Fennel in the Courtyards

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

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

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

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.

Happy Easter

A very Happy Easter from all at Ednovean Farm - hope you have a great weekend and if you haven't come to Cornwall this time we see you all again very soon.

Christine, Charles Danni and Ollie xxx

Dusk in the courtyard

i abandoned plans to go to Rosudgeon Car Boot sale when i saw the cue of traffic snaking away up the hill from the cross roads as i crossed with Danilon our Spanish Stallion earlier in the day. I decided that bargain lavender that I coveted to fill some gaps in the sundial garden was going to have to find anew owner. Luckily the traffic jam prisoners were all in a good mood and let Dani and me across the road to go for our ride around the Cornish lanes. I think I've abandoned my love affair with daffodils now in favour of the newly opened blue bells - delicate and intensely coloured the hug the banks and spill down on to the road side - the Cornish lanes really have been lovely this spring.

The evening was just as balmy and we ate super in the courtyard with the sparrows squabbling around us like small fighter pilots as we lingered into the dusk and watched the sea birds go overhead in orderly groups, back to their nesting sights on the cliffs below the village. Part of the daily routine of life here in West Cornwall



Danilon and me at Kestral Farm this week practising that illusive Dressage

Sunday - Is it really April?

St Micheal's Mount this morning full of promise for the day



Charles has done a sterling job with the lawns again - it only takes him two days in his "spare" time - that is the main axis of the Italian Garden in the distance



I walked the spiral the other day to spread weed'n feed on it - it was a really strange feeling - the pah that was always the same but slowly led somewhere!



Our terrace of course

The little private sitting area that opens from the Apricot room always sheltered and warm

It is strange to post6 a Sunday post but it lay forgotten in edit but then strange things do happen the weather for instance would rival June at the moment; the rabbit i met gathering bedding in the muck heap that disappeared into the hedge with his/he mouth full of dry straw; the postman I met deep in the country lanes carrying a chicken that he returned to its run. The unexpected things in the course of the day - hope you have an adventure today!

PS Wednesday blog will be on Wednesday!

A view to Perranuthnoe

The Cherry blossom is just starting to come out down in Perranuthnoe - the start of a fabulous day here in

Cornwall

A sunset at last

At last we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset last night after days of waiting for the right one. I met one of our guests on the lawn who'd also popped out to record the event - that fiery sky that crowns the day and somehow makes a holiday.

Oliver Cat esq.

Ollie Cat has a busy life with a B&B to run, his fur coat to keep clean, the stable to monitor, garden to patrol and of course essential eating duties to perform. but he thought his friends would like it know he is bearing up - all things considered!

Lavender and Courtyards

I managed to steal a few more hours for the garden on Tuesday finishing the weeding of the lavender beds at last. The rosemary basked against the courtyard walls flowering quite early i think - the vivid blue mauve flowers contrasting against the earthy toned walls. i love to plant the Mediterranean herbs to fill the courtyards with their scent in the early evening and I've also added some fennel seeds around the bird bath in one of the entrance courtyards or rooms really that welcome guest as they first come through from the car park, If I'm successful then the scent of the lavender and Rosemary will be joined by that lovely aniseedy Mediterranean scent that haunts the roads side..........I'll have to keep my fingers crossed!

Weekend dining and the weather

Yesterday got off to a gloomy start with an eerie dark light over Mounts Bay but miraculously cleared to a vibrantly sunny day just in time for two of our guests to enjoy their day flying to the Isle of Scilly. I've never been of course i being "foreign parts" as they say in Cornwall - I must go one day i hear it is beautiful and I've always harboured an ambition to visit the iconic gardens on Tresco one day perhaps one day! This blackbird arrived for an early bath in the fountain in the middle of the courtyard but froze when he realised the camera lens was on him so I didn't catch him in action. Which brings me to weekend dining...! The local pub in Perranuthnoe doesn't open on Sunday evenings but I booked tables for our guest at 2 Fore street in Mousehole this weekend ant they all had a super time strolling around the pretty sheltered granite harbour after a mega super - something else to add to my list I think!

