An early arrival

An early flower and...........

A filly foal at Ednovean Farm

We had an early and if we are honest a fairly unscheduled arrival the other morning in the form of a bouncing bay filly foal. The day started in a peaceful day as always with Charles making his way out to the stables for that first important job of the day the Equine full English Breakfast - he was met by a strange silence amongst the horses and a small pair of ears whose owner couldn't quite see over the stable door. our poor young filly, Sophie, hadn't really understood what had happened and needed lots of help to start her new task of foal rearing and we had to sit in with her all day and all night until she turned the corner of motherhood and started to feed her new baby on her own. It must have been the coldest night of the week to spend sitting in the corner of the stables and I was glad when the birds started to sing at first light and i knew we had won the first day of life for the little creature. I thought we might call the young filly Lizzie after her grandmother Lizzie (that you may remember died when Sophie was just four months old) It is early days still but the pair have taken a couple of walks around the car park for two mornings and hopefully will be ready to try a small paddock tomorrow - fingers crossed! And Danni is a proud Grand father!

Sophie and her filly foal Lizzie

I though I was winning wonderfully out in the garden until our little side track - hopefully I'll catch up again this week! Still at this time of year I love the cocooning misty mornings that encourage the world into fresh green growth and send the birds into an ecstasy of singing, the sudden summer days of briliant sunshine...

Our entrance at Ednovean Farm on a soft
Cornish morning

The unbelievably verdant green of the fresh new growth of the box
in our sundial garden



The Rosemary by our entrance gate has to be kept in check



Spud sunbathing the other afternoon - does anyone know a source
of la Tienda Paints locally I'd like to re tint the wall?

As i raced about this week i kept noticing a red blob in
the sundial garden and thinking "I must pick up that
piece of paper - closer inspection revealed an
early poppy!

www.ednoveanfarm.co.uk

A glimpse of summer

We glimpsed Summer this morning with warm tranquillity
spreading across the bay

With the departure of the drying East wind and the first soft murmuring of rain the birds who have been silent for so long burst into song filling the air with their celebration of spring and Summer combined. Arid fields of soft brown earth that we have ridden passed each day, have suddenly sprouted a verdant coating of fresh lime green shoots and this weekend we glimpsed Summer for sure.

By Saturday morning the sea was silky smooth and i felt
I could almost touch Newlyn across Mounts Bay

The old pump that guards a water tank has seen many
seasons come and go

The climbing Hydrangea that clings to this side of the house has
started to shoot

The sun on the upper back door that I like to fling open
at Breakfast time on sunny mornings

The statue of Grace and Angel By Annie Henry

I'm still working my way around the garden gathering the detritus of winter and just reorganising a little - I was surprised to win the "debate" to relocate Annie Henry's sculpture to a lower lawn where it forms a pretty centre piece in a sunken lawn surrounded by foliage plants with a pathway threading away deep into the garden.



The Yuckoides is going to give us a surprise
early flower



Charles walking up the centre aisle of the Italian Garden

By Saturday the weathr had given us that rare promise of summer and we spent  a little time in the Italian garden where it is always a few degrees warmer idly listening to the sea in the cove below Perranuthnoe and the village clock counting the hours but I'm ashamed to say I managed to get sun burnt even in April!

That gorgeous blue sky

One of the paths tha encircle the Italian Garden



The Discuss thrower in the Italian Garden



Every path in our garden finishes with a bench

The Palms have done quite well this winter
in the gravelly well drained soil



And so with our little glimpse of summer an unscheduled walk around the garden - I hope that you have enjoyed it and please think of me weeding away in on the light Summer evenings!

A question of good taste or va va voom!

Gardening and decorating are sometimes a balance of good taste or va va voom. This spring it has been a question of  a) should i plant restful, romantic, delicately interesting, planters or opt for b) all out va va voom! Decisions, decision - what would I feel comfortable with to decorate my life, let alone my garden? and so like most people I opted for a compromise a quick fix of fashionable for the short term and a classic combination for the long term.

