The Ednovean Diaries

Welcome February...I think!

2012-02-02T07:28:00.002Z

Sunset from Ednovean Farm garden in February

Little shards of ice had spread across the lane form the frozen puddles yesterday morning, sign of that a car had driven along before me as I walked down to feed Diva and Belle, our two TB brood mares, on the first morning in February. It is surprisingly cold for Cornwall but poor Europe with minus 37! now that is cold.

The house and Parterre the first day in February

Ice had formed on the fountain in the middle of the courtyard and the cats were dubious about the idea of "outside" and after brief foray said they preferred "inside" thank you - In fact Ollie is still sitting beside me puring gently this morning and he normally gets up at a heady 5.ooam for his morning constitutional I think last nights clear skies will lead to another Ollie grounded day too but at the moment it is too dark to tell. Certainly i spent a little time yesterday evening manoeuvring the geraniums nearer to the house walls and covering the more tender plants with nets to keep them warm - lets hope it works. And of course the clear skies have led to another "sunset photo - while I was waiting i saw the two little mossy, granite steps caught in the pink glow of the setting sun a fitting end to the day and the beginning of the month.

Granite steps leading up o one of our terraces - see the Blue room to the right too

I've finished my facebook photo album for January - do take a look you should be able to view it even if you are not a facebook users and don't forget to look at our facebook page ever now and then the link is at the very bottom of the web page - I put the latest local events on there if I find them.

January album:-
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.277899998934795.65145.126610574063739&type=3&l=8639d86e5e

The start of my February album!

2012-01-29T18:09:00.001Z

A rainbow formed over the bay making a perfect arc beyond our garden

Spring cleaning aside "cat wars" broke out this week leading Spud to be booking in at the local vets for a life style reassignment but i spotted this lovely rainbow the other morning and can report that Ollie is now sleeping peacefully again!

Homage to the Apricot Room

2012-01-29T18:02:00.000Z

The Pretty Laura Ashley bed in the Apricot room

As i have been spring cleaning the bedrooms I thought i would continue my bedroom visits with a "homage to the Apricot room"! I know when you are choosing our bedrooms it is great to see lots of pictures so here we are - I've added a few outside shots of the terrace/courtyard taken in the summer too for good luck. I'll label the pics and say a little about the decorating at the bottom:-

The cosy window seat overlooking the Parterre

A pretty mirror reflecting the room

The sun on the chest of drawers yesterday

The wallpaper came from Laura Ashley

I gave the chest of drawers a distressed paint finish

The beams have been colour washed

Looking across the Parterre and fountain

Slipper bath and travertine tiles in the en suite

Mixer taps

look carefully for the duck on the towels!

Summer view of the private courtyard

French doors facing south into the private courtyard

The iron chairs have a lovely patina now

just before dusk the sundial garden in Summer

A sunset over Mounts Bay below the Apricot room courtyard

Our Apricot room overlooks the courtyard on one side and has french doors, flanked by pots of Date palms, opening on to a private courtyard on the other. Sunny in the mornings and looking down towards Mounts Bay, for a perfect view of the sunset at night - the view framed by the little sunken sundial garden set about a sundial modelled on the three graces or is it the ages of women? i bought it for our third wedding anniversary and slowly built the garden around it. The Apricot room itself is a mix of furniture I've painted distressed and hand waxed and swish Laura Ashley lamps and Bed of course. One wall is taken up by hand painted faux panels stencilled by me with cherubs on winter afternoons and Charles wallpapered the other with a chic duck egg blue paper from Laura Ashley. The sweet en suite bathroom holds a deep Slipper bath frame with Travetine tiles and this is our Apricot room at Ednovean Farm.

You're right i missed the duck!!

2012-01-29T17:15:00.002Z

When i posted my pics of the Pink room yesterday Perranlady pointed out the lack of bathroom ducks - our little plastic bath time companions............and so I took another look and I have to say ........You're right Sue i missed out the quintessential Ednovean bath time ducks. So hear they are ready to go Quack Quack!!

The Pink Room

2012-01-28T15:43:00.000Z

Looking across the hand carved four poster bed towards the dressing table in the Pink room

The time came this week to tackle the spring cleaning and I started with our lovely pink room ready for our weekend guests. There is something about a room that has just been spring cleaned that makes you see it anew - mind you when Charles and I pulled the heavy four poster bed across the floor it felt distinctly heavier! The bed was actually built in the room so I'm not sure we would ever get it out again so just as well that i love it with its cam comforting embrace, panelled roof and hand carved posts - each one slightly different.

The hand embroidered hanging softens the old stone walls

So, perhaps a little tour of The Pink room is in order now as we start the 21st year of Bed and Breakfast at Ednovean Farm! The big hand embroidered wall hanging is actually a bed spread that i found in eastofhere in Penzance and it has stood the test of time - this year i set the hoover to the lowest power and gently spent..well most of the afternoon carefully hoovering it but it softens the rooms traditional stone walls and gives an air of (I think!!) fun to the room. I carefully suspended the old gilt mirror with fishing line over the throw above the dressing table as I didn't want to make a hole in the hanging that i spent several days choosing - they were very patient with me in the shop!

I gave the little table a pint finish in french grey,
lightly distressing it before waxing

The chair was found in David Lays and reupholstered in a Jane Churchill fabric and the antique stool sports a fresh ticking cover

I've accessorised the dressing table
with twin glass lamps and pretty pink glass

Big glass bottles set on the wide window sills

My favourite little details - this time a heart from Laura Ashley

look closely and you'll spot a heart cushion
in the background on the bed

of course the flat screen TV usually sits here but artistic licence and all that!!

and now time to move on into the Pink room's en suite bathroom

I'm sure you've seen the dramatic central Bataeu bath on our web site but take a look at the faux gingham wall that took Charles two evening to finish

twin sinks set against marble tiles
- i painted the ceiling to look like a tent

I couldn't resist this OTT mirror!

the little original door way that leads from the bedroom
the Staffordshire dog was another sale room find

We've had the little sea horse since we were married - it somehow fits the gingham wall

Enamel pots from RJ Supplies hold Cotton wool buds and balls

and now i am moving on to the Apricot room but I hope you enjoyed seeing the little details that add up to one of our rooms - I think it is often the little things that make things special - I hope you've enjoyed the pink room today

Sun in the Blue room

2012-01-23T17:59:00.000Z

We beetled about the other morning, slowly going through our daily task about the farm and by lunch time we were ready to get the Blue room ready for our weekend guests. I stopped to take a few snaps of the room when we had finished -just as the sun came through the french doors casting golden squares on the curtains. I have just looked at the details that caught my eye - the flowers newly arranged on the dressing table, the little box bought in a vintage shop in Causeway Head Penzance, the big glass orbs of the bedside lamps, the pretty french bed found at David Lays Antique sales, the quintessential plastic ducks waiting for their bath and the Laura Ashley chandelier that hangs high in the canopy ceiling. Little things that make up a home.

The Blue room the walls are Farrow and Ball Parma Grey

The glass detail of one of the Laur Ashley bedside Lamps

The beautiful French bed

A detail of the carved Walnut

The sunshine on the Toile curtains

The duck squadron

The little box found in Penzance

A chandelier for a little romance!

A quick glimse at the garden

2012-01-23T15:21:00.002Z

Date palms beyond a shady courtyard

A wider view

Early morning shadows

Twitters with a Loquat

Perranuthnoe church framed by the Date Palms

Faded Sedums and a Yockoides(sp!!)

The grass really is this green at the moment

Spud on his morning patrol

Spud has success in the faded grasses

The sea was impossibly blue this morning

My prize flower for this morning!!

I looked up this morning into a perfectly blue sky and two sea gulls flew over their wings casting shadows over their bodies as I led Dolly out for her daily grazing session. She has grown into quite a young lady - officially four - a sleek black thoroughbred filly ready for life. Later still as i dropped down through the courtyard to empty the wheelbarrow ( i take Danni's offerings and soiled Miscnathus bedding out to rot at the back of the borders ready to become mulch for the summer) my eye was caught by the growing height and depth of the garden - how the vegetation in the spaces beyond are starting to add to each other in a flowing tapestry. I must admit i had not thought of this but of course Ian Lowe our garden designer planned the maturity of the spaces form his experience. And so I took some more snaps for you the church framed by the date palms from the viewing point in the courtyard, Spud stalking a mouse across the front of the Italian Garden and lastly my out of season Yuckoides - I'm not sure how to spell it but isn't it stunning!

A walk around the January Garden

2012-01-17T07:43:00.000Z

The granite bench tucked away in a corner of the courtyard as a viewing place for the parterre

St Micheal's Mount yesterday lunchtime across the garden

The house is nearly concealed by the date palms now

In the car park the date palms reach for the sky - that beautiful blue sky

Spud cat

Ollie always finds the best places to soak up the sunshine

A statue tucked away on a far path

The Olive trees behind the Italian garden the light on?

Looking back towards the house and courtyard

Those Olive trees again the Irises are just starting to come up around their trunks

Bulbs pushing through the dark soil

The pots of Boxus that line the terrace

The euphorbia is doing well with its acid green blooms with the Italian garden behind

Shadows and lines

soft textures of the cobbles

just for the joy of that beautiful blue sky

long January shadows across the lawn

Will this Echium make it through the winter - it will flower quite early if it does

Pots in a courtyard

Little details that make a garden for me

The sunset over Perranuthnoe from the terrace

And finally looking out from the lawn through the Cordylines

I was a fabulous day here in Cornwall yesterday with bright sunshine and powder blue skies - a great day in fact for my monthly look at the garden to see what is happening. I try to put a group of photos up each month to show how the garden is progressing and these are the things that caught my eye yesterday - I hope you enjoy the January stroll through the courtyards, across the lawns deep into the little paths that wind about, the cats competing for position in the sunshine and of course the wonderful sunset to finish the day from the lawn

War Horse

2012-01-15T14:31:00.002Z

A sunset from the Blue room terrace

Perranuthnoe Church towere against the sea

St Micheals Mount as the evening closes in taken from our lawn

Dusk falling over Mounts Bay from the terrace just outside of the Blue room

The lights of Penzance just starting to come on across Mounts Bay

I idled on the Blue room terrace to take the last moments of the sunset on Friday evening before we went in Penzance to watch Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" Not too traumatic for horse lovers but a powerful portrayal of the misery and horror of the trenches of the "Great War" masterly achieved within a 12A rating. We opted for the Movie and Meal deal so for just £10.99 we had super and reserved seats - the perfect end to the day

Wheal Neptune

2012-01-15T14:18:00.000Z

My goodness that was a lot of uploading with my heart in my mouth in case at the very last minute Blogger should stall but as you can see it is all here...........Exactly what you may ask - well I had the Mining records on desk top following a request to look at the spoil heaps ( we only have one!) and I thought somebody else might be interested in the huge old mining map that we found at the Records office. Charles took some digital photos of it, as it lay pinned down with a heavy weight at either end after being unrolled but it was so big he had to do it in sections. Still I think it gives an idea of the meticulous records of a long gone era. The very top map shows Mining stamps ( i think where the Bal Maidens (very strong ladies)) would break up the ore across the road from us. Strange when we look at the green fields today to think of the throbbing industrial landscape just a heartbeat away. The noise, the pollution the devastatingly hard work and still the church yards are full of the young men, as they could drill faster dry than wet and seldom lived beyond thirty - they called the drills the "Widow makers"

So that is how fate turned this week at Ednovean Farm

Progress of a sunset

2012-01-11T19:06:00.001Z

I returned onece more to the junction in the footpath determined to do better for yo with the sunset( just where it turns off towards the village and the Pub!) and took a few pictures tonight - the perfect finish of the day with the horses once more munching in their stabels and even a little garden done - Good night!

