The Green Country

I went for a trip to Cork for a long weekend to visit one of my bridesmaids - a thoughtful Christmas present from my husband. I had a fantastic time gossiping and catching up, exploring Cork, and being shown around some more of stunning Ireland by my lovely friend and hostess. We also went to Adare to spend some time with her brother and sister-in-law, who extended me such sincere and heart warming Irish hospitality. 

Adare Manor was absolutely breathtaking. When we arrived we had a pot of tea in the stunning manor, cosying up on a couch next to the massive fireplace, surrounded by candles.

The next day we went for a walk to admire the grounds. It was such a bright, crisp day. . . . stunning.

Adare Manor was the main attraction but there were a lot of other pleasant suprises.

From a modern sculpture of a Veteran Memorial.....

                                                                    ....... to ruins........

........ to ivy covered cottages........

We then walked into town, past the quaint thatch roofed cottages, and enjoyed a refreshment stop.

Later that day we went to the famous Limerick Milk Markets. The food smelt and looked divine. Lunch was a stunning curry from the stall Green Saffron, which served the most delicious Bombay Potatoes and Chickpea Curry that I have ever had. They also sold small sachets of Indian Spice to enhance even the dullest vegetables.

The sweets looked amazing, but I was so full I could only feast with my eyes while I sipped my latte.

It was such a wonderful weekend with great landscapes, great food and great friends. It couldn't have been any better.

Spring Flowers for Valentine's Day

It is nearly Valentine's Day, the snow has vanished, the sun is shining, the ground has thawed, and Spring is nearly officially here.

When the first Snowdrops appear, I always embrace it as the first sign of Spring. I know it is still technically winter when they flower. But it still signals Spring to me. It makes me feel so happy that the long, cold, dark days are now (nearly) behind me.

Snowdrops were my grandfather's favourite flower so there is always that thought and memory when I see them as well. Perhaps partly because of him, although I love having flowers in the house, I would never dream of picking them as they are so beautiful in the garden, there is always so few, and they have such a short life. They seem to belong just where they have appeared, etheral and fairy-like.

Today when I went into our garden, a slightly wild place with overgrown trees and ivy and a rope swing, I was once again reminded of the story 'Tom's Midnight Garden' by Philippa Pearce. We live in a top floor flat in a converted Victorian mansion, much as Mrs Bartholomew from the story, and I think that our garden has some of the romantic echo and magic of the garden she dreamed of from her youth.

When I went into it today I was delighted to see bright clumps of Spring had appeared as if by magic overnight.

There were also gorgeous purple Crocus flowers dotted around.

But it was still the Snowdrops which entranced me.

I love them in small, delicate clumps, heads bowed almost reverently, the delicate inside flower streaked with lime green, with the larger outside flower hanging protectively about them.

I love them in large clumps as well, especially when the sun shines through them, making them translucent.

I love how occassionally you can find a rogue one or two standing apart.

But mostly I love that, for me, Spring is here.



Snow on the Sphinx

Just when you think spring is finally here, that the long harsh winter is finally drawing to an end and the flowers are starting to bud and blossom, the weather can turn and plunge us right back into winter. But it usually isn't quite as dramatic as what it was this weekend, when we had heavy snow fall in London on just the right side of Valentine's Day.

I love the snow. I adore everything about it - the cold of it, the blanketing crispness of it, the feeling of walking or skiing on it, the inevitable days off work which it results in....well usually. That was the only down side this time - everyone was prepared as the snow fell on the weekend and so the roads were cleared on Monday.

Still, it felt like an extra long weekend, even when it wasn't, as snow just gives such a different perspective on things. I felt like I had been on a mini-break after I went for a long walk in Crystal Palace Park.

It was a grey and cloudy day, but it was still glorious.

The Spinxes looked more majestic and aloof than ever in the snow.

They are still guarding the stairs of the old Crystal Palace. The spinxes and stairs are all that remains of the glass and steel building that housed the Great Exhibition in 1851. The palace had been moved two years after the exhibition in Hyde Park, at a significant loss to the company (which they never recouped). It slowly declined in this location in Crystal Palace, at the top of Sydenham Hill  (then Penge Place) until it literally went up in a blaze of glory in 1936.

I can't help but wonder how fantastic it would have been to see towering glass glinting in the sunshine there. I wonder if it really did look like crystal. I know that it fell into disrepair and was not the success that had been envisioned. Perhaps that would have meant it was more eyesore and less the elegant building I would hope it to be. But one thing I know for sure.... the view over London, Kent and Surrey is still breathtaking.

I walked down the hill, past the maze ..... the ponds ...... the site of the 1909 Scout Rally in Crystal Palace which girls attended declaring themselves as Girl Scouts ........ past large expanses where people had built a range of snowmen, snow dogs and even a snow pig ......... past forts that had been built up to protect those launching snowballs.

Finally I ended up at the dinosaurs.

They were unveiled in 1854, some six years before the 'Origin of the Species' was published, and although considered largely inaccurate now they are still impressive, and must have been awe inspiring for the Victorian's to visit.

They looked right at home in the snow.

Feeling delightfully cold, it was time to go to my favourite cafe in Crystal Palace, Domali. They served me an amazing sweet potato and goats cheese pie, with the most delicious gravy I had ever tasted. I read the paper, eating a late lunch and sipping gluhwein stirred with a cinnamon stick, feeling blissfully content. I couldn't have been happier - it was though I was in a chalet on the slopes of Austria, enjoying the Apres-ski.