But I'm proud of it anyway!

When Alicia suggested dividing the plot into rooms that's exactly what she meant, so I'm posting some more pictures of the rooms because I think they are really great. This first one is immediately outside our kitchen window. We thought the statue of the black cat might put the birds off but in fact it has the oppsite effect. They even sit on its head and do nasty things to it. Mind you Daisy, one of our own cats, views it with considerable suspicion.
You'll notice another 'room' beyond this with a copse of trees and shrubs. These surround and effectively obscure one of the most interesting features in our garden..... the septic tank!!

What we call our 'Circular Room' and in many ways Alicia's favourite. The red bed in the centre is currently filled with red crocosmia and in summer really hits you between the eyes.

This is the main lawn area to the rear of the house. Alicia is the one with green fingers who plans and looks after all the borders. Me? ....... I cut the grass and sweep up the leaves!!

Another view of the lawn just to prove that my area of expertise is just as important as the flower beds! With all the rain we've had this summer the lawns are pretty waterlogged but dry out quickly is we get a couple of dry days..... thank god!!

Giverny it ain't!

When Alicia and I bought the house here in Ballagh we also bought with it an interesting prospect of garden. Actually a more fitting description might be scrubland… two thirds of an acre of it! We were told that the previous owner, an elderly lady, had a habit of ridging the area for potatoes in the spring then levelling it again in the autumn. She had left the house three years earlier leaving it fallow and still ridged. Meadow grass can grow quite tall if left uncut for 3 years.
First thing I did was innocently set out to pace the limits of my holding. I got about 20 yards before falling flat on my face and nearly breaking both legs in the gullies between the ridges.
The next thing we did was organize a guy with a JCB to come in and level the whole thing so we could start out with a blank canvas as it were. (Always a good artistic principle that.)
It was then we realised what a garden extending to two thirds of an acre actually looks like. My initial reaction was to wonder how much it would cost to concrete the whole thing and have done with it but then Alicia, who is brilliant with anything in the horticultural line said, “ Divide it into rooms….” Which is what in the years since we have done.
At first it didn’t look like much.

Just a flat expanse of grass, a couple of poly tunnels, and a greenhouse, which we subsequently watched from our kitchen window as it lifted in a storm moved four feet to the left, then collapsed in a heap of tangled steel and broken glass. But now… well it may not be Giverney but I reckon it’s as good as any other artists garden.
On warm summer days, and yes we do have them even here in Ireland, its great to step out into, lose myself in the peace, colours and paint wherever my brushes lead me!

Been away

Alicia and I have been to Oxford in the U.K on a short holiday. We first went there when we were running the Hall and enjoyed it, so we decided to pay a return visit. We crossed on the boat from Dublin to Holyhead, stayed a night in Bangor and then drove through Snowdonia on the A5 to Shrewsbury. Then by motorway to Worcester, and through Evesham and Broadway, where we lived for a year after the Hall closed, to Oxford through the north Cotswolds. A long drive but really enjoyable because of the autumn colours in the trees.
It was almost like New England in the fall and due, so the experts tell us, to the unusual weather we’ve been having. Freak or not, it should be enjoyed for what it is; natures palette at its best!
For years now we have been staying in Travelodges, and did so this time, but we’ve rarely encountered so many accommodation problems on any one trip. If it wasn’t curtains failing to close, broken showerheads, and beds collapsing when we lay on them, it was burst water mains meaning no water even for a drink, and taps that refused to turn on even when water tankers delivered fluid into the pipes. I think Travelodge should pay us an annual stipend to keep away from their lodges. Our vibes are obviously alien to that enterprise!
We’ve decided that Oxford is one of our favourite places. And so easy to get around. A great testimony to the effectiveness of Park and Ride systems, (why can’t we have something like that in Dublin?) Even in the rush hour the only real danger on the roads is that you’re going to collide with a student on a pedal cycle. And the buildings, Lovely cream stone, turrets, pepper pot towers, and lovely little shops. And quiet university Closes you can stroll around at your ease and leisure while entertaining lofty thoughts. No wonder everyone talks about ‘the dreaming spires of Oxford,’ it’s beautiful.
Typically, for me at least, I forgot my camera so I’m afraid no piccys to remind me what it was like. But at least that gives us a good reason to revisit the place doesn‘t it?