A morning of magic

2012-01-11T19:00:00.000Z

I could not believe the magical morning as i got up to feed the horses this morning and could not resist stopping to take of photo of St Micheal's Mount reflecting the pink sky behind me with the mist hanging in the valley ........ despite anxious whinnies for food from the stables and Spud cat trying to climb up my leg!

Horsey breakfast finished they strolled off to their fields for their daily task of grass trimming and as we ferried them about on the Ednovean Farm equivalente of the "school run" i was struck by the mist gently lifting from the pastures - the grass spangled with cobwebs

i walked up to the top field to look out across Mounts Bay as the mist drained from the valleys towards the sea (click the photo to enlarge)

the familiar fields spun by the spiders webs making the brambles a fairies grotto

i was soon spotted by some of our young horses who hurtled enthusiasticaly up the hill to supervise

Looking eastwards towards Trebarvah in the early light

Just twenty minutes later as we were aout to eat our breakfast one lasts photo of the Mount with the mist of the morning truly an enchanted morning for the Mount

A trick of the light

2012-01-10T19:25:00.002Z

Danilon our Spanish Stallion

The camera played a strange trick of the light on me the other evening or if I'm honest I forgot to change the settings after an abortive attempt to photograph the sunset. Somehow I think the result is rather magical though - ethereal - or you might just think it is a rather bad photo. Danni of course was focused on some nice juicy lead ropes just out of reach and quite delicious to chew - much more interesting than posing for his photo!

The penny dropped and i changed the setting just in time to fit nearly all of him into the shot but I think you can see from my previous attempt that he wasn't interested in keeping too still but he does look as though he is thinking deep inner thoughts at least.

Our days are filled with the routine of caring for the horses in the short daylight hours of winter and it is oh so mild now - alas the horse line up each night anyway secure in their routine and harbouring plans to slumber in a deep straw bed for the night, so any plans i might hold to turf them out to sleep outside are not appreciated. Ah well at least we keep fit! and my last photo is of Danni's son "little" Bodkin now nearly the same size as his mother, April and her pride and joy - he makes sure he has more that his fair share of her oats from her bowl - so no sunset but a visit to the stables instead today

Mist over the marshes

2012-01-08T16:55:00.002Z

I stopped on the way back from my supermarket shop to admire the misty half seen landscape of Marazion marshes where the dusky browns and golds are in perfect tune with the season of mysteries that is waiting for spring. Mr Swan (or could have been Mrs) was engaged in a full and comprehensive spring clean as is appropriate for the season and after a few minutes i gave up waiting to see the whole bird and moved across the road to the beach. Those feathers should be perfect!

Always enchanting, the half seen very nearly concealed Mounts bay with barely a ripple in the water, occasional couples striding along the waters edge.

Marazion was barely emerging from the mist with the tiny dot like figures of couples on the sands (lick the photo to enlarge) all contained in a curious calm, just the ripple of the waves touching the silence.

and Penzance had faded away almost to another century such was the magic of the mist.

Thinking of the New year

2012-01-06T14:22:00.002Z

The thought of New years resolutions, putting the decorations away, spring cleaning, all too much? Maybe this weeks gales gave you a a battering? Ollie cat has the "purrfect" solution find a shopping bag nicely situated in a window reveal and snooze away the day until it has all gone away. happy 2012!

Ollie Cat enjoying a quiet snooze until some one came along with a camera bah humbug

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T18:00:00.003Z

The last day of 2011 has slid away from us, rather like an over tired child, grizzly and petulant in a gloomy cloud of drizzle but tomorrow is another day and another year. A new day, a new year refreshed as we travel forward towards the spring each night drawing out a little longer the fresh buds already pushing up in the garden and oh how the birds are starting to sing to us.

I've included some photos of our fountain that I took earlier in the week of the dark lusciously green reflections in our fountain. One lady kindly asked if they could be made bigger (good tip thank you) but alas the seem to be a already set to maximum for this blog BUT if you click them the should open up to a larger size then just use the back button on the browser to continue reading as before.

And now it only remains for me to wish you a Great New Years Eve and a very Happy New year!!

A magical Christmas sunset

2011-12-29T07:30:00.000Z

My final impression of our day has to be this dramatic moment that the sun became a fiery ball caught in the changing cloud above Perranuthnoe as the date palms tossed in our garden.

Candles

2011-12-29T07:25:00.000Z

I think I mentioned the broad "church Candles" that I like to put on the window sills?

A Christmas rose

2011-12-29T07:22:00.003Z

I was thrilled as i scurried about, trying to tidy the gravel and the car park for our first Christmas Guests to spot this rose on the climber given to me by my late Father. Believe me it took quite an effort to take this photo as it was on top of the garden rom roof but by balancing on a chair i got the little tinker as it tossed in the lively wind yesterday.

Yesterday was a day of weather passions veering from wind to hail to brilliant sunshine and back in an instant. Our guests set out to walk to marazion along the coastal path and I got as far as my fantasy gravel border in the garden that always reminds me of warm days. The sharp sunshine cast dramatic shadows to an Agave American growing in a pot outside of the garden room and returning to the courtyard the sun was just touching the Parterre, for a while it was so warm - Ednovean Farm at Christmas.

Christmas cont!!

2011-12-28T07:03:00.003Z

Christmas continues so I'm told and I'm still enjoying the decorations - probably will until the awful truth begins to dawn that i have to repack the glitz the ribbons and the baubles and shoehorn them back into the loft. At least this year my collection of church candles re-appeared from a distant corner in the loft. I like to line the broad barn window sills with these and tuck dark green foliage around them - they looked beautiful this Christmas morning casting gentle candle light across the room. I leave our decorations up until the twelfth night, superstitiously counting the day to try to ensure that "bad Christmas luck" does not set in for the following year - I think they come down about the 4th but i shall be watching Mousehole Christmas lights across the bay like a hawk to make sure I get the right day!

Happy Christmas

2011-12-23T21:21:00.001Z

A very Happy Christmas everyone

Thank you for reading the blog and keeping us company throughout the year. Thank you for your comments and thank you to the the guests that came to share our home this year a very merry Christmas.
My last Image of Christmas is the Nativity scene from Charles's childhood, he has just set the little figures up on a window sill that looks across the bay to Mousehole as he does every year and I found them there with the lights of Mousehole glowing behind them just seen through the dark storm lashed window squares.

Thinking of you all

Christine and Charles
with Ollie and Spud tucked up in their baskets
and Danni and his family contentedly eating their hay in the stables

Goodnight and Happy Christmas

Cherubs

2011-12-23T21:08:00.001Z

The weather has taunted us today as we have laboured in the stables but at least i was able to make good use of the branch brought down by the gale the other day to display my cherub collection - it is embarrassingly large but i think i must have laboured under the impression that "More is More" at Christmas time! Still when the sun came out briefly today they glinted in the sun from the window beside them and when we ate our supper last night they glowed darkly. They are a memory of our first Christmases together, liberated from the attic where they had been lovingly packed in kitchen roll to preserve them over the years and now ready to see Christmas again. The cherubs!

Mid Winter

2011-12-22T06:26:00.002Z

A Palm tree in our garden sillouetted against the sunset

The days are so short now that the event of Mid winter comes as some relief and we turn our faces towards the spring at last. I stopped just long enough from ferrying the young horses in for the night to take a snap of "the" sunset before continuing in our own "beat the clock" or beat the dusk which ever way you would like to see it! There is always competition between the three yearlings namely Magic and the two two year olds to be first in for the night. Last night was no exception and an exasperated Amie delivered a firm nip to her brother Magics bottom who launched himself forwards to the gap as if jet propelled and thus neatly jumped the cue. But it did give me time to take the photo of the sunset driven by that primitive instinct to celebrate the turning of the year. First I tried from our car park and then raced down to just outside of the courtyard gate for a better view of the sinking sun. Content it we continued to the Ednovean farm equivalent of the school run to collect the Brood mares waiting patiently in the dusk.

Yesterday i dragged a beautiful tree branch up stairs that I found on the lane brought down by the recent gale - a rugged piece of hawthorn bright with two types of lichen - I wedged it in a pot with pebbles and have decorated it with my extensive gold cherub collection they haven't had an outing for a few years but this year seems right for them. Id have preferred to position them against a plain wall so that the stark beauty f the branch could sing but had to settle for a corner of the Dining room where at least it will be seen as people climb the stairs a curious echo to the plump green tree in the hall.

Perranuthnoe village church with the backdrop of the sea

AT last the night fell and I took one last look around the stables momentarily mistaking Bodkin, this years foal, for his mother April in the dusk, he has grown so tall, their two heads framed in the doorway and in the next stable Dolly contentedly licking her manger, a sleek black thoroughbred now, her nose no longer fits between the stables bars to beg for polo mints, in the same way as it did as a small foal those three nearly four long yeas ago. We walked quietly back to the house together and glancing across Mounts Bay, Mousehole lights glowed across the Water - Mid Winter day just before Christmas and we shut the front door back to our tree and branch.

The Christmas Tree in the Hall

2011-12-19T17:54:00.004Z

Our Christmas tree for this year at Ednovean Farm

Each year Charles and I wrestle a prickly tree into place in the hall - it is not allowed one step further into the house because of the needles that drop but I suppose i am lucky to get it that far! I studied the trees over the years - agonised for hours over the best one in wet cold farm yards and garden centres and have now hit on the perfect solution for choosing a tree know as the "pot luck" method. It is simple peer at the tightly wrapped trees and choose the one that "speaks" to you - a rather plump one is usually a good bet. Force said tree into the back of the car and attempt to drive lopsidedly home, drag into hall and release from its wrappings and only then will the excitement of know what kind of Christmas it will be will be revealed.

We waited with baited breath to see what Spud would make of it or more to the point what havoc his little paws would wreak but he was the soul of discretion fondling a couple of ornaments gently with his paw before retiring to his bed for the night!

Christmas 2011!

P.S i love this tree so I hope it will be a good one

The Soloman Browne

2011-12-19T17:46:00.002Z

On this day the 19th of December 1981 Soloman Browne went down taking her brave crew with her as they struggled to save the crew of a stricken vessel off of the Cornish coast, The lights of Mousehole will be dimmed tonight in memory of that tragic nights and you can read more here:- Soloman Browne

A winter walk

2011-12-17T17:21:00.003Z

A view towards Trencrom from Ednovean Farm

In an instant the leaves seem to have disappeared from the trees leaving the bare tracery of branches against dramatic Winter skies. The sudden alchemy of the season always surprises me and each one has its own charm. This morning before breakfast i could not resist the idea of seeing St Micheal's Mount in the Winter Mounts Bay, with the huge arching sky from the top of the farm - well actually I had seen two buzzards on the ground feeding as I walked back along the lane and naturally they flew off at the first sight of the camera even though I crept along behind some teasels - perhaps they thought I would take their good side - so i continued to the top resting field across the tussocky winter grass, that still looks surprisingly good and how fabulous the air smelt, cool and crisp.

