work and sharing this with others during our fun evenings.

Kate Westcott Designs

Black iron wire in gauges of 24, 21, 18 from Wires.co.uk

Cutters and pliers from Cooksongold

A challenge from our WI Photography Group

 This morning my friend Alison met up at the Bishop's Palace in Wells.  Our intention first was to do a round of the gardens, but rain chased us inside to view the lovely decorations.

Our WI photography group's next challenge is to made a video or slide show.  This is my first attempt, and will probably use it again, if only to get the process into my head.  Rereading the challenge it did say 'seasonal' and lucky me this fits the bill.  The Palace is beautifully decorated with much of the material for the floral displays coming from the Palace Gardens.

In a Vase on Monday - A little late season Purple

 The clocks have just changed and the quality of light has become more winter like.  However without frosts the garden is still yielding a few flowers. Just after breakfast I popped into the garden, still in my exercise clothes, and picked a few blooms for today's In a Vase on Monday.  This weekly IVOM was created by Cathy who posts on 'Rambling in the Garden'.

Fuchsia Upright Delta's Sarah has maintained the purply blue tones and with those tones in mind, I looked around for something to go with it.  Nearby the nasturtiums are in flower but their bright oranges tones would be too clashing however their bluey green leaves were just perfect.  A leaf of Arum Italicum and a few stems of self seeded Purple flowered Verbena bonariensis complete the arrangement.

Yesterday our WI book club attended an event at the Wells Literary Festival to listen to the author Donal Ryan regarding The Queen of Dirt Island. I can't understand or maybe don't get what other readers on 'Good Reads' get.  The author has an accent which I found tricky and spoke far too quickly, I nodded off on occasion! On the plus side at least I lent it to another member to read before the talk, and since the book is in the window at our Waterstone's, when I take it to the Charity Shop later, they ought to be able to sell it on quickly! 

The best part of the talk, was meeting afterwards at The Bishop's  Eye, for cake, herb tea for me and even wine for some!

In a Vase on Monday - Cooling down

 It seems the weather is cooling down a little, well it was until the sun melted through the clouds this afternoon.  I joined friends this morning from the WI walking group and had a very pleasant walk when it felt comfortable to wear trousers.  Now I am back, I'm ready to share the flowers I picked last night, yet arranged and photographed early this morning.  I am linking in with Cathy for this post.

I am pleased to say that Munstead Wood is thriving after moving it into the conservatory border.  Joining are blooms is Chrysanthemum White Gem 21fm and Alchemilla erythropoda. This Alchemilla is half the size of A. mollis, with longer blooms in proportion.

That is all I can say for the flowers, the vase was my mother's. collected by my father on his visit to Japan over 55 years ago, and a special 'treasure' for me now.

As for reading, with all the hot weather, it has been something I have enjoyed.  

The Marriage Portrait was sent as a gift by my friend Mandy, a wonderful surprise!  Out came my Italian Guide Books, and of course various links on the internet gave me background on the period, names for parts of costumes etc.  Maggie O'Farrell really kept the suspense going, I enjoyed this fairly gruesome tale, and got the feeling of the period and position of women in 16th century Italy. I certainly would recommend this one.

Next month our book club are vising The Wells Literary Festival where Donal Ryan will talk to us, and therefore the reason behind our choosing The Queen of Dirt Island. It took me some time to get into this book, punctuation with no speech marks seem odd. After a few 'chapters' by this I refer to the short two sides of a page with a Title which stand for chapters, I started to enjoy the format and found the author's or rather the cadences of the characters' voices.

Father Frank by Paul Burke is our read for October and I have already finished that one.  What a hoot!  As I read it in the evenings, whilst everyone else were on their phones, with my sister and partner staying over, they would glance over in my direction as I tittered or laughed out loud.  Later my sister borrowed the book, and she too thought how amusing it was.  

Finally I am just reading through Flower Hunters which I ordered from our lending library, after being shown it by my gardening friend Hilary, who with other books had this one as a birthday present.  I would highly recommend this well researched book.  I am just on Carl Linnaeus, and am already captivated and recommend Mary and John Gribbin's book.

Friends visit Burrow Farm Gardens

 We packed ourselves into cars and joined the holiday traffic down to visit Burrow Farm Gardens.  Except for myself who was holding the camera, here is a group photo of everyone admiring the wonderful view.

This was after coffee and group chat, and this is the view of the rolling countryside across from gardens.  

                

Looking at the map on our return, we missed some areas such as the lake and the woodland garden and it is often good to have held something in reserve for a return visit.  Despite the very dry weather, the garden was looking pretty good.

