Hydro Electric Open Day

What a lovely morning to be setting up for the public open day for our Hydro Plant this afternoon.

All are welcome, although it isn't really suitable for children. Entrance is free to the hydro, and the tearoom and gardens are open too.

Hydro open day: 2 - 4.30pm. Meet the design and build teams, and learn about sustainable energy production in the Iford valley.

Cracking up!

It's going to take a lot more than just a bit of rain to solve this - and it's only just the second week in April!

Wisteria Watch April 8th 2012

Increasing numbers of people are telephoning to ask about the wisteria, and we are directing them to the blog so that they can see with their own eyes how the wisteria is coming along.  Basically the cold weather over the last week has held it back a bit, which is no bad thing, and so we're looking at full bloom on the front of the house in about 1-2 weeks, and for the free-standing wisterias about 2-3 weeks or so, but in each case quicker if the warm weather returns.  Keep watching those photos!

Metal detectrists' Sunday

One of the local Metal Detecting Clubs held a field day today combing over some land on the top of the hill to see what they might find.  Actually, despite much Roman activity in the area there wasn't a huge amount coming up.  We had carefully cordoned off some known Roman settlements which were definitely not on the menu today because they are scheduled sites already so clearly must not be dug over without expert intervention and appropriate permissions.  Nevertheless, the folks had expected to find more Roman finds than they did from the new, unsurveyed areas they were working in - you can barely move for pieces of Roman pottery during ploughing time after all so it was hoped that some coins and such might come up.

A small number of Roman coins were found, and other interesting finds included this half crown from 1921:

The most pleasing thing about the event, though, was the number of people who attended, on a warm, overcast Easter Day, as shown by the number of cars wishing to park in the farmyard around which the event was centred!

Find us on...

In case you haven't found us yet, you can hunt Iford down on:

Facebook: as a place which you can 'like': "Iford Manor: The Peto Gardens" and also "Iford Arts"

Twitter: 
We tweet as @ifordmanor and @ifordarts

Web: 
For the garden, valley and estate:
www.ifordmanor.co.uk, 
For the music and opera festival:
www.ifordarts.co.uk,
For our fine tea company:
www.ifordmanorteas.co.uk,
For our recordings of musical events:
www.ifordrecordings.co.uk

Rain, rain, come again

Well, for a "band of heavy showers moving through" I don't think that was really up to much.  We're very, very short of water and last night we can barely have had more than about 20 minutes of rain.  Oddly the river this morning is actually lower than it was yesterday, which raises in my mind questions about who might be extracting water upstream.  Just asking.

I wrote an article on the need to think about water management, both a local and national level, for www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk.  You can find it here:  http://bit.ly/HTjWxt

Seiridium cypresses removed; optimism for replacements

For a while the scourge of Seiridium cupressi has been affecting cypresses at Iford for some time.  We are by no means unusual, sadly.  All over the world cypress, thuja and similar 'soft' conifers are suffering.  It is a really depressing disease because this canker causes such rapid destruction (taking two years to all but kill some trees); and from the gardener's point of view, it is an ugly and very public demise too - sad for all concerned.


On the terraces at the back of the house four hearty cypress trees had stood for some fifteen years since they were put in as adolescents.  By now at well over twenty-five feet tall, the effect was one of drawing up the eye to the heavens, a reminder of Tuscany on a gloomy Tuesday which would raise a smile on even the grumpiest of visitor!


But after one had to be taken down last year, this winter a further two had to go, leaving just this remaining stalwart, toughing it out in the face of his limbs browning off and dying back.  He will, I fear, have short time also.

We have known this would probably be coming down the track, and for this reason have been trialling a number of different cypress forms to see which might be most resilient.  Over the past ten years that they have been being brought on, some have already perished in the cold, but this hardy specimen, and his friend across the path, have now replaced their unfortunate cousins.  


So the perpendicular optimism of the Italianate has its renaissance on the Iford terraces.  Let's hope both that an antidote will be found against Seiridium, and also that these two fine replacements will reach their full, towering maturity.

First day open for 2012 and weather concerns

Earlier in the week the warm spell turned cold, and our thoughts turned excitedly to the prospect of a drought-averting rainy spell.  So much for that!  The reality could not have been further from the forecasts, and Sunday 1st of April has been a glorious, warm spring day - in fact, the type every historic garden hopes for when opening their doors to the public.

The day started with a visit from Oliver Gerrish, @oligerrish if you are a Tweeter, who brought a couple of charming Americans to us - they are on an architectural tour of the UK and were visiting Iford as a part of their visit to Bath.

As the heat of the day began to strike, we were rushing around trying to find all the little essentials (such as car park signs) which had been hidden away safely over the winter, but which definitely needed digging out for the first day open.  The oven was hard at work creating cakes and dough was being hooked (? one uses a dough hook, after all!) ready to be made into scones.  Two o'clock arrived and a few minutes later the gates opened - just about on time, Peto's theatrical garden prepared for summer visiting once more.

I am very pleased to say that a steady flow of garden visitors came to see us; and the tearoom had a healthy first day, which bodes well for the season.  One man telephoned this morning to find out if we were open, explaining that he had been waiting all spring for us to open - very kind flattery, perhaps, but if he did in fact visit this afternoon, he had a good day for it!

But now it seems we are threatened with potentially quite a cold end to the coming week.  Heavy frost at this stage, especially if combined with a cold wind, will freeze-dry the wisteria buds, which are at their most delicate right now - that, for the wisteria fans, would be very sad indeed (although often it means that the second flowering in June is all the more splendid).

We live in uncertain times, weather-wise.  It doesn't help one jot, but I suspect it has been ever thus!

[Iford is next open on Tuesday April 3rd, 2pm]