Looking down on Mounts Bay

St Micheal's Mount with Penzance behind

The point beyond Mousehole

and back through the gate with the little spinney that has grown up on some mine waste, where the foxes have their earth - shhhhh

passing the muck heap the church below in the valley has its Christmas cross

That fabulous sky

Hay ho it's off to work we go - Charles leading Archie and Amie out to the field

and that was our morning at Ednovean Farm

2011-12-16T19:47:00.002Z

St Micheal's Mount, taken from just outside of the Pink room this morning.

It has been a lovely, if chilly morning here in Cornwall - St Micheal's mount looked glorious in the winter sunshine and all was well in the world. The days are short now and the stables take most of our time but we found time this afternoon to find a Christmas Tree and brought the prickly object home still waiting in the landrover to be released from its nets - will it be a good one or will it be a bare one, will the branches be symmetrical or not? tomorrow we will know but at the moment the scent of Christmas is in the air - reactions from Spud-the-young-Cat will be following shortly!

Spud rules OK

Ollie would like......

2011-12-16T19:39:00.002Z

Ollie would like to assure all of his friends from around the world that his attachment to the Rayburn in purely temporary and he will be out and about meeting and greeting in the car park as soon as the weather improves. He has a truly splendid box in the mean time, with some mega newspapers in, that he has personally shredded to his own satisfaction and has settle in a warm and comfortable place to wait for the weather to improve - not long to the shortest day! At the moment though "Do not disturb"

The bird bath and Spud

2011-12-13T16:44:00.002Z

I carried the camera out with me this morning ready to see if a buzzard would wheel near the back stables or the horses would scatter passed across the field as i worked but I was enchanted by Spud-the-Cats acrobatic to drink the freshly fallen rainwater from the little bird bath that presides over our "welcome to our garden" little formal garden that is beside the path that our guests take to our front door

Spud treading carefully around the water - the threat of a wet paw, perish the thought, has to be born in mind!

I was originally taking a photo of the Fennel still in flower and the reflection in the rain water when Spud added so much more to my picture as he does to our day now scampering around full of joy and getting underfoot. So that was today after the storm.

After the storm

2011-12-13T16:28:00.004Z

A View across the garden out to sea today

We had a wild night here in Cornwall with gusts of seventy miles an hour as the first of the real winter storms hit us. The weather reports are pretty accurate now and so we had prepared extra stables for our brood mares to come in out of the storm, stacked more of the garden furniture away in the garden room and moved the most vulnerable pots. But still there was a few thing tossed around after the gale. There were some consolations though - As we finished in the stables last night with all of the horses munching contentedly, i heard a Robin's song high in the rafters and there he was back, to shelter for the winter, our winter mascot.

Penzance

It has been a mixed day of sudden squalls and bright sunshine - Penzance was quite clear across the bay seen from our garden this morning but we are going to have a challenging week - still I've spotted a high approaching on the weather map so it should clear for the weekend!

You could see the waves breaking over the headland even from our garden

I saw in passing

2011-12-10T19:25:00.002Z

View from the lane down on to the rooftops of Ednovean Farm

Such a joy to wake up to December sunshine this morning across the bay every house and filed lay in sharp relief - unfortunately the camera didn't agree and apart from taking one photo from beside our gate looking down at our home it declared "change batteries" and shut itself down with a resounding and determined click to spend the rest of the day in idle tranquility charging itself up in the Dining room.. By this evening in the brief interlude before darkness fell, in our curiously foreshortened days of the moment, we spotted three ships on the horizon to good to miss - unfortunately by the time I had disturbed our camera from its health spa to do some work and puffed back down the garden only one was left - ah well this was my day, the things I saw in passing.

Feeding the mares i spotted this ship, one of three on the shipping lane this evening, on her journey.

The fishing boat

2011-12-09T18:53:00.002Z

A fishing boat passing Perranuthnoe church tower on its way home in the dusk.

I can never resist a sunset if there is a moment between ferrying the horses into the stables and nigh falling the lure of a hint of pink or tonight orange in the sky is usually too hard to resist. So tonight when I popped back into the garden, I was just in time to watch the sea birds going overhead in orderly groups as they always do on their way to roost and this little fishing boat making its way home in the dusk.

i spent some time on the border near the Blue room this afternoon ready for our weekend guests the chilly earth clinging to my gloves and my feet feeling slightly numb as the afternoon wore on but i was rewarded by a hot streaming mug of tea from Charles and we sat on the terrace for a few moment stolen from the Winter to enjoy the garden while I described the newly emerging bulbs that gave me hope of the spring just around the corner. The quiet markers of my day and of the season.

Faded Agapanthus seed heads I'm letting the wind carry the seeds to see where they will settle

A chance encounter

2011-12-07T10:21:00.003Z

I'm dreaming - Ollie "at home" on the sofa.

I visited our local garden centre again yesterday, the lure of one third off Ollie's favourite cat biscuits being too difficult to resist - and come to think of it, from my photo it looks as though Ollie hasn't done very much resisting either! But I digress - I passed the rows of exisitly perfect Christmas trees, loiterd to admire the door wreath decorated with dried oranges and turned towards the 50% off bulbs in that well ordered progression asigned by Garden Centres, when I heard a beautiful voice, singing quite loudly in fact, i looked around for the sound system and then realised it was the old lady admiring the bulbs - she was singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas with every Christmas card I write" in a perfect melodic vooice. I waited for a minute so i didn't disturb her but eventually she turned and saw me "Oh Sorry dear" she said "I was having a bit of a moment - the Lions have been singing in the restaurant for over an hour and I so enjoyed it!" i assured her I would like to sing so well and she smiled and made her way off - an old lady rather plump leaning on her walking stick she disappeared into the Christmas decoration displays of that "perfect Christmas" and I felt sad because I felt it was the only way she had of holding on to Christmas but later driving home in the car i found myself singing - yes you've guessed it "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" in my usual out of tune, way so really she made my day.........and Ollie is tucking into his Cat Biscuits helped these days by Spud.

Little memories

2011-12-06T10:42:00.002Z

One of the locally made terracotta tiles that flank our front door

Isn't it funny the little thing that you buy that become part of your home - take the two little clay tiles that nestle in the Ivy either side of our front door - i bough them in Bread Street in Penzance twenty years ago now from a long gone organic grocer and plant stall in a courtyard. Charles fixed them to our pristine newly re pointed barn and there they have stayed over the years - occasionally i battle the Ivy if i haven't seen them lately and they emerge again the product of a Potters imagination i wish I could remember his or her name but they have been cherished none the less and are just one of those little things that make a home. Sorry no minimalism here!

Danni and Charles in the stable yard soaking Danni's foot

If you are local you may have missed seeing Danni our stallion around the Cornish lanes on his morning route but he has had a poorly foot for a week and so confined to the stable but the poultices are working so he should be out and about again soon - maybe he could wait until it get warmer at the end f the week though!

Cosy by candlelight

2011-12-05T10:25:00.002Z

Our dining room by candle light

This weekend was not so kind to our house guests celebrating a birthday and the Landrover wheels made a sullen hiss on the road as i raced for the village shop in Goldsithney in that brief interlude between sliding across the front field with the brood mares haylage and mucking out and starting to cook bacon and sausages ( i do have a comprehensive spruce up in between!) For some unknown reason my emergency supply of white bread that i keep for "white bread likers" had vanished under suspicious circumstances around lunch time yesterday Charles but i soon secured a very nice crusty organic replacement and was back in time to light the Dining room candles to make a cosy breakfast room before the guests got up.

Don't forget that Mousehole lights(click for details) switch on on the 17th of December

Feeling Christmassy?

2011-12-04T17:59:00.003Z

Time to start feeling christmassy perhaps...........just a bit? Well as all of the lights are now up in the local villages I thought it was time to make a start towards festive and with guest arriving for the weekend I thought a wreath for the front door would welcome them in and make a start on Christmassy.

So hurtling up Causeway head in Penzance on Friday I spotted this little handmade wreath in on of the florist shops that spill out onto the pavement - the florist suggested keeping the moss damp on the back to help it last for the whole season so lets see how it does!

Sherry and Mince Pies ready for our weekend guests

I always like to offer new guest Tea and saffron buns in the guest sitting room when they arrive but decided in keeping with my Christmassy edict, that Mince Pies were the order of the day from now on. The retro sixties polka dot plate was my mothers and i remember it as a child so it is fun to use it now - alas this weeks guest didn't want any but I've not given up hope that our guest will like them - This weeks? we ate them anyway - yumm!!

And i got the instructions out for the camera and found it does all sorts of things so to leave you retro black and white! Happy shopping and don't forget to sit down with a mince pie and just enjoy the season and all that it means.

Living in the rainbow

2011-12-02T18:10:00.003Z

"Some sunshine and some rain" how apt, the roller coaster of weather that made up the day today - I opened the front door and had to go back for the camera so bright and sharp was the sunshine and so clear was Penzance across Mounts Bay - who could resist the sun on St Micheal's Mount!

and not the stone not the garden but the moment that the golden light crept across the lawn that promise of warmth and the reminder that it will soon be the shortest day and then I shall watch for the Daffodils i have planted around the base to spring up. Soon very soon we shall look for the spring but first some sunshine and some rain some warm days and some cold as the countryside gently slumbers and prepares for the cycle of seasons to continue again.

i was on my way to feed the brood mares of course at the bottom of the garden - Diva was not at all sure what that crane was doing this morning and had to be coaxed across to eat her morning Oats - their hay was cut from the field below and has made beautifully ready for the shorter days when the grass doesn't grow.

and just as I finished before Breakfast a beautiful rainbow formed casting a multi coloured hoop over the garden so for a minute we were living in a rainbow.

Sunset over Perranuthnoe

2011-12-01T16:51:00.003Z

The sunset over Perranuthnoe this evening

After a day clearing in the garden, primping and preening the courtyards and gathering some of the "ullage" from the borders we were rewarded by a super sunset over Perranuthnoe tonight with the church silhouetted against the sea in that certain timeless way that Cornwall has. I took tonight's snaps from just outside of the garden room lingering for that last few minutes into the dusk to watch the sun slide away across the bay towards Land's End.

Goodby November

2011-11-30T14:25:00.002Z

Yesterday November roared towards the winter with what the weathermen described as the worst day of the week - I read in perranlady's blog that gusts of 67 miles an hour were recorded at Lands End. So it wasn't my imagination as I struggled across the field with the Brood mares Hayladge that it was a tad breezy! The girls with horses logic had decided that the front field was the place to be yesterday but would like their hay taken down the hill to the village out of the wind - every other day they have opted for the more sheltered "long Field" that runs back towards the lane but no yesterday in view of the gusty gale they would like to eat in the front field perhaps they were keeping an eye on the construction of the Huf Haus the other side of Perranuthnoe, where a crane teeters precariously in the gale, surreptitiously watched by most of the population - why should they be left out! Ollie and Spud of course retired to the house Spud idly dangling his tail over the landing looking totally relaxed an confident after his home search.

