May Endings - Gardens and More

I just happened to look across at my microwave oven one day this week

and realised that it reflected out to the side of my garden

so out came the camera

This is what the oven was reflecting

It has been a very wet week and not a time for being outside

Three days and nights of almost continuious rain and then a thunder storm

with continuing heavy showers

I was glad that I managed to get a day and a half's gardening in before the rain

One minute I was concerned that the garden was drying out and cracking

too early in the season

and then the borders were again under water

It is certainly not easy working on clay soil

but the roses love it

So too wet to go out or garden

but a great opportunity to get on with spring cleaning

It was the back sitting room this time and quite a lengthy task with 400 books to remove from the shelves in this room and 4 pairs of floor length curtains to be washed and ironed due to having wall to wall windows on 2 sides of this room

The previous week we had a long day out where we visited

3 National Trust places in one day

Pushing it a bit I know but 2 were in the same area and 1 was on the way home

I'll be posting on them soon

At present both my children are out of the country

my son in Spain and my daughter in Toronto for work

It must be so hard for Mum's whose children live abroad

So greetings to everyone and I hope you all have a good weekend

Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens Part 3 - The Dolls House

Having toured the beautiful rock garden and then the main gardens and lakes

at Leonardslee

it was time to visit the Dolls House

This exhibition which was called "Beyond the Dolls House"

was more than I could ever have imagined

It is a fascinating display of life at the end of the 19th century

This minature model was created by Helen Holland

and she did it in 10 years

It looked more like a lifetime's work to me

It consisted of a market town and a complete country estate

done on a 1/12th scale

with 140 foot of frontage

I photographed just a part of it

and I do apologise for the quality of the photos

They were all taken through glass and the place was so packed

it was difficult to photograph without being nudged

Do look at the detail

it is amazing and one forgets that this is just a dolls house

with everything in minature and not some large model

A school room



The laundry in the manor

The pantry

The kitchen

The dining room

The library

A smaller house

The Apothecary

The doctors surgery

Gentlemen's outfitters

The music shop

The Photographers studio

The artist

The Tearooms

no different to today

The bakery and cake shop

The greengrocers

The Butchers

see the dog running off with a piece of meat

A family room in one of the smaller houses

The Inn

If you double click you will see the mice on the floor

Are you alright Sir?

Children's outfitters and Haberdashery

Toyshop

Toy Theatres

Church

Farmyard

Afternoon in the park

Formal garden

Tea on the lawn at the Manor House

House and kitchen garden

The Farrier

Ten years - can you believe it

what a talented woman

Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens Part 2

In response to those who queried the pink flower in my last post

It is a Rock Rose

I grew it from a cutting taken from a friend's garden

After 200 years, this garden at Leonardslee is often described as the

"most beautiful landscape garden in Europe in May"

I think I would agree with that.

We saw the rock garden in part 1, but now let's walk through the main garden.

We will walk the many paths that wind around this 200 acres of paradise.We are going to be walking up and down the steep slopes and around the 7 lakes at the bottom.

We will walk the wooded slopes steeped in Azaleas, the Magnolias and Camelias having finished and enjoy the

contrast of the wild Bluebells.

We will not miss the reflections in the lakes,

the Philip Jackson sculptures and the

wallabies brought to the garden 100 years ago as a way of keeping the grass clipped.

The white wallabies are a rare species.

They are moved around the garden as necessary

Have you noticed how often this man appears in my photos!

He's a saint actually to hang around while I do all this photography!

I'm 'stumped'

Beautiful reflection

Behind the scenes

We did take 4 breaks

coffee, lunch, ice-cream and afternoon tea

When we had seen the rock garden and these main gardens there was still the amazing dolls house and the vintage cars

so do come back soon and enjoy