Carolyn and I tried to identify this plant which had a lovely form and was thriving amongst the grasses,  An ideal choice for this time of the year to give a little height but a graceful see through plant at the same time. Update: Burrow Farm Gardens have kindly replied to my email enquiry.  This plant is Althaea cannabina and seed is available from Chiltern Seeds.

Walking away from the rose garden which again I missed, was a very blue and striking hydrangea growing close to a ditch under the shade of trees. Time and again we noted how plants had been positioned to great effect.

The orange tiger type lillies blazed in the sunshine in a number of beds.

Sun and shade and spreading branches....

Planting in the beds on the terrace garden was also drawing admiration.

It is thanks to our Wells WI 'Bloomin Fun' sub group organisers Carolyn and Maggie, that we get to visit lovely gardens together, and also thanks to the drivers who share lifts minimising the cars travelling down.

Tying hand bouquets with friends

 Spent a lovely time at Alison's Flower Garden learning how to made hand tied bouquets with all the flowers organically grown in her garden. Alison made it look easy, but we had help and tips, advice laughter and lots of ooh and aahs.

Thanks To Maggie and Carolyn for organising so many interesting things for our WI sub-group 'Bloomin Fun'. 

Visit to Forde Abbey

 Together with friends from the Wells WI 'Blooming Fun' I visited Forde Abbey Gardens for the first time last Friday.  The weather was bright and fine and just right for a tour of the garden and a spot of lunch in the tea rooms. 

The tulips were putting on a fine display planted in mixed herbaceous beds.

T

One of  us was carrying a map but I was lured and some of the adventurous followed to view different plants, walk down paths in different directions which offered different views of the surrounding grounds, house and gardens. 

After the Tulips and spring bulbs we walked along the path which cut through a large rockery, and amongst the many plants I found this clump of Fritillaria Michailovski a picture of perfection.

and another perfect auricula.  What a beauty, one for garden and a yellow one.  I may drop the Abbey a line and ask if they know the variety, better still they may have plants on offer in their nursery some time.

Higher up there was an open woodland area with some excellent trees and shrubs including some lovely spring flowering specimens.

With the beautiful trees we enjoyed a little tree hugging irrespective of being seen.  A happy bunch loosing any inhibitions, but not quite wild enough to try some tree climbing which we probably would had we not been the wrong size of age 10! 

The settings of garden sculpture was classical as well as humorous.

This lot only stood still enough for a group photo

At this stage some of us peeled off to explore further afield and walked up to the upper lake and the bog garden.  Having recently read a book about Paxton the similarity of the work involved to create a fountain at Chatswworth House came to mind.  The fountain at Chatsworth is fed from a large lake is higher, but the Millennium Fountain at Forde Abbey  is the highest powered fountain in England. 

"At 160-feet-high fountain is quite a centrepiece for any garden, but is only one of the memorable features of this month’s garden. England’s highest-powered fountain, it was installed in 2005 by the Roper family to celebrate 100 years of their ownership of Forde Abbey, which is situated on the Dorset/Somerset border, in a stunning location alongside the River Axe." Dorset Life

The Bog garden where the 'bones' were evident before the lush spring growth emerged was an absolute gem and well worth the walk.  My eye was first caught by the bright red 'Chinese Bridge' from which newly gravelled paths wind through well chosen and placed bog plants.

White and Yellow Skunk Cabbages, ferns, emerging leaves from Astilbes and Rodgersias and the views of the upper lake were there to delight.

We held back to arrive at the Millennium Fountain:  having positioned myself at what  I thought was a good vantage point, I managed to take pictures but as the fountain grew taller I was soon covered with spray, so these pictures do not show the full extent of its height.

We joined up with the rest of the gang and voted straight away to make another visit later this year to enjoy the long border and the promise of a late display of dahlias.

Their Wisteria is yet to flower, I think it is on the north side of the house and had yet to show a single shoot so of course it will be flowering at time when few frosts to damage the buds can be expected.  From its old and weaving branches it has probably stood there many years.

Our car decided not to visit the house on this occassion, and I would have in any case spent the time in the well stocked nursery.  I wanted to keep the house to visit with Mr S and also the garden again within the next few weeks. 

By the exit this amused me!

At home I planted my 'souvenir' into the gravel area: Pulsatilla vulgaris subs. grandis 'Papgeno'.  I am sure all the other plants bought are now settled in  my friends' gardens.

Forde Abbey is now my current Garden No One which we can reach from home without staying away.