But the first dates are coming up for spring now the Minack Theatre has just published its list of plays for the year - do check to see if there is anything on you would like to watch if you are staying - it is well worth the visit with a view to die for and don't forget the picnic

Porthleven - the far side!

2011-11-27T19:58:00.006Z

Sunday glorious Sunday and with the chill but captivating sunshine I was able to return to Porthleven and walk the far side of the harbour. As you would expect somebody had still let all of the water out leaving the boats marooned on the shiny silt but in contrast to my visit earlier in the week today the sea had an oily calm in the far harbour.

The houses were reflected in the widening channel of water spilling in with two beautiful swans substituting for the traditional seagulls - well it is Sunday after all.

The boats waited in orderly disarray

The fishing pots were stacked as few fisherman will put to sea on a Sunday still in Cornwall

and the massive brooding structure of the harbour

The beautiful granite structure was well worth the visit alone

A few fisherman

The harbour started to slowly fill hiding the shiny world of channels and silt and as i waited for Charles by the designated phone box i couldn't help but turn my atttention to watch passers by glancing at the bill board - pixels of village life mounted on a wall - long forgotten events but still recorded in the sraps of paper.........

until beep ..........Charles arrived with the trusty landrover and it was time to go home to feed the horses and bed - a half an hours adventure at Porthleven!

All's well

2011-11-25T09:54:00.002Z

All's well over Mounts Bay this morning with clear skies and a rising surf! I took this snap of the mount on the way into breakfast so quite early but look at that clear blue sky.

The olives are ripening now on the little trees that stand in pots on the Garden room terrace - I couldn't bear to pick them so a photo will have to do.

A waft of eucalyptus

2011-11-24T14:32:00.002Z

A bronze of a horse standing in our hall

The spring flowers were dancing bizarrely in the autumn hedgerows this morning tossed by the wind and the sure smell that Christmas was approaching - the scent of newly harvested Eucalyptus on the breeze as we passed the flower farms tucked away in the small sheltered fields as of Rosudgeon.

Danni's morning exercise complete it was time to start thinking about our weekend guests, tidying the debris in the garden that builds up every time I look away. Charles was under threat that the lawn needed mowing but luckily for him the blacksmith has come to shoe Danni so they are tucked up in the barn out of the wind. By tomorrow i will race for the supermarket stopping to choose the flowers in an agony of indecision, will it be a red or Apricot or Pink .......maybe clear white and they will find their way on to the dressing tables ready for shhh a birthday i believe. The fountain to fill and the gravel to rake all ready for the weekend and the heady smell of Eucalyptus says it will be Christmas soon.

A delicate dew

2011-11-23T10:09:00.003Z

Looking back from inside of the Italian Garden at Ednovean Farm

There was a fabulous dew over the grass this morning and I had no trouble remembering whether I had remembered to switch the water off to the horses trough as I could clearly see my footsteps across the lawn. Last night i crept into the Italian garden as the sun set in a cloudless, clear sky, to cover up a couple of our succulents from the frost that was forming in my imagination and i was immediately struck by the romance of the enclosures, shadowy compartments sinking into the night in that timeless fashion of formal gardens - or half formal as ours stays decidedly wild in places!

The raised viewing mound that gives a surprising view over Mounts Bay beyond the tops of the hedges.

Last nights clear sky from our courtyard looking across to the lights of Penzance

This morning all that remained was a fabulous dew frommy perceived threat and in the early light Spud and I set off to collect the reduntant covers from the plants

with the sun starting to slant across the lawn - no the lawn doesn't slope i've tilted the camera again - I think my left arm must be stronger that my right - maybe it will be thought of as a trendy Pic!

April and her colt foal Bodkin

and the Brood mares enjoying their breakfast of Oats and Hayledge above the village as another day starts at Ednovean Farm

A cloud of sparows

2011-11-22T14:03:00.002Z

I watched a cloud of sparrows land on the palm trees this morning to feast on the new berries from the recent flowering - if I watch the gravel closely I can often find the baby palm seedlings that germinate from the seeds dispensed by the birds.

The morning was unsure to start with - one of these days when the cat looks out of one door and after due thought, trudges back through the house to demand to be let out the of other one because with a cats logic the weather might be better on that side. It is very much the same when planning a day out for our visitors, if the weather hasn't moved on the Penzance coast then a trip over to the St Ives side should do the trick. But today By our breakfast time (fitted in after cats, horse and house guests if we have any) the sun had manged to filter through, casting shafts of light across the room and picking out the grapes on the Dining table to prick my conscience that i really must not waste them. I normally buy the grapes for the weekend guests breakfast and if they aren't eaten make them into a great pud by whipping cream and then folding in some yogurt - next slice the grapes and line a quiche dish, top with the cream/yogurt mixture, sprinkle with brown sugar and then refrigerate for a while to get to know itself!

We were entertained this morning by Spud galloping around the floor, sliding on the rugs and generally bugging poor Ollie who is looking more and more like an enraged Colonel each day!

The problem with the younger generation by Ollie Cat

Hedgerows

2011-11-22T13:48:00.003Z

The Cornish lanes have been lovely this Autumn and I have started to learn where I am gong to see the "best" strands of berries garlanding the banks. From Danni's back this group didn't seem too high but when I drove down to Goldsithney to collect yet more cat food from the village shop
they seemed way above our landrover..........and I don't like heights! It is The little things mark our route each day and make it special - for instance I was disappointed when I drove to Penzance, around the bypass, the other day to see the traditional Gypsy caravan with the two coloured Vanners tethered beside it had moved on at last. Every time I had passed i admired the old gentleman sitting beside his camp fire with a wisp of wood smoke stretching upwards, the plump horses going about their business of mowing the verge totally oblivious to the traffic speeding past, sheltered by the trees.It was the familiar sight of picture books but surely not real life. But now they are gone, moving on with the old horses leaning into their harness to find new grazing and closing my window into another world. Until the next one opens of course.

Monday

2011-11-21T18:16:00.002Z

Looking across the garden towards Perranuthnoe

I opened the door this morning to a wall of all encompassing bird song, delightful in the low light of dawn that each day is moving precariously nearer to the time that I have to be out and about feeding the horses. Each day the daylight grows shorter and we enter the womb like state of winter, relishing the time we spend wrapped within the Barns sturdy granite walls.

But back to this morning where the world was shrouded in a mist, cocooning us against the world in a gentle blanket of swirling white. The mares had arrived at the bottom of the garden for their breakfast Diva and Dolly had newly applied a thick layer of mud and as usual Diva refused to eat with the other horses but stood looking mournfully at me until I carried her food over to her in a tub - no wonder she didn't run very well on a racecourse a crowd of other horse would have been hell for her!

Spud-the-new-cat continues to eat us out of house and home and making occasional forays up into the horse's barns overhead beams between meals, often sitting looking down into Danni the Stallions box or wailing mournfully to be rescued because like all cats up is so much easier than down. And that was our gentle day today at Ednovean Farm in the quiet rhythm of winter, a season for just waiting and watching and following the moods of the day.

A walk around Porthlevan Harbour

2011-11-19T16:41:00.005Z

I hitched a lift with Charles to Porthlevan yesterday afternoon with the idea of taking some photos around the Harbour while he did his chores. Naturally my "great outing" turned out to be a dull afternoon and somebody had even let the water out of the harbour leaving the boats sulking on the glossy mud at the bottom of the harbour but as our German guest say "It is good to change the wallpaper" and i set of along the massive granite construction that has defied the seas and the winter gales for generations
But first i amused myself with a little window shopping - spotting this gorgeous little shop on the hill above the harbour filled with gentle colours and hand made crafts - it even smelled nice - check out the sculpture of a shoal of herrings in glossy tin sweeping across one wall.

Tearing myself away I ambled back towards the harbour and spotted this enticing courtyard just glimpsed under and arch way but no i was there to take a photo of the harbour

The tide was turning and the sea threshed about the outer harbour walls in the far distance with willowy sunshine trying to break through the clouds. i passed Locals gathered in knots mostly with a dog or two, to gossip or watch the haunting waters in the relentless rhythm of time and tide

I spotted the famous Ship clinging to the far side of the harbour peopled by good humoured men in woolly jumpers, with ceilings lined by beer mats

Before turning back along the granite quay lined with orderly houses, I peered dubiously at the unmercifully steep steps into the harbour

but did manage to creep down at least two to take a photo of some of the orderly lines of boats

but I felt the advice that "No jumping off this quay and steps when boats are coming in and going out of the harbour" was slightly waisted on me!

Charles pulled up promptly with the land rover just as I reached the end of the harbour - one more minute and I would have walked to the far side but I happily clambered back into the car and as we took the road our of Porthlevan towards Rinsey I took this one last shot of the sea relentlessly rolling in to the defiant harbour and Village of Porthlevan

A view beyond

2011-11-17T10:09:00.004Z

Perranuthnoe set along Mounts Bay

I went out to a wild blustery morning with sharp chilly sunshine and white horse dancing across the bay and my eyes were instinctively drawn beyond the garden down into Perranuthnoe village, with the church tower jubilantly crowned by four pinnacles sheltered from the gale.

Our encompassing Olaria hedge that Ian Lowe recommended has formed an unobtrusive if vigorous windbreak sheltering the garden

although our palms were forming the first line of defence this morning as Ian had intended "combing the wind" as he liked to put - i wonder what it is like on St Micheal's Mount this morning with the sea surging around? I think thy are on their Winter opening hours now of Tuesday and Fridayhttp://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/plan-your-visit/admission-fees/ so tomorrow is the day if you are in Cornwall!

A soft morning

2011-11-16T09:35:00.004Z

We woke up to a "soft morning" here in Cornwall and every bird in the garden was celebrating the day. It is curious how the gentle rhythm of the rain can be almost hypnotic as we go about our daily chores in a world cocooned in low light that only extends to the boundaries of the garden. I hope that it clears for the City of Lights parade in Truro http://www.trurocityoflights.co.uk/ this evening though - the nearest I've ever been is the evening television but it is always nice to watch!

The start of Christmas!! - I think I'll wait until December before i buy a tree but nice to watch and the birds are singing today to!

A wlcome hall

2011-11-14T10:26:00.002Z

Our hall table where guests sign in and collect one of our brass tagged bedroom keys

I thought i might start an occasional post on "the elements of a home" the little things that sit together almost unseen and make a home special. I started with the table in the guest sitting room the other day and tables seem a good place to start i supppose.

So here is our hall, our guests first port of call - the flagstone floor came from Trader Grey in Longrock I remeber he bounced them off of a pick up wearing flip flops. They were so heavy I couldn't move them at all - now they form a lovely traditional floor that only needs an occasional polish with Johnson's traffic wax or sweep with a broom. The walls are painted with Farrow and Ball's Menagerie and the traditional prints on the walls are by Lionel Edwards from blocks destroyed in the war. The elegant Georgian table was Charles's mothers, now topped by a Laura Ashley lamp, with a sleeping ceramic cat by Tamsin Watson of Tamarin Ceramics and the black pebble was the perfect one that fitted my hand from Stackhouse cove memory of a hot day. In fact our hall is full of memories and fills with the start of peoples holiday too - a busy place and first port of call!

