Old School Garden

Of course, Hidcote was the main reason we had come to the Cotswolds, but our off-the-cuff visit to Snowshill on the previous day had furnished us with an interesting contrast. Hidcote and Snowshill seemed to be worlds apart, in atmosphere if not in geography: Where Snowshill was compact, homely, light-hearted and delightfully ferny at the […]

via Two Cotswolds Gardens. 2: Hidcote — Edinburgh Garden Diary

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Some of most incredibly beautiful landscapes I have seen are in Scottish Highlands . On a cloudy day , they are, surely,magical ! And , on a bright day , they are , well, they are even more magical !

via Landscapes / Scottish Highlands — Light Touch

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Part of my plan for the front garden involves not having three rose bushes in an area that receives a maximum of two hours of direct light per day. This is probably a good a week as any to move them. I doubt we’re going to get an Indian summer now, and I need to […]

via Gather ye (etc.) — Edinburgh Garden Diary

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I’m pleased to feature the second of Jane Kilsby’s superbly researched and illustrated guest posts on some of the finest rural council homes in the country. Last week’s post examined the background to their construction; this week’s details their form and tells the story of those who designed and built them. Banbury Rural District Council (BRDC) […]

via North Oxfordshire: The ‘foxhunters, farmers and parsons’ and their first council houses, Part II — Municipal Dreams

I’m very pleased to feature this week a guest post – a meditation on the estate pub – from Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey. Jessica and Ray blog about beer and pubs at boakandbailey.com and their new book, 20th Century Pub, is out now. (A thoroughly researched, informative and enjoyable read – I recommend it.) They’re on Twitter, […]

via Council Estate Pubs: ‘Never drink in a pub with a flat roof’ — Municipal Dreams

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You will be familiar with checking a weather forecast before planning a day out. But have you ever looked at a forecast to find out the greenest time to put your washing machine on? Well, now you can. Using data from the Met Office, today National Grid, in cooperation with the Environmental Defence Fund Europe […]

via Harnessing the power of the weather forecast — Official blog of the Met Office news team

Dame Vera Lynn praised the generosity of the British public after £1m was raised in just three weeks to help protect the future of the White Cliffs of Dover for the nation, for ever. Over 17,500 people made donations to the appeal to help the National Trust secure 700,000 square metres of land immediately behind […]

via Dame Vera Lynn praises British people after support for £1m appeal secures future of White Cliffs — National Trust Press Office

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How could I not record the panache of toetoe (pronounced in Māori tó-eh-tó-eh, placed in botany in the genus Austroderia) at the Orokonui Ecosanctuary northeast of Dunedin on February 27th? © 2017 Steven Schwartzman

via New Zealand: panache — Portraits of Wildflowers

Bold plans to take one of the UK’s most significant historical sites into the future are set to go ahead after the National Trust learnt it has been awarded a £1.8million National Lottery grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to help transform the way it tells the story of one of the greatest archaeological […]

via Green light for Sutton Hoo transformation as National Trust is awarded £1.8 million National Lottery grant — National Trust Press Office

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When it comes to patience, servitude and kindness, coupled with a tendency to forget to do nice things for herself, my mother gives the holy saints of Heaven a decent run for their money. Therefore, to celebrate the occasion of her 70th birthday, my sister and I came up with the idea of taking my […]

via Two Cotswolds Gardens. 1: Snowshill Manor — Edinburgh Garden Diary

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