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.

 

Kedleston Snowdrops

Having visited the winter garden at Dunham Massey, I decided local snowdrops would be flowering too, so the first sunny day we headed to Kedleston Hall to see how things were advancing there.

The path snaking through trees from visitor reception to the Pleasure Grounds was lined with clumps of flowers, and walking across the lawns a bank covered in snowdrops came into view. 

Elsewhere we found a really early flowering rhododendron - now at its pea yet but with its first blooms opening. 

Round on the front parkland, sheep obligingly stood to have their photos taken with the bridge and lakes in the background..

 

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.

 

Snowdrop adventures - Kedleston

The weather at the beginning of February continued mild and occasionally sunny so I thought I'd take the opportunity for another snowdrop adventure. 

This time we headed to Kedleston Hall pleasure grounds where there's a huge bank of snowdrops at the western end of the gardens and others scattered around. They weren't in full flower but still looking better than my garden snowdrops which are always very late. 

The mild weather had also encouraged the first flowers to appear on this rhododendron. It's such a lovely sight this early in the year that I'm surprised it's not positioned more prominently. As it is you need to leave the paths to see it.

The surrounding parkland still looked bleak and wintry but the sun was warm enough for me to sit a little while by the summer house and take in the view.

Heading from the pleasure grounds towards the church, we came across another clump of snowdrops, not quite as far open yet but will look delightful in a couple of weeks.

 

Snowdrop adventures - Calke

I love spotting the first snowdrops - always anxiously watching for the early signs in my garden, and visiting as many local gardens and woodland as possible. A sunny day towards the end of January seemed like an ideal time to head out on the first of hopefully many snowdrop adventures. I wasn't sure how open they'd be yet ( my garden snowdrops are still a way from full flower) but being National Trust members there's no extra charge to go to Calke several times.

As it was, although they weren't at their fullest, there were still a lot of snowdrops to be found - under the trees, in the auricula theatre, on the walk up to the church.

There are just snowdrops to be seen though - the witch hazels were cheering up the woodland walks -

and in front the house was a different sort of attraction - sheep! They're not usually seen here but were doing a good job of keeping the grass mown.

Back at the cafe, with about five minutes to spare before closing, there was tea and cakes, and on the way home an amazing red sunset.