An Autumn round up of the garden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!