At the risk of being boring

2011-11-13T17:09:00.003Z

At the risk of being boring another Spud update the charming feline whirlwind that has come into our life - I think he considers his days work done if he has managed to pile all of the rugs into a heap and he sits triumphantly on top of them to watch points. His tail is healing well now although it will be some time until the hair grows back, he is relatively unscathed by his search for a home.

And how is the countryside just now? My rides on Danni are now along country lanes bordered by banks clothed with bracken fading from green to golden to a dramatic rusty red, laced still with red berries and the leaves still linger on the trees in places. We went through the lanes to St Erth the other day and saw the new fresh green shoots of the winter wheat coming through with several Buzzards on the ground searching for grubs.

With the return of the Landrover i set off to reclaim my newly washed and mended horse rugs, turning nervously with great decorum this time! As I paid the bill the lady said she hadn't liked to tell me but if i went straight on I would be back on the road! Ah Cornish lanes they all go to the same place!

With an extra hungry cat, I was pleased to get notification of a special offer on cat food at the local Garden centre and got them two bags of their favourite Hill's Science diet with one third off. Of course I had to linger as the Christmas music played with that temporary lapse of taste that occurs at this time of the year and my attention swung between tweedy robins and sparkling baubles before settling on some witty mini watering can Christmas tree ornaments but i settled for a bag of White tulips as planned and have just planted them. I put them inside of the gate to the lane, in the formal planting of box balls and topiary bay trees that I started in the spring- the pack said they should flower by April so do look them out if you come on holiday then.

Full Moon in the morning light

2011-11-12T10:23:00.003Z

The Italian Garden this morning

Charles called me this morning to see the full moon still floating over the Italian Garden and so I took an early snap for our blog- it is shaping up to be another super day here in Cornwall - hope you have a good one too!

The New year??

2011-11-12T10:03:00.002Z

A corner of our Guest sitting room

Could i just mention that we have one room left for the New year holiday - i was really pleased that the two couples that stayed last year have rebooked for this and so I thought i might offer our third Apricot room for a minimum of three nights escape from Christmas walking along the beaches and cliffs of Cornwall and don't forget the Mousehole lights will be switched on on the 17th of December at 7.30 p.m. and will be on every night (dimmed for an hour on the 17th to commemorate the Solomon Brown disaster) until the 3rd of January.

And now back to my photo for the decorators!! i fond the silk curtains and cushions at Laura Ashley http://www.lauraashley.com/icat/homeliving and love the contrast between the opulant silk and the rought stone building. The table and Mirror was bought in Penzance at Mounts Bay trading in Causway head, the iron candle holder from RJ Supplies Praa sands and the marble wine cooler (used to hold those lovely white roses) was a wedding present. So you see our home is a combination of things..........I just put the link in for Laura Ashley and oh my goodness they have a sale .........sigh I really shouldn't put links in!

A weather miss

2011-11-11T19:43:00.007Z

The sun glistened on the granite sets after the rain

Well we have been so lucky this week with the weather man's miss and Cornwall wriggled her toes out of the rain and we've had some unexpectedly warm days and so i again spent a lovely morning recording what is going on in the garden - with Spud in hot pursuit and Olley keeping a rather more dignified watch. So now - What is still working for us and what has given up the ghost? I should add the Astelias to the good plant list their lovely silver foliage reflecting the light and dramatic shape holding my attention but alas I wasn't good enough to get a reasonable photo of them so you will have to believe me

Olley of course soaking up the Autumn sunshine

The Mahonia is just about to flower, the bright yellow dancing against the glossy green leaves

The path that leads toward the house from the car park - i placed a Greek urn as a first focal point to lead our guest in towards the house

The promise of another year - the Iris bulbs starting to shoot under the Olive trees in this little hidden corner behind the Italian Garden

as the fig trees fade away now dropping their leaves in preparation for their winter sleep

The contrasting shapes of the foliage is always interesting but

a blue sky is always perfect to me!

A wild corner of the garden the Maize in the fields across the road is looking definitely crispy these days

back to the garden and one of the Agaves with sharp contrasting shadows

each plant still holds it secrets to its heart, with flowers and leaves developing if you look closely

The self seeded Echiums are still surprising me, springing up all over the garden

The quiet corners

the long vistas

the intriguing seat just glimpsed

the path that leads away ( and the hidden cat)

The newly strimmed long grass i have yet to rake up (black mark to me!)

and a very small tree fern.............Well we are all waiting for the season, enjoying the Autumn thinking of the spring

ooops

2011-11-11T19:38:00.002Z

It was ominously quiet on the Spud front and only a small meowing prompted me to look up -and there he was of course, balanced in the guttering (it came away in my hand/paw springs to mind) I managed to coax him back down along the length of the gutter on the Garden room roof and then on to the wall I think he has no explored nearly every square inch of Ednovean Farm............but I might be wrong!

A Spring morning

2011-11-10T11:12:00.003Z

Good m0orning and welcome to our blog this morning - it has cleared to such a beautiful day here in Cornwall that we are experimenting with uploading a few seconds of video of the garden. Phew well it has just arrived to lets see!

The office assistant

2011-11-08T10:15:00.003Z

The mouse mat at work

Well Spud has settled in well and after his dizzying day hurtling round the garden and stables he settled down to is new role as "Office Assistant" one small pink paw gently resting on my hand as I manoeuvred the mouse and as you can see he has an alternative use for a mouse mat!

I bought the desk many years ago from David Lays sales and Spud thinks it is quite comfortable for antique(ish!) pine. I used to go regularly but always left my bids and walked away and bought everything from garden urns to shabby chic mirrors often spending the winter restoring my finds or giving them a paint finish but at the moment the house is full - just room for one small Tom cat called Spud.

P.S. I checked the site when i put the link in and check out those gorgeous perfume bottles!

Magic sky

2011-11-07T09:50:00.002Z

The colours in the sky were magical yesterday evening, developing in hue and intensity long after the sun had sunk over the horizon. The old pump that has stood so long in the corner of what was the farm yard must have seen many sunsets and bears its makers name proudly:- "Holman and Son's Penzance" a (now closed) firm of ship builders based at Penzance dry dock. It stands now a sort of memorial for a closed industry nearly opposite to the place it was forged straight across Mounts Bay. The dry dock is still there of course but doesn't open so often now, sending the towns traffic into chaos - just as the blast doesn't echo across the bay from Newlyn quarry any more - I always knew it was coming towards lunchtime or to put it more precisely I was late again, by the boom that echoed at twelve o' clock each day. But life goes on and the sun still sets across the Bay.

We fed and mucked out the stables with tingling fingers this morning in the clill clear air and there was a suspicious trace of white in one corner of the lawn as i went on my morning pilgrimage to feed the mares.

The morning sent Spud into a passable impression of a cat caught in a kaleidoscope, as he raced from each fresh sensation, each new adventure tail kinked in fun and Olley? well he sensible plodded in and sat by the Rayburn!

A weekend in November

2011-11-06T17:26:00.003Z

St Micheal's Mount today

It's been a fantastic weekend here in Cornwall and for us a busy one. The car came back from the garage sporting a "new" recycled wing in a natty shade of gold just in time for me to go to the supermarket to collect the weekend groceries ready for our approaching weekend guests and then on into Penzance to collect the lovely hand made soaps from The Jean Barry Soap Co. (And a big thank you to the lovely lady who posted a few emergency bars to me earlier in the week!!) Charles tackled the lawns with his new can of petrol freshly bought from the local garage as I hastily collected the palm leaves that seem to cover the garden before they blocked the mower - I'm not exaggerating I use a ton builders merchant bag balanced on top of the wheelbarrow to cart them away! Then back to the house to arrange the roses I had just bought on the dressing tables - phew - we made it just in time!

The Fountain in the Parterre that I pass with the Brood mares early morning Breakfast

With Friday night and Guy Fawkes looming we brought the youngsters in for the weekend and now of course after two nights luxury their eager little faces were all waiting for their anticipated deep straw beds, so it looks like they are here to stay for the winter. At least now the clocks have changed our pre Breakfast feeding routine is now in the light - well for a few weeks at least. Evan I, enjoy going through the garden early in the morning to feed the mares making a trail in the early morning dew on the lawns.

And as our guest went this morning they said it was one of the nicest B&B's they had stayed in which made the weekend so much more enjoyable. Spud passed his B&B badge too raising his tail to its utmost extent in greeting and politely speaking to the guests when spoken too ( rather like an old fashioned child) he is not very car proof though so checking under wheels is a must from now on!

A late night

2011-11-06T15:39:00.002Z

Ednovean farm as it might have looked in black and white

But last night the old girl was basking in her floodlights as we kept our anxious vigil over the horses for stray fireworks looking comfortably welcoming as we came in from watching the brood mares. I wonder if it might be possible to make fireworks without such a big bang??

Another sunset from our path, my favorite spot at the moment, with the self imposed task of trying to capture the palm trees against the night sky. Each day the sun makes its relentless way across the Bay setting further and further to the east of us until by the Winter it is nearly behind the church.........and then i will have to change position.

After the storm

2011-11-04T08:46:00.003Z

The sunset beyond the garden taken from our entrance path

The skies cleared to a beautiful day yesterday although you wouldn't have thought so if you had listened to the weather forecast. I have taken to watching the satellite animation these days and looking for Cornwall's "foot" protruding from the gloom. I was lucky again this morning and the skies look clear so I hope that is going to bode a good weekend for our approaching guests.

Our new household - what shall I call him incumbent? Familiar? Apprentice mouser? (pet sound so ordinary) has settled in well and i will be disappointed if his real owner comes forward (but understanding) From the first hours and days, when he wailed constantly unless Charles and I were sitting very still within his eye sight, he has blossomed into bugging Ollie and racing around the garden finding all of the official cat shortcuts. True the young horses were very suspicious of his flashing white form and Toffee is still deeply suspicious after Spuds foray into his stable but generally mass equine panic has been replaced by mild interest. Spud? Yes Charles chose the name! Spud's war wounds are healing nicely and the crusty scabs that ringed the end of his tail have been replaced by fresh pink skin - I would hazard a guess that something had been tightly tied to it but who knows - Spud isn't saying and he lives in an ecstatic now scattering Ollies' redundant cat toys and skating on the rugs across the floor boards. And today the weather is far too nice to stay inside, his forays out are getting longer - it's going to be a good day.

The last minutes of the day at Ednovean Farm yesterday

A walk to Marazion

2011-11-01T19:40:00.006Z

The public footpath across the front field at Ednovean Farm

Well our car remains resolutely in the garage and so we took that path across our front field that our guest so often take and set off for a rare walk together to Marazion to visit the doctors surgery there to collect a prescription.

Our lives sit in the eye of the storm today enjoying balmy sunshine and idyllic blue skies, I think that this may be a Cornish "Day lent" though with a gale coming in later in the week for the first day of November it was magical.

