D has two weeks leave from work so last Thursday when finally we had a dry day! we re-visited the National Herb Centre at Warmington, near Banbury. Some of you may remember that we went a few years ago and loved it there. Sometimes you go back to places and they are not as good as you remembered but the Herb Centre was just as magical.
On the way out I spotted a super dragon sculpture (better than this one) but I managed to forget to take a photo!!! At £120 it was unlikely to come home with us though!
For the first time this year we actually saw quite a lot of butterflies in one location. I didn't manage to get any photos, apart from the one above, as they were all very lively. But we saw Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells, Meadow Browns, the first Marbled Whites of the year and possibly a few Ringlets. The marjoram lining the path down to the nature trails was not yet in flower and we didn't see any of the "Blues".
We looked round the six demonstration gardens first.
The scent from the roses was amazing. D was actually quite keen on buying the one below until he later saw the prices!!!
Then down the hill to the nature trails where there are many paths you can follow. We took a similar route to last time which avoided the steepest of the hills!!!
Common Malachite beetle
with huge thanks to Dean on Twitter for id help.
There were loads of blackberry bushes in flower. Last time we must have gone later in the year as I remember D picked quite a few of the fruits - enough for a crumble with apples.
Horsetails
A few Dog Roses were still flowering
First sighting of a Swollen-thighed beetle this year. Sorry rubbish record shot but it kept disappearing underneath the flowers. Even D didn't manage to get a decent shot.
Then back up the hill to the nursery
More roses!
As well as roses,perennials and annuals the National Herb Centre has a huge stock of herbs of so many different kinds.
It was well organised and you paid at an outside kiosk. We bought basil, parsley, tarragon and wild rocket plus a salvia, lavender and borage. Going to try again with the latter as the last time the one I was given by a friend just disappeared!
Some of D's photos
I really do wish I had a large herb garden. At the moment we have some in a border but they get encroached by perennials every summer, some in pots and some in a wall that encloses the patio. D put the new purchases in a pot.
and planted the lavender - perhaps temporarily if it grows a lot!
Finally, to go with some homegrown strawberries D announced he was going to make some Tennis ball macarons much to my horror! We tried this once before and it was a disaster and very time consuming. To be fair they were edible but not really like macarons! This, he assured me, was a different and detailed recipe! Well we followed it to the letter and it took all afternoon and created 3 loads of washing up! As you can see again they don't look like macarons! Not sure what happened to the green food colouring we added as it disappeared during cooking. To be fair they were tasty and were filled with a white chocolate, cream and pistachio ganache!! In the end we didn't bother piping white tennis ball lines on them!!! (more washing up!!! and at the end of the day as we didn't pipe them into circles just plonked the mix down they weren't round!).
I hope everyone is staying safe and well.
Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera and D's were taken with the Canon SX50 HS bridge camera.
13 comments:
What a glorious place!! If I lived near I would be looking to work there. Heaven on Earth. Killing off your Borage is indeed a special talent! lol Glad the macarons tasted good.
Rustic Pumpkin - Thanks so much and yes it is a wonderful place. We planned to go back last year but pandemic got in way :( Its about an hour from here or a bit less depending on how the motorways are. It would be a super place to work I agree.
Only I could kill off Borage!!!!!! :)
looks a lovely place. I've never been!!
The Quacks of Life - Thanks Pete. When you are next in the area worth a visit maybe - they have a website. By Warmington, near Banbury (not that far from Upton House). As a nursery it is all free as well - an added bonus :)
You've reminded me, I've STILL not sown my Borage seeds. Will do so today, before I lose momentum :) It's a difficult plant to kill -normally self-seeds everywhere. I've always loved herbs too (and uses in the Still-room). Here we have inherited lots of Marjoram, including a pretty golden one which is in with the old leggy needing replacing Lavenders.
If the roses were David Austin ones, then I'm guessing they were around £30 a hit . . . Cheaper to buy bare-root ones over the winter months.
What lovely walks - that long hill, I suddenly thought, oh Fahly would have LOVED to have galloped up there! (He was my last horse, an Arab, and the love of my life.)
What a great day out and lots of lovely herbs for your garden too. Our borage, a blue one, didn't come back this year after several years of appearing around the garden in different places, I wonder what happened? Hope your new one is successful. Both gardens and walks look wonderful:)
Bovey Belle - Thanks so much. Hope you got your Borage seeds sown? If anyone can kill a plant I can!!! Bees and Butterflies seem to love Marjoram flowers - I have about 6 plants round the garden in pots and borders. Our leggy lavender needs replacing too.
I don't think they were DA roses although they were about £27. Thanks for tip re: bare root ones. I have to admit years ago I did not much like roses but these days I love them!!
I can imagine how much you miss horse riding especially with your own Arab! My daughter misses it too and although I haven't been for years (and with dodgy knees couldn't these days) I miss it too at times. I have planted some more but they don't seem to get going!
Rosie - Thanks so much. Interesting about your borage. Hope some re-appears. Thanks for good wishes. Have to find space for it somewhere :) It is a wonderful place to visit and the nature trails were so quiet - we saw no-one until on the way back and then only a couple of people.
The National Herb Centre looks interesting. I will have to remember to look it up next time I am in the area.
The macaroon recipe sounds fiddly, I don't do fiddly with regards to cooking. It certainly looks delicious though :-)
CherryPie - Thank you. In my view it is well worth a visit if you are in the area.
I like baking but this was far too fiddly for me!
I would love to visit a herb garden like that, especially with the lovely paths cut through the meadows! Also I imagine if you buy a lavender there, it will give some info as to whether it will be tall or compact, and when not in flower, the colour of the flowers. This is the problem I have in France. They give so little info, Of course if you buy something in season and flowering, they cost a lot more! I prefer to buy smaller cheaper plants (they seem to be SO expensive these days!).
I’m sure your macaroons tasted good, no matter what they look like! I’ve never tried, sounds way too complicated to me!
Commenting from my iPad, I don’t think you will get my normal Millymollymandy avatar etc. But it’s me. ��
Millymollymandy - Thanks so much. The nurseries there are wonderful SO many herbs! This lavender wasn't too expensive but I agree better to buy them smaller as you say they can be extortionate! Morrisons, the supermarket over here, often have cheap perennials.
Believe me I would not have tried those macarons if it had been up to me.
Your avatar has appeared :)
Haha, I really did write macarons, but autocorrect changed it to macaroons! I logged on as ‘google account’ which luckily took me to my blogger profile, rather than google one.
Millymollymandy - lol! The old fashioned macaroons are easy made some recently. But the newish fad for macarons is a pain. SO hard to make!
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