The allotments at Kingston Lacy

It's a bit of an older post today, as you can probably tell my the daffodils in the picture below, and on a bit of a grey day too, which was remarkably like yesterday. It was actually at the end of March - so slightly more excusable for being grey - and is part of our visit to Kingston Lacy while we had that earlier in the year Dorset adventure.  

This was our second visit to Kingston Lacy, but the first time that we really explored the kitchen garden and beyond that, the allotments. I'll share more from the kitchen garden another day, but first to confirm the allotments at Kingston Lacy look very much like other allotments. And dare I say it, a little tidier and easy on the eye than our own site...

It's reassuring though to see similar kit, similar approaches and check to see you're on the right track with our own plot. The compost bins, the ground covered in black plastic were all familiar and reassuring. And so too was this almost sculptural, and yet decaying, artichoke. Striking isn't it? 

Just when we thought it was a normal looking allotment, we spied the chicken wire man tending his plot. 

We admired him and his wooden reindeer-dog and thought it was probably a one off. That was until we saw the boy with his welly boot dog!

Both very different, both with dogs, and both quite un-allotment like, but fun. I'm guessing we stumbled upon the remnants of a "one man and his dog and an allotment" sculpture competition, and was very glad we did.

I'm not sure I'd be quite so resourceful over on our plot, currently my resourcefulness is focuses on practical matters, like growing stuff and preventing the foxes digging it up again, but definitely food for thought, when I've got the basics sorted!

A coastal walk in Swanage

There's something special about your first glimpse of the sea when you arrive in a coastal town isn't there? In our family, even now, there's a rush to exclaim who can "see the sea" first, and on our March trip to Dorset, seeing the sea brought the same feeling of wonderment and I don't think it was any coincidence that a trip to the coast was one of our first outings. And boy, did Swanage deliver. 

We'd arrived in the town by steam train, as you do, and although I'd been to Swanage on an earlier family holiday I had no recollection of the town. I remembered the headland from a more recent visit, but this was also my first steam train ride for quite a while too, but that's for another day.  

The textures of the railings against the sandy sea were mesmerising, but it wasn't all old-fashioned charm. This double row of modern beach huts added pattern and repetition to the front, in a way that more traditional beach huts wouldn't.  

It was March though, and despite being lucky with the weather for the time of year, it was apparent that it was still March. Very few, if any, beach huts were obviously in use, and the beach was pretty empty too.  

Woolly hats rather than flip-flops were the order of the day, ironically much like the weather we're having now. In May. Let's hope the promise of warmer weather plays out, I'm keen to start wearing more summer-y clothes.  

 Leaving the beach behind us, we headed up towards the coastal path and onto Old Harry.  

It wasn't long before I stopped to snap some unusual looking vegetation- I've no idea what it is, and it's most peculiar looking isn't it? 

The yellow flowering gorse bushes framed our view of the sea, offering peeks every now and then. 

And more so, as we looked back over to where we'd started.  

But onwards, and upwards- or rather along, choosing our walking "lane" with care.  

Remember I said it was windy, just look at the daffodils and see how they're coping.  

And then some time to really admire Old Harry and friends, and really why wouldn't you? 

Instead of retracing our steps back to the town, we headed inland along the Purbeck Ridgeway where we learnt about Dorset winds. The wind before had nothing on this new wind, and we battled our way along this exposed path, with people in front and behind clearly as crazy and determined as ourselves. 

My hands remained firmly gloved, and on my scarf, so pictures are few and far between. Heading off of the ridge was very welcome, and once again our views changed.  

Just look at that patchwork of fields... 

A beautiful walk, in a beautiful county but the first cup,of tea back at the cottage was so very welcome! 

Checking out the camellias

On our recent Dorset adventures I was keen to revisit Kingston Lacy and see the garden at a different time of year. I'd hoped that the camellias would be in flower, and I wasn't disappointed. I remembered that this gate would lead me to the camellias, but first we needed to walk through the Lime Avenue which this time was lined with daffodils.

The last time we were here - in 2015 - the lime trees were undergoing some work and the bushyness around the trunks were being cut back, but they were back, so it seems like many gardening jobs it's one that needs to be done, and re-done quite often.

It was a chilly day and our wooly hats were out.

I'd remembered correctly and it wasn't long before we were in the Winter Garden and admiring the camellias.

The plants originate from China and Japan centuries before they were seen in Europe; here in the UK they were first seen in Essex in the 1730s which is quite something isn't it? And the first here were red and white blooms, and by pure coincidence I'm typing this between a red and white flowering bush.

For me camellias are the type of flower you draw as a child, with their petals emanating from the centre. Red, white and pink are typical colourings - we have one of each in our garden - but I was rather taken with this pink version at Kingston Lacy.

The other thing that strikes me about camellias is how they fade; their petals turn brown but often they stay on the bush decaying beautifully. They're definitely an outside plant though, I cut some once to have as cut flowers in the house and within a day all the petals had fallen off.

They do eventually drop, but I think they look just as beautiful on the ground. 

We also saw camellias - both the faded sort and the more colourful versions at Compton Acres, another of the gardens we visited in Dorset.  I'll share more about that garden another time, but if you're in Poole, it's worth a visit and it's always nice to visit an independent garden, as as nice as the National Trust gardens are, at times I think they can feel a bit formulaic and same-y.  That's not to say I don't enjoy them, but at Compton Acres it had a different vibe.

At Kingston Lacy I decided to look closer at some of the fallen flowers, this one was huge - easily bigger than my hand - and had a hole right through the centre where the stem would be. I tried to persuade MOH that it'd make a great adornment for his wooly hat, but he was less sure and having none of it. I've a photo of him looking none too impressed and I'll spare his blushes by not sharing it here, instead just take a look at the flower. I told you it was big...

I was also struck by the different shapes of the flower, this almost triangular, or star-shaped flower just goes to demonstrate my point. It has a more delicate look to it I think and is a delicate blush pink.

The buds of camellias remind me of peonies. All bound up tight in a ball and ready to burst; we saw that at both Kingston Lacy (above) and Compton Acres (below). They're fab aren't they - so much prettiness bound up into such a small and tightly bound sphere.

One of the camellias we saw at Compton Acres in Poole was this red one below, it stood out for its centre. It's quite different to the others we'd seen. The central section has much shorter, almost brush like petals, although I'm not sure if that's the correct name for them. It's just as pretty though isn't it?

And the other thing for me about camellias is how pretty they look on the ground. I was reminded of a walk around Standen a couple of years ago, but instead of a single bloom on the ground, it was more like confetti.

In our garden our red camellia is still flowering, it's still a little shy but I think that's mostly because it's shaded by the fatsia. At the back of the garden our newer, white camellia is also quite shy. The bush is growing and there's been a couple of flowers, but I think its best is still to come, so for me, it was great to see these camellias in full bloom while we were away.

Are your camellias still in flower, and are they as abundant as the ones we saw in Dorset?