July Visit to Herefordshire - Part 1: Hatfield and Hereford

 

Last week we returned to Herefordshire just for two nights mainly to water the plants!  It was unbearably hot there although thankfully cooler at night.  We arrived Tuesday lunchtime.

Herefordshire Oak

The Octopus Tree

Constable Trees

Luckily plants in pots, gardens and borders had survived apart from a few recently planted perennial cranesbill geraniums which looked the worst for wear!

Potted Rose

D's dwarf sunflowers about to flower

The dwarf tomato plant grown from seed and brought here last visit has baby tomatoes and the chilli pepper bought from B and Q in Leominster has flowers :)

Cooking apples have formed and are growing rapidly.

Original hollyhocks

B thinks they are two plants not one as we originally thought! 

This is the self seeded plant which looks a hybrid of the two - a white outer part of the flower and red centre. My photos sadly are not that good and the colours of the three plants don't come out too well.

Red Hot Poker doing well

At tea time we went for a walk to the Hen House to buy eggs.

 

Record shot of a male chaffinch in the bird bath taken through the kitchen window.

On Wednesday B suggested we go into Hereford.  We have only been once since we had the caravan and D and I visited the Cathedral years ago just to see the Mappa Mundi.  I really don't know why we don't visit more as it is only just over 30 minutes away and there is a lot of museums and churches there plus the Cathedral and River Wye to walk along.

Hereford

It was very hot and humid though but I consoled myself with the thought of visiting a cathedral which may be cooler inside.  

The sat nav was playing up so I couldn't put in the post code of the open air car parks and B ended up parking in a rather grotty multi storey car park on the outskirts of the city centre which meant a longer walk than I had hoped for.

From the car park you could see Hereford Football Club's ground. My grandfather was born and brought up in Hereford and he supported Hereford FC all his life even though once he had moved to Birmingham he also supported Aston Villa.

Photos from our walk to and from the Cathedral.

Ooh look - Rossiters my favourite bookshop and a cheese shop! D was  annoyed when we got home that we hadn't bought any cheese and I didn't dare go in Rossiters as I spent a small fortune in the Cathedral shop!

Shop selling the delicious Peter Cooks Bread which D and I love but B is not so keen - I think he would rather have a hovis loaf :(

Edited photo of Hereford Cathedral (photo was taken into the sun and came out very under exposed).

We will visit the Cathedral in the next two posts - be warned there are a lot of photos. I had a wonderful 3 hours inside :)

Good to see the Mortimers from Wigmore surname survives :)

At some stage I need to buy some sempervirens to put in a pot at the caravan.

Decorated pub wall.

"A Herefordshire Man" -Allan Leonard Lewis VC.

As mentioned earlier I will do a couple of posts on the Cathedral next.  The next day (Thursday) was unbearably hot again and as the M42 was closed in the morning we delayed departure until the evening. I spent the day sitting outside in the shade reading and watching the birds, bees, hoverflies and butterflies. It was just too hot to consider driving anywhere!

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera.  (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Packington Hall Estate - (NGS Open Day)

 

I'd noticed on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) that Packington Hall was open for the National Garden Scheme on Saturday 5th July and I have never seen the estate and gardens.  Packington Hall is located in the countryside between Birmingham and Coventry, near Meriden so it wasn't far to travel. The Packington estate also owns Marsh Lane Nature Reserve. Years ago I used to be a member and visited regularly as it was closer than Brandon Marsh and being behind padlocked gates I felt safe there on my own. But once B retired he wasn't keen on the reserve so as the membership was expensive I didn't renew it in 2020.

Packington Hall was originally built in 1693 and extended in the Palladian style in 1772 to a design by the architect Joseph Bonomi.  The hall is the seat of the Earls of Aylesford and is Grade II listed.

Herbaceous borders by the terrace. There were lots of bees and butterflies about. We saw Red Admiral, "Whites" and Gatekeepers. It was hard to get photos as it was so windy and the flowers were blowing about all over the place!

We then walked through the grounds and round the lake.  The Pleasure Grounds and landscaping around the house were designed by "Capability" Brown in 1751 and today include a Japanese bridge, lake,  rose and walled garden

Cedars of Lebanon

I think this gall on an oak tree is Biorhiza pallida

Sweet Chestnuts

We walked through a wildflower meadow.

More butterflies were seen including this Small Skipper

Red Soldier Beetles on Ragwort - I had to get D to hold the plant as it was still very windy and then I remembered after that Ragwort can be poisonous!

Has anyone any idea what tree these fruits belong to? I haven't a clue.

Common Blue Butterfly (new for year)

There was a super tree house with swings - the tree house was out of bounds but we did sit in the swing seats for a while.

There was a small pet cemetery with several gravestones.

We had by now returned to the house.  It was quite cool and windy but when the wind dropped it became very hot and humid.

Sea Holly was covered by bees again just like the plants at Stockton Bury Gardens. I have to get one of these plants certainly for the caravan as I think they survive dry periods quite well.

Time for tea and cake.  I sneaked a few crafty photos of the walls and ceiling in the room where they were serving refreshments. The rest of the hall wasn't open.

Timothy has announced that from now on he doesn't want his photo to be taken with Spotty Dog Man!

After cake we went in search of the rose and walled garden.  The former was in the process of being restored.

Walled Garden

A lovely water feature and very cooling as by now it was hot again.

It was a really lovely afternoon and I am glad we made the effort to go especially as I missed the open day at Maxstoke Castle recently.  I am trying to get out and walk as much as possible to try and keep cellulitis at bay. Although to be honest the very hot weather we have been having is not that conducive to walking!

Photos taken by me (and D at times) with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)