It’s Chelsea. And if there’s one thing to tear me away from my beloved garden, this is it. It’s almost impossible to describe the pure magic of it. At 7am this morning the sun was shining over the Royal Hospital and there wasn’t a place in the world I’d rather be. Continue reading
It would be fair to say that I wasn’t overly excited about our pending trip to the Falkland Islands. Paul has these silly ideas every so often and usually if I lie low they seem to disappear. But having played the ‘maybe’, ‘we’ll see’, ‘we can have a think about it’ card for more than six months, I decided I’d better just go along with it. Continue reading
Well, after almost two years away from Australia, I managed to time my very first trip back, in early December, to exactly coincide with the heaviest snowfall our village had seen in a decade. I was sad to miss the snow, but very much cheered up when photos of our very white garden kept popping up on my phone. Our lovely cleaner, next door neighbour and neighbouring farmer all kindly thought of me missing this moment and without being asked, popped over to capture our snowy garden for us. How grateful it made me feel to have such a thoughtful community around us in our new home. Continue reading
After three years of super hard work, today is the end of an era. Assuming I pass my final module, today I completed the very last piece of my master’s. Phew. Continue reading
I’m feeling really rather lucky to be living in such a very special part of the world this week. Not only am I about two minutes walk from a certain flower show, but the streets all around me are ‘paved’ with flowers right now. Continue reading
Oh, Chelsea, Chelsea, you really shouldn’t be distracting me so. But you are, and I’ve admitted defeat. Chelsea it is. Continue reading
Us humans are complex things. And if there’s one thing my Master of Horticulture analysis has taught me, gardens are not lacking in that department either. Put them together and you’ve got a real muddle. Continue reading
Oh my. Does it get any better than Chelsea? It’s hard to put into words the pure joy and exhilaration I feel when I’m here. Continue reading
In 2011, Paul and I considered buying The Old Bank in sleepy Bungendore, New South Wales. A stunning stone building, developed through the 1800s, its history not only spans uses as a residence and bank, but also one of a blacksmith’s, solicitor’s, bakery, stock and station store and a bicycle maker, where the first bike in Australia is said to have been made. Continue reading
Peckerwood Garden, just outside Houston, is a garden fuelled by passion. John Fairey, a former professor of architecture, put the first plant in the ground in 1971 and still lives and gardens here today, albeit with considerable help now the garden has grown to some 40 acres. Continue reading