I glanced across at our mares loitering outside of our garden enjoying the shelter belt and at 1.30a.m already having an eye to the gate and a listening ear towards the house with their thoughts of super to come.

WE cut up through Perranuthnoe and took the inland footpath beside the Church that winds across the farmland and soon Mounts Bay came back into view with that perfect Blue sky and tossing waves coming into the shore

St Micheal's Mount looked wonderful as ever, a pearl in the Bay, made luminous by the low Autumn light

and of course we looked down on Marazion with the high sweep of moors in the far distance behind.

Each field revealed a new view of the Mount - was this one better than that - I'll take a picture of them all just to be sure!

And the path led us onwards through the growing crops so typical of West Cornwall

until finally we looked down on Top Teig beach in Marazion and panting slightly we settled on a handy bench to admire the view before cutting through Marazion church yard and up to the main road.

As we waited for the surgery to open I took this pic of Tren Crom - I used to ride my pony form Rosudgeon to St Ives via the base of the hill as a teenager when the buses didn't run - but I am not that energetic now. Alas our prescription wasn't ready so we bought two Mars bars and set off via a slightly different route for home

A narrow winding path soon took us back to the sea and this time we walked along the shore where the vegetation tumbles to the very sea and the earthy cliffs rise touched by red umber above. Eventually the beach gave way to a steep metal set of steps that our lurcher Blaise used to regard with deep suspicion when he was alive.

and once more we walked along the edge of the cliff towards Trenow Cove

with just a backwards look towards St Micheal's Mount

I was intrigued to find a Facebook indicator along the way and will look them up later when i have finished my blog - I can never resist clicking "Like" I read a joke the other day that put forward the idea that if Facebook crash dispossessed people would go up to perfect strangers in the street pushing photos in their faces screaming but do you LIKE this. yes i love Mounts Bay is my answer!

The recent storms have brought in a generous helping of sea weed to the shore and with it the delightful aroma of the sea. Evocative, enchanting the smell of the sea shore is almost hypnotic to me but not as much as my aching legs and so i wimped out on walking passed Boat Cove and Perran sands and we cut back up a cart track that leads back towards the village watching the walkers on the lower path, just at the waters edge and stopping to admire this rare white short legged something ( sorry read the blurb by the field gate but forgot the breed)

We stopped to admire a little meadow

and then back through the village and up the field where, yes our supper que had moved a little closer to the house.

We finally emerged on to the back lane and glancing across to the back fields, the youngsters had also gathered ready for their evening Hayledge.

and so we came home with just time for a cup of tea before the witching hours that all horses attend, never missing a day, dutifully on time, and never leaving a crumb. Horse super time!!

An Autumn round up of the garden

2011-10-30T13:04:00.007Z

The autumn sunset from Ednovean farm garden

Well the Autumn is here and I thought it time to take a last look around the garden in the zenith of its year. The Pampass reign now if a final dramatic flourish with spectacular, if deeply unfashionable, tossing plumes. The birds will shelter in their depths in the weeks to come and build their nest again in the spring deep within the sheltering fronds. Our Cordylines form a repeating pattern throughout the garden and welcome wind breaks for the winter months but for now they toss discarded fronds across the lawn after each stirring of wind but I still like them!

I have a new batch of tiny palm trees, that I potted on this morning, ready to complement the benches beside the serpentine walls but I think I'll wait until the spring when the rabbits are less hungry to plant them out. We've already planted out a couple of new nets of daffodils in that part of the garden - I hope they make it until the spring and don't become fodder for the badgers!

Olley is looking pensive here, because of his new apprentice mouser perhaps? As an experiment I have put a link to my facebook October Garden album in Ollie's picture - just click Ollie to view and then use the back button on your brouser to return.

The structure of the formal parterre in the courtyard will become more important as the months draw in, the box and the topiary should hold its shape for the winter

The steps up the side of the courtyard

We have developed the garden a little at a time adding each piece of the jigsaw carefully- the reclaimed granite slabs that line the Parterre and form the steps came from Prince William yard in Plymouth - redundant when they redeveloped the area but anchoring Ian Lowes our garden designer's design. and now a few snaps around the garden that I took this week with a feline escort you'll see! For more photos click here for my facebook October album

Summer lingered on

2011-10-29T11:02:00.002+01:00

It was such a fantastic day yesterday with Mounts Bay looking like a Millpond and every detail of ST Micheal's Mount and Penzance in sharp relief - click the picture to expand it and you should be able to pick out the Mount's harbour. I read this morning that a storm surge is on the way, a bonus for the surfers - scroll down our facebook page for more details.

From the kitchen window again this time further to the west and I think you can see Gulval church and Longrock

Penzance across the bay from us - doesn't that sea look fabulous - not today though the breeze is stiffening and the waves are building - I'll watch!

Without the car

2011-10-29T10:40:00.003+01:00

Our Dining table with my foraged flowers from the garden

Well it is the third carless week here at Ednovean Farm - granted reversing into a granite post whilst collecting the newly repaired horse rugs was not my finest hour and as an old girl, our landrover likes to take her time over her annual MOT. But I would be grateful if she would come home soon. Still Mr Tescos has kept us supplied and kind friends have ferried in emergency supplies of Yeo Valley organic Yogurt ready for Breakfast but yesterday an unexpected vegetarian demand left us short of Tomatoes and so I fearlessly set off up the public footpath at the back of the farm to the local Farm shop just across the A394 and all of four fields away to return with gorgeous English tomatoes that really smelt like well tomatoes and a tasty locally home made cake .....for going you understand! Unfortunately nobody wanted tomatoes the next day but i can report they tasted just like real tomatoes should! The cake was good too!

I had to resort to picking things from the garden to decorate the house as that is something Tescos don't deliver, I must admit that I am a bit of a wimp about tackling the secateurs but i don't think the result was too bad..............maybe the car will be back soon!

Cat politics

2011-10-27T11:27:00.003+01:00

The cats political issues are hotting up now with urgent debate about the admission of one small determined white cat to Ollie's holy of holy's :- The house. All friendly advances were rejected and Ollie stomped off to spend the afternoon on a hay bale again in the stables.

Ollie Cat in the barn

One small trainee mouser trying out the hall rug for softness and size.

Ollie is bearing up and managed to bravely purr for our guests this morning and has even managed to eat just a little, unlike his new friend that eats quite a lot!

Oliver Taylor

2011-10-25T10:33:00.004+01:00

Ollie Cat

The calm after the storm this morning and Ollie-Cat positively glowed in the morning sunshine looking angelic with the sun shining through his whiskers. He spent yesterday supervising a hay bale under the shelter of the barn before curling up by the Rayburn for the night but this morning, like our guests he is obviously planning a stroll around the garden - well if he doesn't nod off by the time he gets to the stables.

Angelic he is not though - we have a stray cat here again this time a beautiful white (chap I think) one in turn ravenously hungry and terminally shy so if any one hears of a missing white cat in West Penwith do give us a call. He could have walked from Perranuthnoe, Goldsithney Trebahvah, Rosudgeon or Marazion all very near to us as the tom cat wanders! In the mean time Ollie is apoplectic strutting around yowling and growling until he is shut in. After a week or so a sort of truce has developed but it is a shame if the cat is lost and needs a little help to find his home - he is wearing a very tight flea collar by the way

Dates fro your diary for the Autumn/Winter in Cornwall

2011-10-22T17:16:00.002+01:00

Keeping up to date with whats on could not be easier now follow this link, a useful app flagged up by Cornwall tourist board on their facebook "I love Cornwall page!"

RSS feed of events diary click here

Powder blue sky

2011-10-22T12:49:00.005+01:00

St Micheal's Mount from Ednovean Farm Garden

We woke up to a beautiful, clear, powder blue sky this morning in West Cornwall, true this was not what was promised but you know, I think I'll take it! I stopped to take a picture of the Mount just outside of the front door -it is a shame the palm tree has died in front of it but I suppose I should see it as an opportunity to improve the view!

Out through the garden gate.....................................

The wider sky of Mounts Bay is waiting. The air was so clear this morning you could see every house across the Bay

I came across a useful app for your RSS feed for up and coming events in Cornwall flagged up by "I love Cornwall" on Facebook (Cornwall Tourist Boards Alta ego so quite safe to click!)- I think it will be really helpful to look up when you plan your holiday:- click here for feed.

The Blacksmith calls

2011-10-15T14:50:00.003+01:00

Our Blacksmith Nigel Stevens called yesterday, as he does every six weeks, to fit new shoes for our Spanish Stallion Danilon. The ancient art practised as it has been for centuries played out in the little stable yard beside the Ednovean Farm car park the ringing of the metal hammer on the anvil the roar of the furnace as it heats the shoes and the hiss as the hot shoes are applied to the foot to check the fit. Only when everything is perfect are they carefully nail on using the special horse shoe nails at exactly the right angle for them to be comfortable for Danni. As you can see it is a relaxed affair Danni is the horse asleep in the middle, Charles is asleep on a box holding the horse (but I think the horse is holding him actually) and Nigel taking the shoe back for some more adjustments at his anvil. If you look closely at the stable door behind you will see Danni's wiflet April and their son Bodkin closely watching the proceedings.

Bodkin the colt foal by Danilon

Do you remember Bodkin when he was born this spring - well he has grown into a fine young colt - we brought him in yesterday to have his feet trimmed so he starts to understand about his life and his feet stay in good shape too.

Danilon practising

I took advantage of the empty car park in the morning to do some work with Danni to keep him supple here he is stretching his back leg to cross it in front of the other one - a bit like horsey yoga!

Here he is moving sideways at ninety degrees following me across the car park

Danilon beginning Spanish walk ( it may take a while)

and finally his new "trick" raising his front leg in an exaggerated fashion when i point at it with the whip eventually he will learn an elegant Spanish walk which will help to free his shoulders but at the moment he can only manage three steps - never mind from tiny acorns!

Pampass and Facebook

2011-10-14T10:02:00.004+01:00

I must admit I've been a bit tardy keeping up the Ednovean farm blog lately the combination of a back log of odd jobs and a sudden heatwave meant.........we took a picnic to the beach and it was lovely. We swam in the sea on the 2nd of October although I must admit it took me some time to pursued myself that cold water was OK and not life threatening. The weather then swung moodily and even the garden was engulfed by the threatening roar of the sea from the beach below the village. The garden however has loved the autumn rising into a crescendo of waving (and deeply unfashionable) Pampass seeds, wildly dramatic they lifted the garden into its last waltz of the season.

Olly-Cat Esq still pads the courtyards growing plumper by the day and looking dubiously at the early morning dew on the lawn "so wet for my paws" He manages to supervise the car park though checking the guests in and out and sometimes accompanying them around the garden a small solicitous orange figure discreetly trotting along or occasionally engaging in a little "gardening" We did hear one lady instructing her husband "not to embarrass the cat" as Olly deftly patted the leave mold under the hedge

A view back into the courtyard in front of the house - I love the jungly effect at the moment although I must admit I didn't realise that the Date palms would grow quite so tall! Still the late evening sun on the gate gives you an idea of this balmy season I think?

