Sunday, 27 February 2011

The garden this year


Before we begin......................
The garden's harshest - critic Ollie Cat assessing the weather let alone the conditions under paw!



The afternoon sunshine just hitting the house

What a difference each day makes now - the snowdrops that had enchanted me only a week or two ago snuggling in the lea of the banks have now been replaced by the freshly opened Daffodils escapees from fields over the centuries they populate the roadside and garnish the hedgerows. A drive around the Marazion by pass is a pleasure now to see the newly emerging black thorn flowers - impossibly beautiful froths, of creamy white, contrasting against the still naked branches of the trees and the very heart of Cornwall the bright cadmium yellow of the gorse yet to release her honied scent from her flowers flowers. But before my usual weekly trip to the supermarkets I spent a few minutes visiting some old friends newly emerged from their slumbers around the garden:-




The miniature daffodils that daintily line one border



planted rather too closely but i love them!



The little private terrace for the Blue room just waiting for summer to come



a view back towards the house from the lawn



Our memory stone that makes a bold statement at the end of a vista outside of the Italian Garden


in contrast - a couple of days ago when the dew lay heavy and as the Irish might say "It was a soft morning!" what a difference a day makes........

and just time for my favorite garden view out across the countryside to St Micheal's Mount taken yesterday afternoon


and now as the hedges each sport a tight lime green bud and the lawn grows ever more luxurious (for which need need mowing!) we are moving forward capriciously to spring. And back to Ollie Taylor's assessment - he is make brief but regular sorties and has been seen basking in the first spring rays - not a bad recommendation from a Ca!

Sunday, 20 February 2011

The Daffodil fields



Riding or driving through the narrow lanes of West Penwith the fields are full of Daffodils at the moment with silent pickers moving carefully up and down the rows - sometimes the leave a field for no apparent reason and they make glorious splashes of golden colour even on the dullest days. . We live the other side of mounts Bay behind St Micheal's Mount so this is a different view for us and we stopped the car the other day to take this picture just above Gulval - the white is polythene covering the early crops of potatoes




and now in the garden at last the daffodils are starting to come out ahhh Spring is just around the corner but always comes early to Cornwall.

Sunday, 13 February 2011

The front door



Ednovean Farm about 1979 - Jessica Cat - the door on the left is now the Pink room window the door straight ahead is now the front door

Our front door has known many incarnations over the years - I took a snap of Ollie deciding if he could or could not venture out this morning - well it is a big decision in a cat's day after all....Will it rain, should he choose mouse or rabbit or just keep an eye on the humans...hmmmm




and how different it looks from the photo above that my brother took one evening, of one of the farm cats Jessica . The old mellow walls catching the last rays of the summer sun and the poppies I still favour growing voluminously around the edge of the yard. Jessica who was born under one of the horses haynets in what is now the Pink room and spent her life with us only -becoming a house cat when we converted the barn, when she and her associates or should I say colleagues summarily moved in too. The new front door was a very welcome addition to their lives!

This year will bring us to twenty years as a B&B and twenty years of a real front door to savour the day from - frightening isn't it how the time flies.




Memory lane (and I promise this is the last turn in the blogs progress) George who wandered in one day and decided to stay and spend his life with us - a life that passed through our front door

Friday, 11 February 2011

Little things


A passing prince perhaps





















Sometimes It's the small things that happen every day that make a difference, the everyday but unexpected things,  like when you open the front door one evening and find a glossy green toad riding on it or walk along the lane towards dusk and hear the beating of a thousand wings as the starlings go back to roast on Marazion Marshes to roost for the night. Sometimes is is just allowing yourself the time to watch and observe the everyday very ordinary things that make the countryside special and bring it to life. The glossy green toad clinging to the door - a very special chap for an instant of the everyday unexpected.

P.S Ladies we still have some rooms left for Valentines - we have a frog but can't guarantee results - best to bring you own!

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Easter

Towels and duck waiting on the Pink room's en suite bathroom's  windowsill




















We have one room left for Easter now if you are planning a visit to us please hurry to book the Pink room

Just the right spot


Mount Bay from the top of Ednovean Farm

Mounts bay looked fabulous today with a steady stream of people crossing ant like to St Micheal's Mount on the causeway exposed by the low tide. Captivated by the warm sunshine I abandoned work to find just the right view There: - no, there was a tree. There:-  no, the telephone wire was in the way..... and so I continued up to the top of the farm across the horses scrupulously manicure field ( for which read they have eaten everything to a tight sward) From here you can just see Marazion in the corner of the bay running into Long rock and then Penzance with Newlyn over to the left.





Still it wasn't quite right and so i climbed the spoil heap of Wheal Neptune to see if that improved my view remembering when I used to jump the bank up across the top of the heap with my horse many moons ago before I settled for a more sedate life style!

Just the Mount and my memories
Well perhaps...............


St Micheal's Mount















But then I walked back to where I had started - it was all the same that perfect spot - the moment of magic of spring warmth and oh so blue sky and sea and in truth I loved it all the all encompassing Mounts bay with its jewel like Mount