For the terrace coming towards the front door, I choose a vibrant mix of spring flowers, only partly anchored by the blue repetition of the err vibrant blue Hyacinths and for an urn that we managed to drag back form the Italian Garden in a wheel barrow, where it largely went un noticed, a frothy delicate frou frou Hydrangea redolent of romantic Victoriana.

I must say that I choose my spring pots after looking at the Easter weather forecast to cheer everybody up after the long hard winter and hoped that they would give the added bonus of filling the evening air with the delicate scent of the Hyacinths. Bright and cheerful I left the bulbs in their original little pots and will distribute them in a rather less technicolour order through the garden for next spring, when they have finished flowering. The  urn however was more of a long term plan - i originally made the little alcove nearly twenty years ago in the little sunken courtyard behind the hall and had always planned to put an urn their one day ......and the years passed and occasionally i would look out of the hall and think "yes urn" and then move on but this year the courtyard has acquired a sightly Victorian air  of mossy ferns and draping palms and again my thoughts turned to planting a centre peace to the halls window view. An urn it had to be and finally my eye alighted on an old urn bought from David Lays sales and driven home in the passenger seat of our old Volvo many years ago and voila a more long term fruition of a restful fancy. (Indecently top tip if transporting an urn - don't! or at least don't rely on draping a seat belt around it as it only tightens when you put the brakes on - lesson learnt!)

So there you have it, a compromise of taste and pizazz - great to kick over the boundaries sometimes but nice to come home!

I painted the mock arches on the wall many years ago
(also myself and the dog)

I've tried to make the little space as interesting as
possible with lots of contrasting foliage shapes

The pretty white Hydrangea

Last years tulips that I planted in the car park have done well again
and really do reflect the light
particularly when guests come in after dark

www.ednoveanfarm.co.uk





The last of the sunshine in Marazion

The silent empty beach just before dusk

We went to Marazion the other evening to enjoy the last of the days sunshine overlooking the silent empty beach. How glorious to sit and watch the waves lapping, in that certain sure rhythm of dusk.  A couple of sea gulls idly landed to squabbling on the sea wall but the evening was too warm for them to continue for long and the went back to seas edge to plod quietly up and down in the fashion of a good gull.

The silent sea shore

Tiny figures still walking the causeway to St Micheal's Mount

The tide slowly rolled in making the Mount an
island again



The gently ripple of the waves as Marazion
basks in the last of the evenings sun



And finally the sunset too far to the right for my plans!

Watching a beach at the end of the day always intrigues me:- the couples hand in hand walking the sea shore; the visitors that stop take a quick photo and then drive on; the last straggles walking the ancient causeway to the Mount after supper; the jogger stretching his hamstrings on the sea wall; all to the silent rhythm of the ever moving sea.

Find us at www.ednoveanfarm.co.uk

This morning was too good not to share!

An incredible blue sea this morning looking down into the village

A date palm set against the sea at ednovean farm

Early morning at Ednovean Farm

The ground is so dry after weeks of no rain

I walked up to one of the top fields to look back
at the mount

The fields are seriously dry here now - those cracks are deep

Such a beautiful morning here in Cornwall I couldn't resist taking a few pics although last night I started an early April Garden album now on facebook - sorry picture overload!

Spud, our little elf of a cat made us laugh this mrong by finally mastering how to use the ladders up to the roof in the barn..........of course descending was slightly embarrasing but gernerally "By George he's got it!"

A wonderful sunset and a "no show"

The Apricot room at Ednovean Farm now vacant!

I took a few shots as I had my camera with me ready
for the sunset

A cosy window seat overlooking the fountain

The Apricot room

Sadly our wait for a guests arrival last night didn't materialise and so I took a few photos of her as i returned to switch off the bedside lamps that I had put on to welcome them.........The sunset was fab though!!

A last look out of the kitchen window

The sunset across Mounts Bay from our garden
last night