January

The year started with cold crisp weather; a bit too cold and potentially slippery underfoot for venturing outside so an excellent reason to stay indoors. We didn't get the heavy snow of other places but enough fell, just into the second week, to change the world to somewhere magical where wild beasts prowl the pavements, and, more prosaically, to  block our drive and make getting the car out impossible. 

Then it suddenly faded away over night leaving the est of the month dull and dreary. We've thankfully had no dramatic deluges of rain but I feel it's been one of the most relentlessly damp winters I've known.

To cheer things up, I'd set hyacinth bulbs in December and now they were beginning to flower plus I treated myself to a bunch cheap supermarket daffodils, both welcome precursors of Spring flowers in the garden. 

To occupy me, I started the first of my Christmas present craft kits, three trolls/gnomes off on an adventure. This was an excellent project for short winter days as it mainly involved a little crafting followed by a longer period waiting for glue to dry

Then, while the rain continued to fall, I completed another Christmas present - a jigsaw representing plants from around the world.

As the month wore on, I thought I ought to make an effort to get back to a normal rhythm and undertake something a little more practical, checking my 'to-do' list and turning frozen tomatoes into passata, and pickling the 15p red cabbage left over from Christmas.

Towards the end of the month, things suddenly became busier. We headed up to Manchester to join my younger daughter and her fiance at the Bengali Sri Sri Saraswati celebration, and the next day (fortunately dry) visited Dunham Massey's Winter Garden.

Back home, seizing another dry day, we went out to Kedleston Hall to see more snowdrops in flower, I went out for tea and gossip with a neighbour, and by the end of the month I spotted crocus on one of my late afternoon local walks.

Spring is coming! .Days are noticeably longer and, with luck, the rain will eventually stop.

 

Dunham Massey winter garden

It's odd perhaps to think of  garden as a place to visit in winter, but Dunham Massey is one of those lucky places that have flowers, shrubs, and trees planted to look good in what you might consider a 'dead season'.

There are snowdrops, of course, hellebores, and aconites but also early flowering daffodils (though these were a little too far from the path to photograph with my phone).

Some of the trees have been deliberately picked for the appearance of their bark - cherry and dogwoods. 

There are scented shrubs like daphne and witch hazel, splendidly flowering camellias on the brink of breaking into blossom, and striking heads of hydrangeas.

All in all a lovely place to spend a (fortunately dry) January afternoon.

 

Dunham Massey

A trip north to visit my daughter was the perfect excuse to nip into Dunham Massey gardens. They're lovely at any time of year and the end of October brought a mix of autumnal leaves and summer flowers hanging on despite falling temperatures.

 

Dunham Massey - autumn and getting ready for Christmas

A recent overnight visit to my daughter in Manchester gave me the opportunity to call in at Dunham Massey on my (not very direct) way home. I've been here in spring and summer but this was my first visit in autumn.

 For November, it was a glorious day, warm enough for sitting in the sun and only a cardigan needed to keep off any chill.

The flowers were mainly over, and some of the trees were starting to look a little bare, but as I expected there were still things to see - berries, the startling white trunks of silver birch, leaves of yellow or bright red, and a few flowers still hanging on.

What I hadn't expected to see was preparations for the Christmas lights events underway. I suppose they have to be put up by someone at some time, but I'd sort of imagined they went up by magic (or Santa's elves) overnight. It certainly gave some idea of the extent of planned illuminations - paths lined with candy canes and gingerbreadmen, a glade filled with snowdrops, nutcracker toy soldiers, archways of stars, and a pair of gigantic deer leading the way to a fairground. I'd love to be able to organise a trip back north to see them. Maybe next year ...