Photos from the Jazz

Rob Coles, photographer extraordinaire, has sent through these images from last weekend's jazz events.  We particularly liked the image of the umbrellas, above.

Above: Anna, front of house manager, radio in one hand, phone in the other.

Below: Jim Hart mesmerises with his vibraphone

 Above: not to be deterred by the rain, the plucky English take to an old oak tree for shelter

Below: Tina May wows the audience 

 

 Above: Digby Fairweather

Below: Digby Fairweather's Half Dozen

Below: yours truly preparing oil lamps with JH to light to route to the carpark.

All images copyright Robert Coles

A post for the mottephiliacs amongst you

Today there was a flurry of excitement (which, considering how busy the day was, was an achievement in relative terms) when a garden visitor was quite sure that he had spotted a rare tiger moth flittering and fluttering against the window of the manor front door.

He said, if I recall correctly, that it was a scarlet tiger moth.  Upon examination of the wonderful www.ukmoths.org.uk we have concluded that the identification was accurate, although we aren't sure of quite how rare it is.

This all bodes well for Iford's wildlife day on July 3rd this year, when Butterfly Conservation and the RSPB will be joining us, sponsored by the NFU Mutual, from 12 - 5pm.  These days are great fun for parents and children alike, are free to attend, and a really brilliant addition to the start of the summer holidays with face-painting, photo competitions, butterfly walks around the valley and such like.

The tearoom will be open from 12pm on that day, serving a range of homemade cakes, cream teas, ice creams and such like and the garden will be open as usual from 2 - 5pm - entry to the wildlife day, though, is free for all.

Have a look at the post from last year's butterfly day, and then cross your fingers for good weather.

And what of that beautiful moth?  We opened the door and released it onto a rosemary bush.

Slightly surreal goings on...

June is a very busy month.  Not only is it one of the most popular for garden group visits, requiring tea and cakes/biscuits/scones etc. to be made, tours to be conducted, and a lot of 'being on parade' (all of which we really rather enjoy, actually), but it is also the month when we welcome back the hoards of artists, opera singers, stage designers, directors, orchestras, stewards and other connected persons... it can only be the Iford Arts Season!

One of the benefits of this whirlwind of excitement are the slightly surreal sights and sounds which accompany the 'get-in' of an opera production - opera singers wearing 'half-costume' and 'representative make-up' trotting through the garden amongst the visiting public; final rehearsals as the musicians fit the production they had each envisaged in their own minds into the bizarre 'cloistered' reality with which they now have to contend; and this evening the wonder of walking into the kitchen to make a cup of tea only to find the Chroma chamber ensemble rehearsing in the courtyard just outside the window.

Marvellous.  Simply marvellous.

Jazz2 - weather looking more promising

We had a beautiful afternoon with a fair few visiting the garden and enjoying a cream tea in the tearoom. So it's therefore such a shame that it has clouded over. Nevertheless, out of the office window I can see streams of picnic-laden visitors brandishing their tickets, and the clouds seem to be lifting somewhat.

The Met Office's forecast makes for a great improvement on last night's drizzle-dampened promenade, so with sufficient fingers crossed... it might brighten up later - maybe even (dare we to dream?) some sunshine?

Tonight it's Digby Fairweather's Half Dozen (internationally celebrated and feted blues band) and Jim Hart (an extraordinary manipulator of the vibraphone) - should be quite a night!

Hearty jazz combats drizzle

More than a little British resolve was required to sit out the showery drizzle which disturbed the natural order of things in the Iford valley last night in the run up to, and during the first hour of, the first Jazz Promenade of the season.  Tents were erected wherever possible, umbrellas unfurled and the tearoom was turned into something of an impromptu picnic party as jazz aficionados made for shelter in some form or another.

Mind you, it could have been worse.  They had snow in Wales... http://bit.ly/kpC665 

But as the rain moved off around 8pm, damp revelers needn't have worried about the chill in the air.  The warmth of Tina May's voice transported a packed cloister to the cafes of Paris, with beautiful Piaf-esque renditions of songs old and new.  

At the Casita, swing was the order of the day, with The Numbers Racket offering no-excuse to the dance-shy - much energetic toe-tapping was enjoyed by all as the darkening grey of the sky yielded to the more optimistic yellows of electric light reflected off the floodlit trees and the golden cotswold stone.

Judging by the happy smiles on the faces of visitors as they returned to their cars, as usual on changeable evenings such as this, the plucky British concert-goers has indeed resolved to enjoy themselves: and enjoy themselves they did!

Without my tripod, my camera wasn't terribly happy last night, but here are a few images from the event which just about made the cut!  Hopefully Iford Arts will post some more images when these are available.

Preparations for Jazz1

Tonight sees the first night of the 2011 Iford Arts season.  Preparations are in full swing, and I hope to post photographs of the event later tonight - it is currently a bit drizzly, but the forecast suggests it might well brighten up a bit, which would make the event all the more special.

Fingers crossed...

The joys of sunlight

The light was playing games last night.  So I set out to catch it red-handed:

Above: Wild garlic in the mill leet; below: the lantern in the oriental garden

 Above: the lily pond lawn, back-lit

 Below: a South-Devon from the Iford Valley herd moseys past.

Common Spotted Orchid

A photograph from Stephen, our keen-eyed land agent, of the Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) seen in the valley yesterday. 

For the past however many years, we have farmed the pasture land of the Iford valley with species conservation in mind.  As proud landlords to a large colony of greater horseshoe bats (and accompanying Special Site of Scientific Interest), and with part of the estate in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this valley is never going to be appropriate for intensive agriculture - and nor should it be.