Spring: sprung.

Following months of rain, the grey warmth of the March sun has awakened not only the songbirds and pheasant, but also the early blossoms.  In particular the camellia by the loggia is on fiery form.

  The old, venerable rosemaries...

 and the cherry blossoms are early:

and the beautiful pink one on the lawn will be out in force in a couple of weeks.

 The optimistic shoots are coming through on the great terrace...

 Although the weather has meant that the borders are only being planted out in the coming fortnight, as we continue with Alison Jenkins' exciting planting scheme:

Iford opens for the year on April 1st - we look forward to seeing you!

Winter...

It hasn't been a particularly warm welcome to 2014 from the weather gods.  Our thoughts are with our farming colleagues in Somerset - underwater for weeks now.  At Iford we have had our own challenges to deal with, but not as devastating as theirs.

The river Frome here is very 'flashy' in that it can come up and go back down again in a very short number of hours - this makes it less predictable, but also means that floods tend not to last long - as was the case back in December and again after New Year when we had a couple of fairly deep inundations.  Nothing reached the main house, but the Mill was flooded and of course the pasture which may in time affect our farming (although it might be quite beneficial if the fertility increases. We shall see).

We lost one of the four lime trees in the middle of the garden, weakened (worryingly) by honey fungus, and brought down by gales.

 Here was what was left of the stump.

We lost a Horse Chestnut on the top road to Freshford and this morning we had to bring down a Sycamore and an Ash which had become too weak to support themselves safely.  Recent wind and super-saturation of the soil had meant they were now leaning dangerously on their neighbours. 

Elsewhere the wet weather has meant it has been almost impossible to get any border work done in the garden.  Rob and his gardening team have found plenty of things to do in the greenhouses, repairing paths and such like, but fundamentally we just want to get the plants out in the borders so we have something interesting for April to complement the blossom.

The spring flowers are out in force, and the daffodils even are starting to come out - more on the plants in our next garden report next week.  All we need now is a dry-spell and some sunshine!

Britain's Most Special Places - HHA short film

Did you know that around three quarters of the UK population makes a visit to a heritage site every year?  Or that the top reason for coming to the UK given by foreign visitors is to visit our castles, houses and gardens?  Heritage tourism is an important economic driver in the UK.

To highlight the importance of the heritage sector and the role played by private owners and guardians of our historic properties, the Historic Houses Association has commissioned a short film.  It's well worth a look; please share it with others. 

Autumn turns to Winter

A lot going on in the garden and on the estate, so watch out for some reports on that - ranging from Peto's rose garden, to Alison Jenkins' new designs for the borders on the terrace for 2014, some stonework challenges, and the excitement of winter garden maintenance.

Meanwhile, here are some photos of the winter transition.  For more, you can find us on Facebook here:

Post by Iford Manor: The Peto Gardens.

  

Autumn images

Last Round of the British Maxxis Motocross Championship

Last weekend saw the final round of the Maxxis MotoX championship come to the internationally renowned circuit at Farleigh Hungerford.  The organisers have posted the video below, showing some of the action.

Autumn colour - pots, beds and leaves

Alison Jenkins produced some brilliantly colourful borders this year.  Now, with winter approaching, the team has taken the annuals out in preparation for the first of the perennials to be planted.  This is the next phase of our Replanting Scheme which is a three year project to realign the floral element of the garden, to be more in tune with Harold Peto's ethos.

With the warm weather still just about clinging on (although we had a light frosting last night on the top of the hills), we still have some late colour in the garden, and not just from the pots.

  Visitors today were treated to a warm afternoon bathed in beautiful, low autumn sunlight which back-lit the leaves of the great cercidiphyllum...

...and here the Vitis coignetiae which blushes through the old (150-200 year old) yew tree by the conservatory.

 The venerable chestnuts are changing their costumes too, and in a fortnight or so I would expect to see the beech trees above begin to turn and the acers by the cloister to join in the fun.