ALLOTMENTS: BEDS READY FOR INSPECTION

ON THE ALLOTMENTS: APPLE PIE ORDER

By the end of last weekend many more allotment beds were showing a fine tilth and had been planted or were soon to be.

On one particular part of the Allotments everything was very much in apple pie order, complete with apple blossom! All of this reminded me of the lengths to which we would go at school to make our beds and other tidying to ensure we would have a fighting chance of winning the Dormitory Trophy.

A tidy (seed) bed is a happy seedbed.

RETURN TO HEDSOR

A breathtaking view across the Thames Valley and on to Chilterns

The other day I cycled back up to Hedsor Church.  

There is a breath taking view from the churchyard Southwest ‘ish.  Chris and I had cycled up there in January >> http://bit.ly/1FHTuEb and I was keen to compare and contrast the landscape.

Somewhere down there was the Thames and to my left Winter Hill which falls away to the river and Cookham Village, birthplace of Stanley Spencer. Most of his works portray village life in Cookham and the landscape here.  This reminded me, the small yet perfectly formed Stanley Spencer Gallery http://www.stanleyspencer.org.uk has some new pieces of work on show – I must scuttle along to see them.

January 2015 

CHRISTINE AND CLIVEDEN

Downstream of Cookham we moored below the woods beneath Cliveden House

It was the first of the Thames cruises on the MV Cantara of Dart with Skipper Derek and first mate Sarah-Jane. 

A lovely late April Friday and we motored downstream through Marlow and Cookham. Lock keepers were cheerful and hard at work on their gardens.

 Downstream of Cookham we moored below the woods beneath Cliveden House, former Astor home and now were the super-rich go for play dates. 

On board we enjoyed a super lunch and a walk in the woods.

As I looked up at Cliveden my mind wandered back to the Profumo affair in the early ‘60’s of which I kept a scrapbook much to my Grandmother’s annoyance.

Cliveden House’s website >> http://bit.ly/1GROtum paints a colourful picture:

'The year was 1961. While the Cold War was slowly chilling British politics, Cliveden House was consumed in a sultry summer of sweltering heat. Cooling off in the now famous outdoor pool was Christine Keeler, a nineteen-year-old rumoured mistress of a suspected Russian spy.

The web site continues:

'Profumo and Keeler embarked on an illicit affair following their chance meeting at Cliveden House; an affair which was to force his resignation, irrevocably damage the Prime Minister's reputation, and impact on the course of British politics forever'.

Fun on the River forever!

THE BATTLEFIELDS OF WEST BERKSHIRE

For the last 20 or so years I’ve enjoyed many cycling jaunts with my friend and former Judge Ricardo. The other week saw us in the Lambourne area. Lambourne village is the epicenter of fantastic downland area bi-sected by the M4 west of Reading.

Tiny villages nestle in rich pastures providing fodder to breed racehorses.

It was a lovely day. After an uphill road out of West Ilsley village and we rested, for me to make a drawing and for Ricardo to take a small nap.

West Berkshire Downland  

After the ride doing a little bit of research I realise that we were cycling through the battlefields.  

The name Ilsley appears to be derived from Hilde-Laege meaning 'Place of Conflict'. One of the villages (West or East) bearing this name is thought to be the site of the Battle of Ashdown (AD 871), which is known to have taken place on the Downs. It was here that Prince (later King) Alfred won his magnificent victory over the invading Danish armies.  

Source: http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/westilsley.html

Thinking about this, it is not difficult to imagine the military hoards charging down these now peaceful slopes.

THE GREAT CHILTERNS ANNUAL FLOWER SHOW

THE GREAT CHILTERNS ANNUAL FLOWER SHOW

The other evening some friends brought a wonderful posy of flowers collected from the local playing field. 

The language of the Chiltern Landscape 

In April and May The Chilterns is a Flower Show of some 300 square miles.

On the downlands we have grasses and an  abundance of herbs: horseshoe vetch, rockrose and dwarf thistle as well as scarce plants like Bastard toadflax and Chalk Milkwort.

In fields there is Eyebright, Wild strawberry and the rare Candytuft, and where grazing is less intense Sheep's fescue and broad-leaved herbs including rockrose, Purging flax, Salad burnet, Dropwort, Ploughman's spikenard, clustered bellflower and wild thyme.

Look carefully for Chiltern gentian with its bright purple petals, prettiest of the gentians and rarest in the UK.  And along our lanes and hedge banks often support species such as spindle, dogwood, wild privet, hazel and field maple.

The language of flowers is the language of our landscape in the Chilterns.

A CHAOS FOR CANES

Life on the Allotment

Canes every where 

A lovely day on the allotment (for drawing) using Sian’s kneeler the wrong way up provided the perfect sketching stool. 

The Allotment plot(s) are definitely thickening; several now sport elegant potato trenches. And there are onions everywhere.

Sian has removed her mypex duvets from her plot and is hoeing for England (prior to Digging for Victory).

Proud Onions Set Fair

Notwithstanding a thinly obsession with my own verbal excesses ‘a chaos of canes’ came to mind as I surveyed the scene.  A chaos of canes is surely right up there with a tok of capercaillies and a kindle of leverets.  Unfortunately I have yet to discover how one registers a new collective noun.