Contemplating the Year

Earlier this week I was chatting to a couple who are about to embark on the renovation of an old farmhouse and they are contemplating the building of a walled garden, so that the outside as well as the inside, is in keeping with the original period of the house.

They are not sure if they will gain planning permission, but I hope they do as I know better than most what a special place a walled garden can be.

The conversation gets me contemplating too - but for me it is the changes I have seen occurring since I commenced this blog at the beginning of the gardening year that I dwell upon.

As a result, I start looking back at my photographs and marvel at how the garden has changed over the course of the year.

The apple trees in the orchard watched as the spring brought a profusion of early flowers and herbs, the boughs draped in colour during the Easter Fair ...

and now they quietly scatter their leaves as the last of the autumn shades fade.

The gate that leads to the bottom orchard and the bee hives has witnessed the preparation of the beds and the building of twig and twine trellising for beans and fruit.

There have been celebrations here in the sunshine, and towards the end of the summer the gate marked the entrance to a wedding marquee that was erected in the lower garden.

Lanterns were hung from the apple trees and the tables were decorated with summer flowers, some of which had been cut from the garden.

Now the path to the gate is cold and damp under foot and the garden leading down to it has been put to bed for the winter.

I turn instead to the Potting Shed cafe and kitchen shop.

We have decided rather than face the crush of Christmas shopping in Bath, we would be much better off shopping locally and what better place to start making the shopping list than over breakfast by the log burner at Pythouse House Garden.

Who would argue with me?!