The terrace in front of the Garden room has a more relaxed look now framed by the Pampass grasses and with the Geraniums still doing well - the lawn is doing rather too well and Charles has had to step up his adventures with the lawnmower but at least the horses are happy with the lush grass of Autumn although they still form an orderly line at the bottom of the garden morning and evening for their daily Oat supply

The fountain plays on in the courtyard at Ednovean Farm, come and visit us soon an Autumn Break, like our little trip to the beach is just the thing to set you up for the winter and before I go I must remember to remind you to visit our face book page (scroll to the bottom of our web site page and then click the brown "find us on facebook") You will land on the welcome page featuring Olly naturally - anyway click the wall and you should see all of the latest information about this area. I try to put local events there as they publish them to facebook, so take a look!

This September

2011-09-11T09:26:00.003+01:00

The first days of Autumn and the shadows grow longer, the lanes are full of Blackberry pickers and the garden drifts on steadily approaching its climax when the Pampass grasses flower

We finished preening the box at last and rewarded ourselves with another trip to Peppercorn Piazza Parlour for one of the last regular openings but eh young man assured us they will serve evening Piazzas a couple of times a week into the winter

Prawn Sweet chili and rocket in case you are wondering with Lemon spritzers

We returned to Ednovean Farm to watch the last fingers of the sun creeping through the palm trees

Mounts Bay again from just outside of the Blue room this time

and of course Ollie's unchanging routine of catching the evening sun outside of the Pink room before transferring to the courtyard steps - its a busy life for him. What will the rest of the month hold for us - not sure but brisk winds for this week I think! Take care Christine

A Cornish sunset

2011-08-24T09:59:00.002+01:00

At last the time of sunsets has arrived and I waited with anticipation near our "sunset benches" that I have positioned in the garden for just this purpose. ...of course you can sit on them at other times too!

The sky was a fabulous mix or swirling clouds that caught the colours perfectly

and the teasels that line the field boundaries lay waiting to feed the birds this winter.....but not yet, not yet.

Turned out nice again!

2011-08-21T18:25:00.003+01:00

Young horses at the top of Ednovean Farm enjoying the slight breeze from the sea on Thursday

Against all of the odds or should I say the weather forecast it "turned out nice again" We've had the sort of weather when even a horse needs suntan lotion

Poor young Archie suffers from too much sun and has to have complete sun block applied

In keeping with our topsy turvy season the Apples are ripening in the little orchard - we planted vintage West Country varieties

And finally my gardening report! After two afternoons of what felt like slave labour, the formal garden just below the Apricot room courtyard is now ship shape and ready to face the winter - sadly the Parterre in front of the house is still laying in wait for me next week. We celebrated by visiting The Peppercorn Piazza in Perranuthnoe for a scummy Piazza - crispy thin with oodles of topping eaten in the stylish little stepped lawn outside accompanied by a bottle of BYO wine (small corkage charge). We shared a salad overlooking Cudden Point before wandering on down the village to the beach to eat an ice cream at the Cabin Cafe hanging over their garden bank to watch the activities on the Beach below - alas I forgot the camera so you will have to image the dappled golden sunlight still touching the warm red umber cliffs and the silky smooth water but believe me it was just right!

Young Toffee is now one year old and growing fast as you can see

A sudden vacancy for the weekend

2011-08-17T09:43:00.002+01:00

Alas we suddenly have the Blue room available again for this weekend - would any body like a last minute break in Cornwall at Ednovean Farm starting on Friday the19th for three nights?? Can I tempt you to the Blue rooms stunning view, private terrace complete with sun loungers; en suite bathroom with roll top bath and double shower with all of the bath robes hand made soaps white company toiletries to go with it? Should I mention the flat screen TV. the DVD CD player Radio and free WiFi? Maybe our acre of landscaped gardens with seductively concealed sitting areas or the th walk through the village to take the coastal path eastwards to Cudden point and Prussia cove or westwards to visit St Micheal's Mount might inspire? Perranuthnoe Beach just below the village to dabble your toes or the Victoria Inn with the Raymond Blanc trained chef? (pre booking essential here though) or for something less formal the stroll to the new summer peppercorn piazza, tucked beside Lynfield craft market. A weekend in tranquil West Cornwall far from the crowds??

I saw.......

2011-08-16T09:51:00.003+01:00

It has been a steady month of slightly changeable weather and discreet somnolence. The garden has reached a point of natural repletion, happy with its growth but not yet sinking towards Autumn and rest. The Cornish banks are threaded with ripening blackberries mingled with the summer honeysuckle and the sloes grow plump and dark. Our resident garden birds have reared a second brood under our eaves and are now zooming around playful from the release from their duties. And Ollie - he disgraced himself the other night by setting up a load yowling defending his garden from an intruding tom. I arrived to find the two antagonists nose to nose, pitching their wails into almost perfect synchronisation and after a moment reflection retreated back to bed.......claws a teeth not a good combination but I think they stuck to the sound effects!

Lets see the washing machine failed terminally after three years hard service strangely it was joined by the toaster and a flat screen TV so I'm hoping that is our three things.......!!? Please.

And this morning I saw a boat, mammoth and white, just under the St Micheal's Mount as I glanced out of the kitchen window while cooking Breakfast so all changed but really nothing had changed at all! I'm told there is high pressure on the way towards the end of the week, so hope the day is kind to you - some of our guest are off to the Minack Theatre this evening but Ollie and I are staying at home!

Agapanthus on the terrace

2011-07-26T12:03:00.003+01:00

Just a few photos of our summer terrace - a small gravel area in front of the garden and Blue rooms that hold a few pots of Geraniums to brighten the summer. I've lined this terrace with box balls in sturdy plain pots from the Yorkshire pot company that have shrugged off the winter chills but at the moment the stars of the show have got to be the self seeded Agapanthus that have positioned themselves perfectly, tucked under the warm granite walls to produced blooms twice the size of their border bound parents. Ah well you can't beat nature!

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My dalliance with white hydrangeas is not going so well at the moment - conceived as a serene row of identical pots with stylish white flowers they look decidedly mothy to be polite - perhaps ext year........

Their pink cousins remain outrageously healthy in frothy profusion

I used the old water tank for years as a bran bin for the horses, square and uncompromising with a neat row of rivets it give the sugary blooms a little more "edge" I think and the horses are happy with their corn bin. I think I've mentioned before the rusty iron ball was found in one of the fields.

Looking over the little terrace towards the formal sundial garden

and to finish a quiet corner for morning coffee or was that afternoon tea or a sunset glass of wine a day in the life of a terrace

An afternoon walk

2011-07-15T20:30:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was such a fabulous day that we awarded ourselves an afternoon off and walk across the fields from the farm to a little secluded cove that we know. The footpath leads out from the farm across a field or ripening corn and then across a field of fabulous blue flowers that I see from Perran ladies blog is Chicory (get well soon sue xx by the way)

On through the little hamlet of Trebarvah and through a bussling farmyard with fabulous views back over Perranuthnoe village

The cluster of houses around the church at Perranuthnoe in the valley below

And then we strode on cutting across through the gorse towards the cliff path - the tide had gone out so far that the beaches of Perran and Trebarvah had joined into one super beach

Always a quiet beach - a long walk for a swim when the tide goes out across those golden sands but we were going to walk further

Perranuthnoe beach again and the Mount of course

and on we walked Charles carrying the pack the seed of the gorse exploding into life with an audible crack as we passed

I couldn't resist pausing every now and again to watch the Mount retreat across the bay

and then we climbed down to a quiet little cove all to ourselves to eat our picnic and swim as the tide came in over the sun warmed rocks ( well that was the theory but it was still a touch nippy for me!)

We finally climbed back out of the cove on the far side along a narrow hidden path

our little cove filled with water

but the Mount beckoned us home again with a stead tread on the hard cracked earth back to the farm with the sky larks song filling the air replacing the lull of the waves

and last night a magical moon fille dthe sky beautiful in its perfection

climbing high above the farm Good night for now.....

This weekend

2011-06-27T17:46:00.003+01:00

A bright Daisy on the front terrace with Mounts Bay beyond

Sunday was a magical day after the slightly challenging weather of late - not a cloud in the sky and shaping up to be Hot, hot, hot. The dining door could be flung open fully at last to reveal the glowing Geraniums - in fact bright just about sums up the day.

A Geranium outside of the kitchen door

We retreated to a cool shady spot in the Italian Garden for the afternoon with the rhythm of the sea lulling around us and just a hint of a steady beat from the Golowan Festival in Penzance traveling across the bay! But for us a sky lark unseen high in the sky above the garden was enough for our afternoon.

The sun was so high that the shadow became small under the hedges in the Italian Garden

Deep inside the Italian garden

and finally odd moments from the weekend maybe one of these is your favorite room

Earlier in the day I stopped from my chores to take this photo of the Apricot room terrace as the sun came around

The mares in the field in front of the garden tucked themselves under the garden hedge for some shade for a while - that is 19 year old Belle nearest to the camera

and finally serendipity! I was pleased to find the perfect cushions to replace the ones on the Pink room bed on a recent trip to Penzance - just right, very comfy and perfect colours too!

Ollie Cat Esq.

2011-06-25T14:23:00.002+01:00

I left the landrover door open yesterday as I ferried the groceries into the house and who would be trying out the drivers seat but our very own Oliver Taylor Esq Senior Mouser (retired) Perhaps he was planning a short drive to Penzance and if he could take over the grocery shop it would be much appreciated but there you are, he purred briefly, finished washing and then decided to leave - so i suppose it is back to me - maybe he found he couldn't quite reach the pedals after all!

Just planning his route

Hand bag - shopping list............mmmm

My Garden albums for June

2011-06-24T07:13:00.003+01:00

Would you like to visit the June garden - I've just uploaded two small albums to facebook I think you can view them without getting trapped by following this link:-

Garden album The courtyard rose

Garden Album The June garden

Hope you get them OK - they are easy to view this way without scrolling!! Ah well back to the Weeding!

June

2011-06-16T19:00:00.003+01:00

The fountain that lives in the middle of the Parterre at Ednovean Farm

My first job of the morning is always to refill the fountain so that it can tinkle gently as guest wake up in the morning. This morning the courtyard looked bright and fresh after the overnight rain and i stopped for a minute to take this photo from the garden room doorway framed by the honeysuckle

There is always something magical or timeless about the early sunlight sparkling through the droplets and the gently rhythm of the cascading water. The fountain though, is more than just a centre piece for our courtyard - during the long drought the birds come down to drink and even Wilbur the Independent Cat hops up on the bowl for a refreshing lap from time to time.

Lining the courtyard the figs are looking well this year with luxuriant fresh growth and half concealed figs gently ripening among the foliage. it will be the usual contest between Charles and the blackbirds to harvest the freshest nicest fruits, last year for the first time we were able to serve our own figs for breakfast

The poppy has nearly finished now in our little entrance courtyard leaving the bronze fennel to be joined by the lavender to waft their scent on the evening breeze

This morning was lovely though - those half concealed buckets are "fountain for the use off"!

ah well time to go inside to cook breakfast but a wonderful morning

and a cloudless sky last night too - fingers crossed for Galowan Festival in Penzance starting on the 17th of June click the name for the schedule in date order if you are in Cornwall this weekend

Can we keep it

2011-06-12T17:56:00.004+01:00

We had a surprise visitor to our car park this week! Our Austrian guests chugged off in their sensible family car in the morning but in the evening....! "come and look at this" Charles said as this beautiful old Morgan cake in through the gate. Like an exotic bird she only stayed for a couple of days but what a presence she had redolent of another era when motoring was an elegant timely pursuit. or as one Uncle once remarked "He couldn't possibly drive without gloves" Well she was definitely a car for gloves. I found her here at car and classic hire................ sorry i had to take the link out Blogger wasn't happy but it should be easy to Google it!

