Category: Design
Managing risk in play provision- free guide
Play England’s no nonsense guide on how to balance safety and challenge in play area design and management.
At most community gardens there are always children about. They love to garden with their parents but some just like to run around. If you have been to the Ladner Community Garden you know we have a large seating area for the school garden. This is where the children sit for a class. We also have extra stumps that are not being used. Awhile back I saw a cute idea on Pinterest. Someone had painted a checkers game board on a tree stump. What a great idea!
So this week I have been trying to get my game on. I dragged my paints out of hiding and decided to allot some time to work on this new project. I like to paint. I am not that good at it but I gave it a whirl. I think what got me going was when I found some checkers at the local…
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‘The pargetting at 25-27 Church Street, Saffron Walden (below and featured in my recent post ‘Milling, Mazes and Millionaire Shortbread’), has just been shortlisted for the prestigious Museum + Heritage awards in the restoration and conservation category, the conservation equivalent of an Oscar according to owner, Douglas Kent.
The work involved the exterior pargetting, especially of two huge figures which, legend says, were the giants, Gog and Magog. Kent, however, has discovered that they were more likely to be taken from a novel by the 17th century owner and author, William Winstanley. ‘I knew they were in a parlous state but when we looked closely there were doubts they could be saved.’ New techniques and £30,000 have stabilised them – very important as the two figures are perhaps the most memorable feature of the town. Kent, who had no grants towards the work, has decided to paint them in a creamy off-white though they were probably buff coloured originally. He has also decided on three extra ‘Invitation to View’ opening days, Wednesday, June 26 at 2.30 pm; Thursday, August 1 at 11 am and Wednesday, September 4 also at 11 am. The winner of the award will be decided on May 1.’
Source: ‘Invitation to View’ Newsletter, April 2013
The Gisborne Garden full of gold and silver glimpses.
Have been out painting the outside of (another) house all weekend – absolutely knackered – so this is in honour of enjoying those arcadian afternoons when you can wander around someone else’s garden.
This is the first of a series trying to capture the essence of different garden styles. ‘Style Counsel’ will be a series of snippets – just a few words and images. I’d love to hear your comments on these and please add your own thoughts on what makes up these different styles – and if you have some pictures to add that’s even better. So, what is a Cottage Garden?
Cottage gardens have layouts that are simple and often geometric, though many have a more sinuous layout with twists and turns, especially as the garden moves further away from the cottage /house, where more natural, wilder planting can prevail.
Key characteristics include:
- Profuse planting featuring many herbaceous perennials such as Delphinium, Stocks, Hollyhock, Lupin, ‘signature’ annuals such as Sweet Peas and Marigolds and a few evergreen shrubs for winter interest and structure
- Rustic furniture made out of rough timber
- ‘Roses round the door’, and on arbours or other structures
- Weathered paths often made from old bricks or rammed earth with simple, if any, edging tiles or boards
- Vegetables, fruit and herbs often mixed in with the flowers
Old School Gardener
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Old School Garden 