Time for Tea

This week I have been decorating and making Christmas decorations so I have done very little gardening. We continue to have frosty days and it is now getting dark around 4.30pm, so if it is a grey day we get very little sunlight.

We buy Herdwick lamb from Yew Tree Farm at Rosthwaite in the Lake District. It has an amazing flavour.

A view of the Rosthwaite valley

An old wooden door on a farm building.

How many stories this doorway could tell

I love the cast ironwork at Hexham station. The craftsmanship that went into the building of this station is to be admired.

It looks like the film set for Brief Encounter

These huge rosehips will be a tasty treat for the birds.

Pillar box red hips

Dried calendula petals retain their colour.

These remind me of saffron

We had a heavy frost one morning. It is interesting how it changes the appearance of the flowers.

These spiky teasels with a tinge of frost.

To be admired but not touched as the barbs are very prickly

Alchemillia mollis looks completely different.

The shapes of the petals are emphasised by the frost

Frosted daisy seedheads.

Icy pom poms

Can you guess what plant this is?

Lettuce

Can you guess what this is?

Frosted soil

I have a collection of old teacups.They feature designs from a time gone by when ladies sat down for afternoon tea and cakes.

Time for tea

Anyone for chai?

A coffee can

Can you read tea leaves?

Anyone for sugar?

This amazing sunset was taken from Hartside cafe at the top of the Pennines, on a cold and icy evening. The car park was all frozen when I stepped out of the car to take the photo.

The intensity of colour was wonderful

Miscellaneous Musings

The weather is defiantly colder and we have again had several days of intense frost and lots of rain.

The beauty of a rainbow

The colours soon begin to fade

I planted my soft neck Solent Wight garlic this week. Last year I had an excellent crop with this variety and I have kept one bulb back in case it does not germinate as you can keep on planting garlic until February.

I have found a mouse has been eating the bulbs I planted so I have put netting and an upturned hanging basket over the top of the plant pots.

The ivy on the walls is looking very pretty.

Pincushions of ivy seed heads 

This is a posy I have made with my dried flowers.

Simplistic beauty

I was given these dramatic allium heads by a friend.

Fragile allium heads

A spoke of allium seed heads

I love the negative space within each fir cone.

Zigzag patterned fir cones

Looking through a centenary copy of 'Woman's Weekly' I found these adverts. How times have changed.

Fancy this diet?

Why do I not look this glamorous when I do the housework?

Wow what a hairstyle

Which of these faces represents the man in your life?

Take your pick

These are some of my pottery tiles. I have on the beam of my garden shed.

Inspired by flowers

Flowers and seed heads

Butterflies and flowers

I took this photo of a dramatic sunrise last Friday. The colours in the sky change so quickly within minutes.

Stunning

Snow, Sun and Success

Our first snow arrived on Saturday.The cold weather brings it's own beauty and allows you to view nature from a different perspective.
Driving back from Penrith I had a view of the Lakeland and Pennine hills smothered in snow. The day was bright and sunny so the snow reflected the sunshine.

A view of Blencathra from the road to Plumpton

Looking towards the snow on Cross Fell part of the Pennine range of hills

In my garden the poor bees became frozen and they looked as if they had been sleeping in a freezer.  

A non buzzing bee

Heck I can't see. Am I wearing goggles?

The sculptural shape of plants is enhanced when covered in frost or snow. 

Frozen lollipop shaped flowerheads

I love how the frost enhances the green of the leaves

My yellow hot pokers are now cold and the flowerheads have drooped with the cold weather making the flowerhead upside down.

Topsy turvey frozen yellow pokers

Many trees are decked with masses of berries hopefully supplying a good harvest for the birds this winter. These hawthorn berries looked as though they had been polished as the frost melted.

An abundance of hawthorn berries

The elderberries are still on the trees.They look like black shiny beads.

Shiny clusters of black elderberries

Autumn is the time for dramatic skies.

A moody sky

I look out onto Kirkoswald tower from the Artful Garden. Having finished an afternoon gardening this was my view. I have been clearing the flowerbeds of the annuals and planting bulbs. I have returned home smothered in mud as the ground is very wet, but I have managed to get all my bulbs planted and the flowerbeds cleared. 

Kirkoswald church bell tower at twilight

Now the leaves have fallen from the trees you can see the tree's silhouette. 

Taken at day break over the garden wall

Freezing Frost

The first hoar frost arrived on Monday morning. All the ground was white crystals of frost. This meant that the bedding plants and all fleshy plants like to courgettes went very soft and sqidgy. We have also had a lot of very heavy rain so the ground is extremely wet. I have managed to get a few bulbs planted and I have started to clear the beds of the dead flowers.

Nasturtiums before the frost

A fushia before the frost

On Wednesday I picked my last punnet of Autumn raspberries, they were not very big so I made them into fruit cordial. I have been doing this with the windfall apples.

Fruit Cordial
Originally I followed a recipe but I now wash the fruit for apples cut into quarters (no need to peel or core) add water to cover the fruit and cook until soft. Let the juice drain through a sieve lined with muslin over a large bowl. Put the drained juice into a saucepan add sugar to taste depending on the tartness of the fruit and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Do not let the fruit juice boil.

Meanwhile put some clean sterilised bottles into the oven at 150C to warm. When the juice is ready pour into the screwcap bottles. Sometimes I use a fine strainer to pour the juice through if there is the likelihood a sugar scum. It should keep for several months.

Trollus one of the few flowers to survive the frost.

Golden waxy yellow trollus

This is a dub stone at Melmerby. It was used for the washing of sheep.

A dub stone

A lovely pile of horseshoes outside a former blacksmiths house in Melmerby.

A tangle of horseshoes