The beautifuly presented Morgan in our car park at Ednovean Farm - not a speck of dirt to mar the paint work

and where did thes two come from? - we normally don't take pets but they weren't any trouble - I spotted them peeping out of the Apricot room window waiting for their owners to come home the other day - hope they come back!

Hope you've had a good weekend - we've had the extremes here in cornwall - Charles got sunburn yesterday mowing the lawn and lets say my weed and feed was well washed in today!

Blue room tonight???

2011-06-08T09:29:00.003+01:00

Our lovely Blue room with views over Mounts Bay

I know for weeks we have said we have no vacancies tonight BUT our guest are suddenly called back to Germany so we have the Blue room free now for three more nights from tonight - can we tempt you?? An elegant double room with french doors to it's own terrace complete with a table and chairs and two sun loungers; en suite bathroom with double shower and roil top bath bathrobes of course hand made soaps white company toiletries and the bedroom complete with flat screen TV, DVD WiFi CD player............all we need is two guests .......................

A place in the shade

2011-06-06T09:12:00.002+01:00

I found a place in the shade to sit this weekend, finding just the right spot in the Gravel border to the side of the Italian garden. Of course I had to renovate the table and chairs first that had been moldering in a quite corner for the winter until I rescued them. Their paint was peeling horribly and so i attacked them with a power washer in the car park - carefully avoiding the parked cars of course!. Quite a few hours and an application of Farrow and Ball's New white later they were ready to take their place again..........and so I sat on them for a peaceful Saturday afternoon out of the heat of the sun. Time to tackle the garden again today though those weeds don't take the weekend off!

The evening sun

2011-06-04T09:31:00.002+01:00

Such a lovely evening here at Ednovean Farm -it was far too nice to go indoors and the sun lingered on in the parterre in front of the house - I missed the sunset though it was way after my bed time - may be tonight I'll stay awake!

A purrrfect evening

2011-06-04T09:22:00.003+01:00

Ollie Taylor enjoying the evening sun at Ednovean Farm yesterday

No evening is complete without Ollie claiming his purrfect spot to soak up the last rays of the sun under the honey warm walls - just the thing for the "older" tom cat.

Life of a rose

2011-06-03T08:58:00.004+01:00

The garden room before breakfast this morning with St Micheal's Mount behind

I love to keep Lillies in the cool garden room, their scent builds over night to greet me as i open the outside french doors ready for our guests.

A corner of the courtyard - the little statue was a sale room find

We have a rose here a Ednovean that sit majestically clothing an old milking parlour on the western end of the courtyard. The building could never have been a thing of beauty, probably less than eighty years old, built over an old water tank but serviceable non-the-less and "handy by" for the cattle standings that now form our Apricot and Blue bedrooms. But i digress from my rose - given to me by my father when I was married as he said our family had always had one of these roses in their garden. The lovely flower, old fashioned in its way - probably an Albertene, single flowering and sweetly scented and a delicate shade of bronzy pink - the rose glows each year for a brief period of bliss. Each year I always wait in high anticipation for its brief flowering - the gorgeous scent that fills the courtyard and the garden room and then eventually the fallen petals that gently drift across the gravel and the garden room's warm terracotta floor. All too soon the time is over, as it slips back to its (or I prefer Her) slumbers for another year a permanent reminder of my fathers gift.

A wilder side

2011-06-02T09:38:00.006+01:00

The skies started to clear right on cue this bank holiday and motivated by the appearance of blue and it must be said that I had forgotten the Breakfast Orange Juice too, Charles and i set off towards Penzance for the second time that day. Breakfast secured with some of Mr Tesco's finest OJ but still lunchless, we went on up towards the penwith moors with a small picnic to visit again those ancient places that haunt the ancient landscape. We drove up through Madron through the woods that always exert a mysterious pull to me with their dark liquid depths but stopping only to admire the foxgloves that line the banks just there we continued past the Holy Well and on to Lanyon Quit with the sweep of heathland drawing away to the horizon, and old engine house and rugged cairn a distant view.

Madron woods

Lanyon quoit

that tantalising tor, once or twice we have eaten a winter picnic tucked under the shelter of one of her stones but not today it was approaching half past two and definitely lunchtime

we drove on leaving the enigmatic stones of another monument on our right where the road thoughtfully forks around it

to look at the ancient country side around Morvah that rolls toward the sea on the north coast

the lanes edges by walls and banks that have stood for centuries deifying the wild Atlantic, a hard spare land, beautiful in her pared down countenance

a step back in time just twenty minutes up the road - think I'll forget the Orange juice more often!

The wild garden

2011-05-23T09:26:00.003+01:00

Irises under the olive trees behind the Italian Garden

The garden has grown wilder and untamed around the edges now and even the formal courtyards have a certain flamboyance with the abundant vegetation. We sat for a while in a little courtyard yesterday out of the wind surrounded by the opulent growth of spring - the Luquat has survived the winter chill quite well and tiny Aquilegias have sprung up uninvited but a happy surprise, non the less, amongst the gravel - a memory of past cottage gardens perhaps or seeded there by birds.

The gardener is still struggling with the Italian Garden hedges this year - I think we are approaching the third week of hedge trimming! Hopefully victory will be won quite soon and the hedges tamed for another year or is it month.....? I always enjoy the sense of stillness as i enter the cool green compartments away from the gales that battered us yesterday - i noticed a crow coming in to land on the roof turning his tail to the wind and gliding the last few feet backwards in a skilled maneuver perfected by Cornish birds. But today is another day and the garden lays still and out to sea the white horses have stopped their uneasy approach to the shores

One of our winding paths creeping steadily away into the garden

A vacancy for this weekend

2011-05-20T11:19:00.002+01:00

The Apricot room

We've just had a cancellation for this weekend for our pretty apricot room. Such a pretty room in a delicate pastel blue with french doors leading to its own private courtyard with gorgeous views down through a little secluded formal garden of lavender filled filled beds towards Mounts Bay. I even laboured one winter to gouge a whole in the bank to the rear to allow the table and chairs to give a view to St Micheal's Mount........any takers?? Our ex guest was kind enough to say that he had based his choice on long research and our excellent reviews click here so can you help the poor chap can't come??!

In pursuit of Poppies

2011-05-19T10:12:00.002+01:00

This bright and blousey poppy appeared unexpectedly one year - not part of my sophisticated garden plan and each year goes from strength to strength - cheerfully voluptuous. at first I threatened to dig it up - this gaudy object in my delicate bed of lavender and herbs but each yea I forgot and now I really love it - my renegade poopy that bucks the trend.........maybe I#ll buy some more! I've been waiting for the sun to hit her bright delicate petals last night the subtle dusky light gave her a certain charm but.......

this morning as nature intended full volume

of certain vibrant colour. What is they say "the best laid plans of mice and men!"

The joy of spring

2011-05-12T19:34:00.000+01:00

Such a fabulous spring this year:- the wild flowers in the hedgerows, the hawthorn trees laden with blooms and our new baby colt in the paddock..................screech jar - just spent all afternoon again armed with a strimmer and I do believe i am starting to win!! Still the name Bodkin seams to have stuck to April's new colt foal and she is enjoying her well earned feast of spring grass!

May Garden

2011-05-10T09:20:00.004+01:00

We sat with a glass on wine in the courtyard last night - I could say peacefully lulled by the sea but in fact I was planing the onslaught on the borders today. I conducted the "chain gang massacre" yesterday afternoon on the redundant daffodils (so over Daffodils now!) in preparation for tackling the growing anarchy that is taking place amongst the herbage. Come back tomorrow to see if I survive!

Looking back into the courtyard from the garden

The Tracycarpus flower that I showed you last week

Sensational if slightly bizarre

Hostas and Ferns in front of the stable yard

Such a lush corner

A new day

2011-05-09T19:36:00.003+01:00

Our new little colt foal made his way out to the field the next morning with all of the Innocent optimism of the very young, safe beside his mother and guided by Charles

April spent a happy day with her new foal tucked up in a special little meadow we always save for those special new arrivals. She must have had a very special piece of sea weed because despite the horrible weather forecast the days have been kind to her and her new baby. When we brought them in this evening his coat had all of the heat from the sun in it as he bobbed his way back down the lane to bed.

Breakfast was a bit late this morning but...

2011-05-06T19:14:00.003+01:00

Well breakfast was a bit late this morning because of the arrival of this young man one day ahead of schedule. Proud mum April was just finishing her son's wash and brush up when i arrived with her breakfast. Isn't he gorgeous??!

For more pictures please visit Dani's blog (click here) or follow the link on the right - busy day!!

Fennel in the Courtyards

2011-04-27T20:07:00.010+01:00

The Fennel is slowly emerging from its winter hibernation, lending a slight smell of aniseed to the air, I shall let the seed heads linger long into the autumn for the last vestiges of the summer scents before we face the vagaries of Winter. But winter seems a long way away now with plump blackbirds hunting for worms on the lawn and Ollie dozing on a wooden bench near the front door. Now Summer is coming fast gamboling towards us in an out of control zig zag ready to confound and enchant with all the special qualities of a Cornish summer...............

The first little entrance courtyard around a very old bird bath

The strange flowers of the Trachycarpus Fortunei hidden in the depths of the foliage

Morning magic

2011-04-25T09:58:00.003+01:00

http://www.ednoveanfarm.co.uk/

I had just finished cooking breakfast this morning and glanced out of the kitchen window to see the two beautiful schooners (?) laying off St Micheal's Mount this morning in Mounts Bay...........It's a tough life sigh!

The constant gardener

2011-04-24T20:26:00.002+01:00

Ollie has had a busy and successful Easter - first he found the TVs digie box - so nice and warm and really just right for a cat to spend the night sleeping on zzzzzzzzzzzzzz reports that the TV no longer works were entirely unrelated to him. Huh!! and so he sent off, a keen and constant gardener and cleared a little space in his favourite herb garden, to sleep the afternoon away - he's sure that with a little more effort he should be able to make a pretty good bed! All report of terminal damage to plants are a vast imagination Huh! zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ollie enjoying an afternoon nap in the lavender

Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T20:12:00.002+01:00

We woke up to a fabulous day here in West Cornwall for that special Easter day. The brood mares coats were already warmed by the sun as i ran my hands over their fine silky summer fur as they enjoyed their breakfast. I spent a moment to take a photo of Mounts bay from the old stone steps that lead to the back pastures as the first yachts started to leave the harbour on the improbably blue sea.

and below us in Perranuthnoe the flag fluttered bravely from the church tower - Easter Day in Perranuthnoe.