English Bluebells

I am sure that everyone was totally entranced by the Royal Wedding on Friday. What a joyous occasion it was and it made me so proud to be British. We certainly put on a very fine show staging these events and the day lived up to all our expectations. Even the weather behaved and the threatened showers never materialised. Kate's dress was inspired, the service and 2 kisses on the balcony sealed the day as one never to forget. The joy on their faces told the world that they really have found a deep love and friendship. It appears the Prince has found his soulmate.

The exceptional warm weather we have recently enjoyed has brought many of our plants into flower weeks earlier than normal. The bluebell is no exception. The native English Bluebell is a favourite of mine and near where we live in Surrey, at Hatchlands Park, is display of bluebells which each year  is quite breathtaking.

Here is the UK we actually have 3 types of Bluebell. Our native English variety, the Spanish and a hybrid of the 2 species. Most people are unaware of the difference but there is quite a lot between them. Our native bluebell tends to grow in woods and not in gardens.

It has flowers only on one side and this gives the graceful curve of the stalk, as shown here.

The Spanish and hybrid varieties are upright, larger and produce flowers all around. I took this photo on the right in my parents' garden.





Next to my dear daffodils nothing epitomises my spring time more than the sight of drifts of bluebells in the woods.

Last week during the Easter holidays my Hb and I paid a visit to the Bluebell wood at Hatchlands Park. Hatchlands is owned by the National Trust. I have visited the house many times so often we just visit the gardens. The wisteria was also out in full bloom.

It was the most glorious day and the house looked more like it does in July and August than at Easter time. Everyone was dressed in their summer clothes and we stopped to have lunch in the courtyard restaurant first.





After lunch we took the walk through the woods

to the Bluebell Wood and the sight did not disappoint us at all.
Ahead of us were drifts upon drifts of bluebells and the air was heavy with their scent......

Everywhere we looked was the thickest carpet of bluebells. The sight was even more beautiful with the sun streaming in through the tree branches. It was nature at it's very best.

I hope you enjoyed coming on my bluebell walk and that you are also enjoying a wonderful weekend. Today is the first day of May and the cold winds of winter seem like a very long time ago. Warm spring sunshine has brought everything to life.

I think that the celebrations on Friday gave me a chance to reflect. Life, despite its peaks and troughs, is good and nature is very generous. There were a few lines in the reading at Kate and William's wedding which I found very moving....

"Let Love be genuine, hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honour."

Powerful words - I wish the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge a long, happy, loving life together.

Bye for now.

Jane x

The Royal Wedding

After a gap of nearly 30 years since his own father married, Prince William is marrying Kate Middleton (or Catherine as she really is) this Friday, 29th April. I remember very vividly the last "big" Royal Wedding with Prince Charles and Diana Spencer as they got married 4 days after I did!. Yes my own wedding was 25th July 1981 and they married on the Wednesday, 29th July. My dear Hb and I were on our honeymoon at the time and all the service, which we watched on the TV in the hotel lounge, was dubbed into Spanish. It was very memorable and very funny.

Without stating the obvious, sadly Charles and Diana's fate seemed sealed from the start. She was the same age as me too (her birthday was 1st July). At the beginning I felt slight pangs of jealously that she had infinite wealth whilst we started our married life in a rented flat with me still a physiotherapy student. Nearly 30 years later I know that I am the one who was truly blessed and I will be celebrating my Pearl Wedding with my darling Hb in July.....sneak peek...we are going on a rather special break for this and I will take the camera with me..!!

I honestly wish this couple the very best. They do seem very suited, they have been together for a very long time now and Kate appears, unlike the poor naive Diana, quite at ease with all that will be expected of her. She also appears to have a man who genuinely loves and respects her.

I do like to buy a little something to commemorate these occasions and you all saw my Cath Kidston Royal Wedding tea towel in another post but here it is again.

But look what I managed to find in good old Mark's and Spencer's...

It's made by a good Staffordshire pottery, I do like to support British firms for this type of souvenir. It has got both their names on and the date of the wedding at the back.

It's also a rather large square cup and is more like a mug size which suits me well.

One other fun thing I bought is the limited edition Oyster card which is being sold just this week. It will join my Tutankhamen one which I showed you all in this post.

We are lucky enough to be celebrating my daughter's future father-in-law's birthday that very day, in the evening. We have also been given a bank holiday here in the UK to enjoy the celebrations.I shall be tuned into the TV in the morning to watch the pomp and ceremony of the Wedding on the TV. We are pretty good at staging these things, I am sure it will be wonderful. I shall drink my tea from my Royal Wedding tea cup and saucer and later we will drive down to Kent to continue with some more celebrating, but of the birthday kind.

I also found this on the front of my favourite tonic to go with my Bombay Sapphire...you know what I shall also be drinking to help with the celebrations!

I hope you all enjoy the wedding too, wherever you are in the world, and I really do wish this couple a happy, long life together. I can heartily recommend marriage. Like William's mother I was a 20 year old in July 1981 taking her first steps with her new husband and it really was the best decision I ever made in my life. I have a feeling they may well be blessed, lets hope so.

Cheers!

Bye for now,

Jane x

Warm Easter wishes

It's that wonderful time of year when we celebrate new life and this year, as Easter is so late, we seem to have been very lucky with the weather here in the UK.
Blossom has bloomed everywhere and there has been real warmth in the sun. It has reached the dizzy heights of 26oc in the afternoons for the last week and it feels like I am on holiday abroad. I finished work yesterday and I am now off for 2 whole weeks. The forecast is that this glorious weather will last all the way through the bank holiday weekend.

My garden has been bursting into flower, I can almost hear my plants growing and the warmth has made everything grow so quickly.

Just  look at my azalea which came into flower this week. It has a beautiful fragrance too.

And the fresh new leaves on my acer ............






and on my hosta (below)

I would  like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to my blogger friend Teje. She had a recent giveaway to celebrate writing her 100th post and I was the lucky winner. Just look what arrived in the post.

She makes beautiful quilts and this is a notebook cover. Please take a look at her blog and say hello. She lives on the sunny island of Crete and is such a creative and kind person.

Thank you Teje (and Nero)











Easter also just has to mean an excuse for lots of this....

and this......

And your children just never get too old for these do they.....

there are lots of goodies inside and every year I still have to put in one of these little cheerful friends.

I have also been making some cards..

Wishing everyone a peaceful, chocoate filled, hopefully sunny, Easter break. I hope to be having lots of garden time and lots of cups of tea outside. I shall be continuing to tidy up my garden. Billy will no doubt be helping....?

Hmmm not sure if that is called helping or sleeping!

It's been just so extraordinarily hot this afternoon that even Billy had to seek shade under my deck chair. It reached 29oc in the sun on my patio!  I  hope the sun is shining on you all too and if not I will blow some of ours your way. I would also like to dedicate this little Easter poem I found, to all of you, my great blogging friends.

Easter needs a garden

Where its peace and joy may grow,

Like daffodils that brightly bloom

Above the melting snow.

So find a little time each day

That you can set apart,

To cultivate some flowers

In the garden of your heart.

And then, throughout the busy days

Your happy heart will sing,

And to the people that you meet

You’ll be a breath of spring

(Anon)

Have a very Happy Easter Everyone, warm wishes to you all.

Bye for now,

Jane x