Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
On leaving the house, I usually glance up at Darwen moor to get an idea of what weather is heading our way. Last week, to my surprise, the trees below Darwen Tower were standing out white with hoar frost against the darker moorland. Intrigued, we changed our plans and made our way up the hill so we could witness the effect up close. Continue reading “Walking a Wintry Darwen Moor Through Hoar Frosted Birch Trees”
Regular readers may remember that I’ve mentioned a fairy path that tracks a leat draining the meadow above the southern edge of Sunnyhurst Wood in Darwen. Oak, chestnut, birch, beech, sycamore, ash, holly and elder are scattered among tall evergreens. Somewhere between a park and a wood, it is laced with main paths that run down to Sunnyhurst stream at the bottom of the valley. This isn’t one of them. Continue reading “On The Fairy Path”
We recently visited Memphis for one of the most eagerly anticipated gardening events in the American South: two days where 90 or so private gardens in the historic Cooper-Young district of Memphis throw open their gates to band-wearing members of the public.
While a suggested route took in many of the highlights, as first-timers, we decided to explore each quadrant as fully as we could. That’s not a light undertaking – Cooper-Young claims to host the largest garden walk in the Mid-South. If there’s one with a better mix of gardens of all styles and skill levels, or a more welcoming one, I want to see it. Continue reading “Cooper-Young Annual Garden Walk, 2022, Memphis, Tennessee”
Only last week I was bemoaning the lack of a Tardis to transport me to a snow-covered Bodnant Garden, near Tal-y-Cafn, Conwy, Wales. The universe did not send me a Tardis, but it did the next best thing. A friend asked us to check out the place his family came from – Dolgellau – and Bodnant just happened to be on our way home.
While the snow in the garden had long gone, heavy white shawls on the Snowdonia mountain range opposite gave Bodnant a wintry feeling. The 130 acres of garden give plenty of scope for walking: you really need some form of season ticket* to make the most of it all. Continue reading “Winter Walk Around Bodnant Garden in Wales”
Susan Rushton 