The Italian Garden

The Statue of Spring that stands at the end of a vista in the Italian Garden Our Saturday guests left with their boot piled with some of our best manure for their garden from our burgeoning muck heap (other side of the lane don't worry!) I hope it wasn't too smeely by the time they reached the Cotswolds but that is keen gardeners for you! It was such a super weekend in Cornwall that we spent some time in the Italian garden listening to the sea and the village clock counting the hours softly ringing across the valley from the village. When Ian Lowe our garden designer (sorry he has retired now) laid out this garden he cleverly captured a "borrowed view" lining the central walk up with some Pine trees further along the lane makeing th garden look as though it goes on for ever - quite a good tip if you are planning a path. The borrowed view - luckily Charles has only to mow ohh...about an acre! The urns that flank the Italian Garden I never pass this gateway as you know without taking a photo - shame the blue sky bleached out The gravel walk that loops in and out of the formal garden Sorry forgot the name but a great value marquis type plant emerging into the Italian garden once more and at last i captured that blue sky! There is lots of work to do in there this year and so in the spirit of the weekend i sat down and went to sleep in a s warm corner, waking up just in time to welcome our new guest with a cup of tea and a hot cross bun - hope you all had a good weekend too!

A brave survivor

Mounts Bay from our garden at Ednovean Farm last night

My efforts fro the sunset were only partially rewarded last night - reading Sue's blog (around Perranuthnoe and West Cornwall ) I see we have a dust cloud from the Sahara. The huge sun that sunk beyond the garden behind our surviving echium was pretty dramatic though and worth a trip out with the camera I think - any dust in other parts of the country?

Any way back to the subject of my post our surviving echium bravely shooting up now ready to flower - I probably wouldn't have planted it there but echiums are a rule unto themselves - this one has obviously cross pollinated with Pennina too, to give it its branching form - perhaps we'' have some half hardy seeds for Perranuthnoes gardeners latter in the year!

I moved behind the barn to start to weed the lavender beds that fill the little formal garden there and it was so hot - sweltering in fact - I finally emerged hot and bothered to find Ollie Cat comfortable sitting in the shade watching my labours - it's a Cats life at Ednovean Farm!

Before i finish just a reminder of Porthleven Food festival today(click here) promises to be a great day out around a traditional Cornish harbour -the sun is already climbing in the sky - hope you make it - me a couple of rooms to change...............

Wibur in passing

For the hottest day this year Wilbur made a rare daylight appearance, preening himself on the handy rock that has always stood just there in what was the old farmyard. Wilbur looks as though he has had a good winter, sheltering in the garden room, discreetly collecting his super when he thinks no one is looking and even sleeping in this year when the frost was on the ground. He has moved out now though just returning for his supper each night at dusk and haunting quiet corners of the garden by day - a very independent cat indeed! Just to help you this is Wilbur - almost invisible even on a good day so "purrfectly" do his strips disguise him Wilbur We passed St Micheal's Mount (click name to visit) on Monday evening and the end of the storm was still thrashing against the harbour there but "what a difference a day makes" to coin a phrase and yesterday was the hottest so far, clearing to the bluest sky, alas i was too busy to take a photo until latter in the day when the sunset was an OK one, with a huge sun slipping away from us and leaving us in anticipation of the morning. I'll be watching fo a better one this week! The end of the day at Ednovean Farm - not the best sunset but he end of a gorgeous day

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The courtyard this morning flushed by the morning sun

Find us on twitter for bite sized posts!! we are at:-

thednoveandiary

Sorry not sure of the address but I hope you find us - I had to use the "E" twice if you see what I mean for the title, as I was only allowed so many letters but all in all I tweet occasionally about the little things that catch my eye - the things I've usually forgotten by the time I write up the blog:- the sky larks starting to sing one morning and yesterday i swear i heard the house martins return, the daffodils that fade and the buds that follow, the flush of green spreading over our little orchard of vintage apple trees...........little things that can mean allot. Hope to see you there!

In anticipation

This photo was taken at sunset at Land's End by one of our guest who has kindly allowed me to reproduce it here. Cornwall is fluffing herself up in readiness for the summer now, with every town and village that you pass through sporting busy people painting and primping the houses. There is a certain bustle in the air, an anticipation as the new season approaches. The Minack theatre for instance has built new changing rooms over the winter in readiness for her busy season of open air plays, with storytelling events starting the 18th until the 21st of April and then some brave players opening on April the 22nd with Around the world in eighty days. At nearby Prussia Cove the musicians from the International Musicians Seminar will perform the first spring concerts at St Johns Hall Penzance So busy days ahead for Cornwall with an early start to the summers adventures hope to see you there!