October in Cornwall

Looking back along the coastal footpath towards Perranuthnoe and Penzance
with the magical St Michael's Mount

What did we do this October in Cornwall? Well we've been busy running our B&B of course but we have managed to squeeze in a few visits so special places around Penzance with the aid of Lucy land rover.

This year I had a yen to see the vibrantly coloured heathlands around the coast and no, it was nothing to do with the Poldark film crew working around West Penwith! Charles wanted to revisit a Boscawen Un Stone circle  and Carn Euny ancient village and with summer slowly slipping aways we added a couple of afternoons on the beach for good measure.

Of course we've been busy here in the Ednovean Farm gardens and I took lots of photos for my  September and October garden blogs as summer turned slowly to autumn in Cornwall

Looking out to sea at sunset from the Ednovean farm gardens

Find the new Ednovean Diary

Sunset behind our courtyard garden

Don't forget that the main Ednovean farm diary has moved now but you can catch still up with all of our news here   What a summer we have had and did you spot our garden in the September issue of Homes and Gardens? We've only managed a couple of walks along the coast this summer from here as we have been so busy with the B&B

A view to St Michael's Mount from the coastal footpath

and finally a special birthday treat a picnic on a secluded
cove

So don't forget to pop by the blog and catch up with our news from Cornwall!

By for now!

The light step of summer

Breakfast in the Garden

Summer has arrive with a light step - still a little chillier than normal but welcome none the less!

Spring in Cornwall has seemed to speed passed this year, yet with the little markers of the season arriving right on cue.  The migrating House Martins that make a home in the stables eaves returned to spend their days swooping a diving over the pastures and expertly re plassering their nests. The first cheeping of young chicks from under the house roof from the nesting   House Sparrows that make a clamour in the courtyard in the mornings. And one day I looked around from my busy daily routine and realised it was Summer!

This year we have reached another milestone at Ednovean Farm with Twenty four years as a Bed and Breakfast I don't know where those days went either of course - maybe I'm not paying attention! Still we were just as delighted as we would have been when we first started to have reached the final twelve in the Dorset Cereal's B&B competition - we'd love you to vote for us of course!!

Breakfast waiting for our guests - we're proud to have reached the final twelve
 in this months Dorset Cereal's B&B awards

The Garden has flourished after the mild winter and you can read about its progress in my April blog Spring in the Ednovean Farm Garden and the final flourish of  May in the Ednovean Farm Garden. June is still full of promise with the Agapanthus about to open and i have been working on a new border but that news will have to wait until my June roundup to tell you about it!

Louis-Cat has selected his spot for the Summer in a sunny border

Spring in Daffodils

Mixed species of Daffodils frame an old granite gatepost at the end of a vista

Spring to me means daffodils, those impossibly bright flowers that appear as if by magic each year after the long winter days As the weeks have gone by the drifts of spring daffodils have unfurled across the garden threading like  a  coloured ribbon amongst the palms and framing the marker stones at the end of walks.

This week in the garden I  spent some time raking up the palm frond that had fallen in the overnight gales accompanied by the ever present Spud Cat of course. He's always a great diversion from any repetitive jobs in the garden, racing around the palms and occasionally shining up the trunks to look down at me triumphantly from his lofty perch. i can almost hear him saying "Cats rule OK!" This week he found the new shoots of the catmint just above the soil - well all I can say is "My name is Spud and I'm a catnip-o-holic!"

I'll leave you with a photo I took this morning looking down through the courtyard to the sea from our home at Ednovean Farm  as spring gathers momentum.

The courtyard garden in front of our home opens to the
sweep of the main lawn fringed by palm trees - that's
St Michael's Mount beyond

Spud Cat Esq gardening cat extraordinary

Click here for more blog post about Ednovean Farm

Fantastic day

We woke up to a fabulous morning today in Cornwall, clear but chilly with a paper blue sky I climbed the steps to take this view, looking down on our courtyard with the froth of Date palms with the sweep of Mounts Bay with St Micheal's Mount beyond. It is the first view that our guest to Ednovean Farm have as they park their cars half concealed and yet enticing the visitor to enter. A gateway down to the gardens that pace the adventure, leading onwards, sheltering and revealing always the same and yet always different - today well today was a show off day of bright sunshine on sparkling leaves and tomorrow? - well the clear skies will bring the frost for sure - I've covered up a few of the Agaves and am like many travellers "travelling in hope!"

The view from the car park down over the courtyard and out across Mounts Bay and St Micheal's Mount

What is happening in the February Garden?

The fountain that is the centre of our courtyard in what was the old farmyard



The lady of the fountain, the gentle water music that starts the morning here



Leaving the courtyard through the gate we had especially made for it

The first shoots of the Cardoons



I found the Rosemary flowering in the gravel border



The acid green Euphorbia is a welcome flower at this time of year

The Aloes are surprisingly hardy

The emerging day lilies and bulbs

Looking back into the courtyard full of secret corners

The sturdy reclaimed granite pieces that frame the Parterre

A terracotta head, a present nearly twenty years ago has acquired the patina of time

A little hidden corner behind the house - home to the washing line!

A quick glimse at the garden

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!

This September

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

June

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