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]

A visit from the Harley Owners Group

Apologies for the lack of updates recently... it has been "all go" at Iford.

To our great delight we had a visit from the New Forest Branch of the Harley Owners Club.  Jim Murphy, Communications Manager of the branch, kindly sent through these photographs of the group riding away over the bridge, and in front of the house.  We hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we did.

We're always pleased to welcome car and motorcycle owners clubs, so if you would like to bring a group for a a visit to the garden, or just a cream tea, why not make us the excuse for a club outing?

Strawberry action

An action shot from this morning's marathon jam session: here you can see Housekeeper Susan (centre) directing operations.  The tearoom at Iford uses an awful lot of jam, as you might imagine, for both cream teas and also the classic victoria sponge.  Wherever possible, we try to use homemade jam, but this requires a lot of topping and chopping...

(I should clarify, I think, that the bottle of wine was not involved in the morning jam session, but was a left-over from last night!)

New season approaches

It is always an optimistic time of year, full of anticipation, as we approach the first open day of the season.  The blossom is out, the wisteria is in bud, the magnificent magnolia goblets opening to drink in the relative warmth of spring - indeed, the garden is running a bit ahead of schedule this year owing to the warm, dry March.

This Sunday 3rd April, we welcome in the public visitor for another year.  The garden will be open from 2-5pm, and Susan will be providing her Housekeeper's homemade teas, albeit with a slightly reduced menu in early April (cakes not scones, basically...).

Why not pop along to visit us this Spring?

Better-than-sticky 'fate' for Susan's jam in village competition

Excited news from the Westwood village fête last weekend.

Susan, Iford's Housekeeper who runs the tearoom over the summer, entered a pot of her increasingly popular Strawberry Jam, made using Iford's own strawberries grown in the kitchen garden, and enjoyed by many with their fresh scones and local clotted cream.

To everyone's delight, Susan won the jam prize.  So now we can proudly say that Iford's cream teas come with "award winning jam!".  Top stuff; well done Susan!

Here's a [rather grainy - sorry] photo of the jam's proud creator, holding court at the tearoom window.  Perhaps if there's a demand, some little jars of the stuff will appear next year.  Who knows?

Welcome to Susan

We're very excited to welcome Susan who has joined us as our new housekeeper.  She brings an entourage of Alan and Louis[e!], a bosc monitor and a red tegu respectively (photos to follow), and partner Su.

Susan is a proud local lady, with strong Wiltshire roots, having been brought up in in Hilperton and Holt.  We're particularly looking forward to the advent of local Wiltshire-style cakes - recipies passed down through the family.  In preparation for the summer season, experimental biscuits have so far proved a hit with the usual suspects around the kitchen table.

Small world that it is, Susan reports that her Auntie Joan worked at Iford from 1925-1928, as part of Harold Peto's staff - it is quite extraordinary how circular life can be.  However Susan joins a much changed environment from Peto's day - and we all know that 'housekeeper' is a mere title:  the job is far more challenging and varied than any name could it justics (and she has to keep us under control for starters!).  The manor kitchen is the societal engine-room for the team, the family and visitors alike, and Susan has already made it her own.  The perfect start, I'd say.

We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship for many years to come and hope that Susan will settle into and enjoy the challenges facing not only the tearoom and the house, but also the integrated development of the estate business and everything that goes on to keep the valley in the condition we strive for.