September days

A statue in the Italian Garden at Ednovean Farm

Is it my imagination or has a certain peace fallen over the countryside now? The frantic energy of the nesting birds; the voluminous growth of the plants as they approached the time to seed; the scurrying of the animals as they reared their young - all has settled down now, the race has been run and there is a gentle acceptance that that autumn is in the air.

The echiums once so dramatic have faded to elegant whispy spires shedding their seeds for future generation

In our garden I love the mellow look of the final emerging grasses but couldn't resist one final look back to summer in my final August blog post  to celebrate those bright blousy summer days. I took the snap above this morning as I cleared a bedroom terrace of their al fresco breakfast - It must have been wonderfully peaceful to sit and look down over the garde towards St Michaels' Mount and Penzance!

Breakfast on one of our private bedroom terraces
(sorry everthing else had been eaten!)

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

Summer plans and winter jobs in Cornwall

St Michael's Mount at dusk

I think people often wonder what happens in a B&B in winter - do we hibernate to wait for the return of Summer perhaps. Well the answer is  we keep pretty busy - it's amazing how the amount of work expands to fill the space - in the traditional manner.

Here at Ednovean Farm we take the opportunity to start the education of some of the young horses that we have bred, in the quieter winter months.

Charles with Toffee a young Holstein gelding this very wet Sunday

Each week the young horses learn to perform more tasks and gain in strength and suppleness, until eventually they will be ready to ride.....with negotiation of course!

Magic one of  our spanish stallion Danilon's sons

Occasionally we venture away from the farm - My husband Charles surprised me with supper at our local pub the other night - it could have been because I offered to make my "Famous beef casserole" of course!!

We we walked down across the fields in the twilight to the Victoria Inn down in the Perranuthnoe and spent the evening tucked up beside the log burning stove enjoying a delicious supper by candle light. As we walked home again in the darkness, under a velvety black sky studded with stars, I thought how  strange it was that our feet could feel the well trodden grove of the footpath in the darkness from the passage of feet, over the year by some inner instinct. I stopped at the top of the hill to admire the ring of lights around Mounts Bay a saw the moon on its back above St Michael's Mount.

Supper at the Victoria inn

Still my thoughts have started to turn towards summer accommodation and this week I put together a blog for my guests to help them plan their days out. I spent quite a few evening
researching some of the dates ( about which I must admit to having a hopeless memory!) and turned up some surprising facts - Penzance was raided by the Spanish who burnt most of the Medieval houses before holding a mass and setting sail again or that Turkish pirates were still capturing slaves as late as the 17c. Dear, dear, what a wild and dangerous place it was. if you would like to check out my first suggestions for a visit to Cornwall, try my Penwith Tour Part one!

St Michael's Mount - one of the first stops on my tour it has been in turn a place
of pilgrimage, an Abbey, a fortress and a home

Valentines and birdsong

Ednovean Farm's own Spud and Louis

As Valentines day speeds towards us again, there has been a subtle change of atmosphere in the garden. The joyous sound of birdsong fills our days  and I suddenly realised how much I had missed it in the long winter months. Of course it was Valentines day when the birds were said to choose their mates and the Ednovean Farm ones are definitely singing their courtship songs just recently!

The bright days of warm sunshine temps the cats outside again, to preen and pose in sheltered corners of the courtyard gardens. The odd couple of toms find a mutual interest, in lapping up the spring warmth; the plump white hedgerow cat and the aristocratic burmese have but a single joy in worshiping the sun, in quiet harmony together, despite their disparate backgrounds. Spud would point out this is a purely platonic friendship to his fans!

Spud-Cat a confirmed sun worshiper 

I set off today to secure those elusive red roses for my B&B guests coming for the Valentines weekend.  Experience over the years has taught me to expect  a dearth of reasonable priced flowers nearer to the time and today I added a pack of heart shaped confetti to the trolley just for fun. I have some idea of scattering it around the vases of flowers - not to OTT I hope for my guests...... After all it is Valentines and I want to bring out the full romance of the occasion for them!

Just a quick update!! A very happy Valentines day now out in my latest post. I hope you enjoy it - of course Spud-Cat will think it was all his own work!

To read more about the quiet days of anticipation try  "Enjoying winter days" at Ednovean Farm

Spring sunshine and a walk around the garden

The Parterre in the courtyard at Ednovean Farm, Perranuthnoe

The sweet scent of the violets that grow tucked under  the bank of the little lane that leads to our home wafted up to my as I rode home on Danni yesterday and I knew that the promise of Spring was becoming reality. As the day went on it was far too nice to stay inside and I amused myself instead, by taking some pictures of our courtyard where the shadows hung lush and green and the sunshine gently warmed me. Ollie found a suitable haunt on the granite seat that is set as a viewing spot for the courtyard and settled down to warm himself as he supervised my efforts.

Ollie Cat enjoying his favourite granite bench in the spring sunshine

I've stopped seeing that stray solar light - until now that is!

Before long i left the embrace of the courtyard and went out through the gate into the wider garden

The light isn't right to take a photo of the Mount
in the afternoon but still...The courtyard
give way to the sweep of the lawns

stopping to admire the spring Daffodils and the vibrant Tulips that had somehow lept into my shopping basket in the supermarket....Moi???

Spring bulbs below the terrace

The grandly named South Walk because everybody needs a bit of theatre has had a broad path mown in it towards our memory stone that marks the place of so many of our departed pets is flamboyant now with a curtain of Daffodils of course that flatter the old stone gatepost into thinking it may be a sculpture at the end of the vista. I'll set the benches back out so that our guests can admire the sun setting behind the St Micheal's Mount as the season goes on.

A long path cut through the grass in a wilder part of the
garden

I have started some more serious work in the garden this week though shaping the box that forms a rhythmical planting up to our entrance gate - i read somewhere that is is OK to shape box then and really we are a tad busy for it in the middle of the summer season and I wanted the entrance to look smart and welcoming.  But really it has been a lovely weekend for enjoying the spring sunshine!

Our entrance now with neatly shaped box

Beautiful lichen on one of our saddle stones in the car park

I'll leave you with St Micheal's Mount beautiful as always floating beyond the garden and always best photographed in the morning - have a good week.

St Micheal's Mount seen through the sheltering palms
of Ednovean Farm