Wildflowers at Calke

On a second trip out last week, we went to check out Calke Explore - a massive natural children's play-area - with our grandson. Although I joined in the fun and tried (unsuccessfully) to balance on logs, I enjoyed the wildflowers more.

As you turn off the main drive through Calke park, the side road to the Explore car park is lined with masses of ox-eye daisies (see the top pic). Individually they're pretty, but with so many together they're stunning, and it's like driving through a sea of flowers.

I was surprised to find no other visitors at the play area. When I've been previously there have been children scrambling over toppled trees and piles of logs, testing their balancing skills, playing in the house/fort. Finding it so quiet was a little weird but a better environment for a three year old to explore.

From there we headed out into the wider park, walking round Betty's Pond, finding buttercups, dog roses, water lilies and irises along the way, plus a couple of hollow trees to investigate.

Later, up at the main car park, I found more roses and elderflowers flourishing against the blue sky, and deer lazing far off in their section of the park. A good sort of day for June's #30dayswild

 

Looking forward - to Spring and beyond

 Today's the first day of Spring. The sun isn't shining, and to be honest, it's not very warm or spring-like, but the daffodils are flowering and there's a definite feel to the season turning. Meanwhile I'm longing to get out and about, and see somewhere other than my garden.

Since Christmas I've been more or less stuck at home; I've been to collect groceries, and that's about it. The local police have been very strict with their interpretation of lockdown rules, fining people for travelling too far for a walk, so I haven't bothered going beyond the nearby playing fields. 

But ... the stay at home rule ends on March 29th, so, not only can my daughters come round for my birthday in early April (crossing my fingers for a dry day) and I'll be able to visit them somewhere outside, I can go out for a change of scenery. I feel like I have a lot to catch up on from last year!

I've been too sedentary since Christmas so I'm not heading off trekking or mountain climbing but for a quite wander among spring flowers and blossom. Last year I missed out by waiting too long and then feeling I should stay at home when infection rates rose. This year, with the virus hopefully retreating plus my vaccination, I feel less at risk.

Although I have a (long) list of new places I want to visit, I'm going to start with the local and familiar. One of the last places I went just before the lockdown last March was to Shipley to see the daffodils, and it's where I'll start this year. Although I don't think I've ever caught it in full flower, the nearest National Trust property, Kedleston Hall, also has a fine display of daffodils - they've been posting photos of them flowering in the last week or so, and hopefully they'll still be there in a few weeks. 

As spring progresses, I want to spread my wings a little - first to Bow Wood, at Lea Bridge, to see bluebells. It's a regular trip we make to see the hillside covered in a sea of misty blue and something I really missed last year. Then to the other side of the valley to Lea Gardens for their magnificent rhododendrons, and
perhaps finish the day with a walk along Cromford canal. Ina different direction, the woods at Felley Priory will also be filled with bluebells, but I also have an idea about staying in a shepherd's hut surrounded by them, so perhaps a holiday is called for.

A little later, moving into May, wisteria will be flowering at Calke along the kitchen garden walls, and if all's still going well I'd like to head over to Powis Castle for more rhododendrons, and Bodnant Gardens to see their laburnum arch.

Then we'll be moving into summer - time to sit on the terrace above Hopton Hall's rose garden.

Somewhere in between all this, I'll be visiting Chatsworth, which has something for every season, and miles to walk in the gardens alone!

With luck, it's going to be a busy few months.

Hopton Hall Rose Garden

For our 'day out' this week we were heading to Youlgreave to see the well-dressings but, deciding to make a full day, we called in at Hopton Hall on the way there. The gardens there are open at two periods of the year - spring for snowdrops (which we've visited before) and summer when the roses are in bloom (which somehow I've never got round to, till this week)











The rose garden sits on the highest of a series of terraces, boxed around with low hedging, and interspersed with slim, columnar trees, which give the garden year-round interest (even when we visited in spring this area looked charming)






















We started our visit with lunch - if tea and cake can be called lunch - and it was a beautiful day to just sit, relax and admire the garden from the highest point.

















It's a wonderfully relaxing spot, and I could possibly have sat there all day, lulled by sunshine and the scent of the roses, but eventually we forced ourselves to explore further.

The outer wall of the garden is a curving, crinkle-crankle wall with fruit trees trained up it, and herbaceous borders in front.

Judging by my own garden roses and those seen at Locko Hall last weekend, I'd expected all the beds to be in bloom, perhaps even past their best, but they weren't. Flowering seasons are always unpredictable but another year I'll time things a little later just to try to catch the later blooms.

From the rose garden, a path leads to a lower terrace with a broad walk with more mixed borders and roses, then leads through a wooded area to the lake.

Again, a lovely spot to sit, relax, and enjoy the tranquility. I just wish I could buy a season ticket or similar, and return every week.