Jean and Fiona, two of our wonderful part time gardeners, did sterling work, in freezing cold weather, putting up a temporary greenhouse to house our tender plants made homeless by the storm. Michael came in to do the final tightening of the nuts.
The winds have blown the rain and clouds away bringing the most beautiful sunny days but also the frost. It left the garden looking beautiful, shining and crisp.
The frost has not stopped the grounds starting to burst into flower. As you walk through the gardens the scent from the box, mahonia and Wyche Hazel stops you in your tracks.
We spent a couple of days tying down everything outside in preparation for the latest storm but all to no avail! Our greenhouse has warped, snapped and lost most of it’s glass! We managed to rescue the plants and find temporary warm spaces for them ready for the frost this weekend so hopefully our geraniums etc will all be ok for this summer’s weddings.
Our first snowdrops are out down the drive. Such mild, if wet and windy, weather unlike the frosts of December. Frosty pictures taken by Fiona, one of our wonderful gardeners who swung into action with her camera when she arrived for work and saw how beautiful everything looked.
Almost a year since I added something to the blog - many apologies - bad year personally but a wonderful year of weddings as our Blog Weddings 2019 show.
Christmas was wonderful - mad as you would expect but perfect. The hall really responded to the new colour which was completed just before and will be great for photographs this year. Dennis Crane, our wonderful builder managed to paint it all without scaffolding which was amazing. (See photographs below for his details) To further improve the hall, we managed to buy a magnificent lantern in a sale in Bridport - Busby and Co - https://www.busby.co.uk. This was installed by our equally wonderful electrician Matthew Pearce - sparkymatt@hotmail.co.uk - who had to climb through tiny tunnels under the eaves to re-wire.
I love decorating the house for Christmas and this year even the doll’s house had it’s Christmas tree and stockings, carrot and mince pies put out for Father Christmas! The Christmas tree was enormous and had to have 4 ft cut off to fit inside. It came from our favourite Nursery Garden in Child Okeford, Oasis Plant Centre, with a crop of long fir cones which I have never seen before - 01258-861-325
Hate the decorations all coming down but excited about getting the gardens ready for our first wedding in May!
Beautiful and but extremely cold - especially with no heating as the oil had run out!
Twelfth Night and the decorations come down, always a sad day especially after the magical week of Christmas and New Year.
Can we wish all our couples past and future a very Happy 2019.
We celebrated by first going to a lovely service in St Catherine’s Chapel at Abbotsbury which sits silhouetted on the hill above the village. The church has no lighting so torches were vital but it adds to the wonderful atmosphere and the walk back down the hill to the village is magical.
Belated Happy Christmas to you all.
Christmas once again brought the garden indoors with Allium heads sprayed red up the stairs and Honesty seeds in the drawing room.
We had cut some of the magnificent crop of holly berries in November and their red and green hue was echoed in the dining room decorations.
Our beautiful Christmas tree came from our favourite local Nursery Garden, conveniently situated over the river in Child Okeford. Oasis Plant Centre comes to our rescue many times a year, always having the perfect plant for a bare patch in the borders - 01258-861-325 - and there is the additional joy of finding Peake Perennials on the same site - Tel: 07708 872918 - who have some very specialist plants.
We returned from Cornwall to find the storm over the weekend had flooded the cellar, the boiler was out and one of our new olive trees had blown over.
However, the wonderful Autumn colours that had come to life since we left compensated for everything.
First serious frost but all safely gathered in. So beautiful as the sun rose.
And then when the sun came up and melted some of the frost on the lawns.
The most incredible sunset lit up the sky last week - sadly the ipad did not pick up the intensity of the red but still very beautiful and a sign of the sunny day to follow.
Frantic work on Friday to get all the tender plants into the greenhouse before the first frost of the season.
Rushed in from the garden to take photographs of the most incredible double rainbow. Sadly could not get the whole arc in one shot.
Edging the rose beds, I suddenly noticed the most beautiful rainbow glistening in the dew on the grass.
Our Bramley apple tree was laden this year. We were able to send some to the Food Bank, local Children’s Centre and the United Churches in Blandford who cook free lunches during half term and holidays as well as giving them to friends and storing some for ourselves!
Plus we had enough to make apple juice at our village pressing session when a lovely lady opens her house and equipment to anyone with apples to press. It results in many bottles of delicious juice, much stickiness and much fun.
Pumpkins of every size and shape coming in to be stored for the winter with the added bonus of some edible lawyer’s wigs amongst them.
We have had our last wedding of the year - an incredible Steam Fair Wedding - story about to be posted.
Now the garden needs to be put to bed, with Jean and George our wonderful gardeners working really hard - roses pruned, long grass cut and fragile plants taken in to safety before the first frosts.
The garden continues to grow with the yuccas outside the stables sending up the most amazing flowers.
The spiders have also been busy! Their webs are so beautiful with the sun on the early morning dew.
We went to the Cheese Festival last weekend - masses of wonderful cheeses and food but also three suppliers who we felt we would add to our Website.
The wonderful strains of 50’s and 60’s music drew us across the site to find Chrystal Ship playing. We sat in the sun for some time listening to the band and their new singing Patsy perform.
Two caterers might be of interest too. A Pizza provider whose ovens are able to come onto the lawns - Dorset Pizza Kitchen - www.dorsetpizzakitchen.co.uk - and a gelato icecream bicycle machine selling declicious ices and sorbets from cones or tubs - info@ecco-gelato.co.uk/01935-813659
Katrina was married here in 2015 - a truly wonderful wedding and Katrina organised so much herself and even made her own wedding cake. She has now set up her own cake business and I would really recommend it as her wedding cake was delicious.
Her passion is to produce hand made, bespoke wedding cakes using local and organic ingredients from Dorset based suppliers, for example her flour comes from the wonderful Stoate & Sons @ Shaftsbury flour mill, the butter & cream from Craig's Farm Dairy, Weymouth & the eggs from her very own free range chickens.
