The Wider View.

Have been asked by Elaine of www.rosebankramblings.com to show a few pics of the wider view of our place. So here we are, ready for a little tour.

This gravel garden which is in its very early stages, it was only started in April, is still being worked on. This is at the front of the house. Front entrance behind and to right from where I took this pic. The wooden building is a separate building, I will do a post on that soon.

From outside our back door, which is the entrance we use most and where you arrive to the house, looking left there is a big weeping Birch and a cottage garden style flower bed.

Looking right is the herbaceous border and beyond can be seen Corry mountain.

Round the corner of the house is this small grove of trees, Birch, Sycamore and Scots Pine. This is opposite the herbaceous border. The grass is left uncut, apart from an edging strip, until September. The goat shed can be seen in the field beyond.

Continuing on to the gate and our steep drive. Decent brakes needed here!

Looking back towards the house from the gate.

The next post will show pics from the vegetable and fruit garden.

Saturday Morning Musings from Prospect Cottage.

The Potatoes in the polytunnel are flowering. These are Colleen a fast growing, first early variety with good disease resistance. The tubers are oval shaped with light yellow flesh. As potatoes are ready to harvest 10 days after flowering these will be ready for use by Summer Solstice. Great!

The sedums planted in this old cast iron queenie stove have spread nicely and are starting to flower. I love these easy care plants that seem to thrive on neglect.

This is a pic of our house taken from the back field. I love how it is nestled into the valley and seemingly dwarfed by the big Sycamore on the left. You can just see the tops of the polytunnels on the left.

Just behind the house is this chalet built by Andy, about 5 years ago, from Spruce and Larch felled on our own land. We use this as a workroom and as a spare bedroom and storage area.

Sheila’s Crazy Horse Cake is a delicious vegan cake I made yesterday. I got the recipe from an American woman called Sheila who lived, with her husband Brendan, in this area for a few years. She was vegetarian all her life, never tasted meat, and had a great selection of cookery books. Whenever I make this Crazy Horse Cake I always think of her and joy she had for life. They returned to America for family reasons and we never heard from them again. I wonder where they are now?

A question answered.

Since we moved here, it will be 9 years in September, we have often wondered if the remains of a building in our back field were once a dwelling.  Well, yesterday our questions were answered. We were both outside working at about 4.30 when our neighbour Joe drove up our drive. He had visitors with him, his sister Mary and her husband visiting from Boston. Mary left Arigna 60 years ago at 18 years of age. She still has the old Arigna in her mind’s eye. A family called Glasheens once lived in the ruin which she remembered as “a fine house.” It was so nice to hear her talk of time’s past, when “no-one would be short of milk, if your cow was’nt calved yet your neighbours would be. Everyone helping each other with cow’s calving, saving the hay and sowing the potatoes and grain crops. On Christmas Eve I remember us children counting the candles in the windows of the valley. We could count about 70.”  At that time there was no electricity and everyone put a big red candle in the window on Christmas Eve. Last night I went outside to see how many lights I could count, sad to say there was only 7 lights to be seen. Rural depopulation, the reality. I find it sad that people are leaving the countryside, leaving behind their connection with the land. Gone for many people is the connection between themselves, the land and the food that sustains them. The interconnectedness of living on the land in a functioning community. Despite being in America for 60 years Mary still felt the connections, strongly, remembering, enjoying the telling. She still has a love for it all, distance no object.

The stone steps above were made from floor slabs from the old house, if only they could tell a tale.The stones in this wall are also from the old house. They now have a new use, a new energy. I love stone, I think it adds character and warmth to a place. Even some of the new monstrous houses look a little less hostile in the environment if the are stone-faced. It has a mellowing effect, a fitting into the landscape and the earth from whence they came.