August Visit to Herefordshire - Part 1 : Hatfield and Tenbury Wells

 

Last week we returned to Herefordshire for four nights. The journey took longer than usual as the Worcester Road was closed at Bredenbury and the diversion took us out of our way by over 20 minutes!

Timothy back on his shelf.

I treated myself to this handmade ceramic arts and craft style tile showing the mistletoe that grows on trees around Tenbury Wells. It is heat resistant so I am using it as a tea pot stand at the moment although really it should be on display somewhere at the caravan as it is too nice to hide under a teapot!

There is not much change in the Herefordshire trees although I think I can detect a slight change in the leaf colour of the oak.  On the journey we noticed so many trees where the leaves were changing colour and falling from the trees presumably due to all the dry weather we have been having

Herefordshire Oak

Octopus Tree

Constable Tree(s)

Thankfully, most of the plants in the garden and in pots had survived while we were absent. Only the cranesbill geraniums looked a bit sorry for themselves but perked up after being watered.

Mini alliums in full flower now and attracting many bees, butterflies and hoverflies.

D has at least 12 chilli peppers forming on his chilli plant

The cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen.

The hedgerows are full of hawthorn berries and blackberries.

The cooking apple tree in the garden is full of apples this year and we have started to pick a few. We brought home a carrier bag full of them and blackberries!  I think I might try making an apple chutney this year.

We walked down to the hen house to buy eggs although unusually there were none for sale.

A rose in one of the gardens.

I picked a rose from our garden - the scent was beautiful.

A few weeks ago we picked some honesty seedheads from the garden and dried them. We have now put them in a jar to in front of the rather modern fire we have in the lounge.

I spotted a Grey Dagger moth on the bee hotel - a new species for the site.

D's rudbeckia's are in flower now.

Another two people have left the caravan site - B's friend and ex work colleague who had a caravan in the walled garden and the people in the caravan next to us.  I think a lot of people are feeling very uncertain about possible changes to the site next year.

The next day Wednesday we popped into Tenbury Wells mainly to buy a few items from Tesco but we went for a walk first.

One of the trees in the Burgage recreation ground.

We popped into Mr Thoms to buy some of their Bramley Apple chutney which is delicious.  I just hope I can make some as good.

The antiques gallery

The next day we visited Berrington Hall as we haven't been for ages and I will write about that in the next post.

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)

Another Herefordshire Visit - Part 2: Hatfield

 

On the Friday we stayed at the caravan site doing a bit of cleaning, gardening and in my case a lot of reading!

There is still no change in the three Herefordshire trees.

Herefordshire Oak

The Constable Tree

The Octopus Tree - well hidden among the other trees!

There is a row of Aspen trees which I can see when I sit at the table and I love watching the way the leaves quiver, shake and tremble in the slightest breeze.

There are even more chilli peppers forming on this plant of D's.

Mini alliums are now flowering.

I love watching all the different cloud formations in the skies there.

Here is the pot of house leeks/sempervirens I bought from Burford House Garden Centre.  I will try and transfer them to a larger pot on a future visit.

A juvenile Green Woodpecker spotted on the grass outside the caravan.

I didn't see any sign of hedgehogs this visit but on several nights I watched the bats and listened to their echolocation calls on the bat detector.

There is still a lot of anxiety and concern among caravan owners as to what changes may happen to the site in the future.  I won't say too much but the siting of a new caravan there has caused a lot of upset and anger as it has been placed facing in the opposite direction to all the other caravans in the row!  

On the Saturday we decided to visit Croft Castle as we hadn't been this year and I'll write about that in the next one or two posts.

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).

Mid July Visit to Herefordshire - Hatfield

In mid July we returned to the caravan for 3 nights with E who was on holiday from work.

There was no change in the Herefordshire Trees from the week before as you can see!

Herefordshire Oak 

Octopus Tree

Constable Tree(s)

D's sunflowers have two flowers.

I am really pleased with the rose in a pot that we bought last autumn - it is just full of flowers.

D's chilli pepper plant has chillis forming (at least 3).

D spotted this local "Dragon Tree" plant in a local Morrisons store at home. I know it is not a "Dragon Tree" although it is similar to a Dragon Tree house plant D has but I can't remember the actual name.  D wanted to buy it for the caravan but both of us had forgotten our debit cards!  Fortunately when we were at Morrisons in Leominster they were selling them too. It has been planted in a pot that contained a bay tree that had sadly died over the winter.

Hollyhocks still flowering and blackberries are starting to ripen.

 

Timothy back on his shelf feeling rather relieved I had left Spotty Dotty man in my bag :)

We found a Great Spotted Woodpecker's feather lying on the grass near the feeders where they regularly come for food. I've put it in the "Finds" Box which you can see next to Timothy in the photo above.

Apart from the click and collect as usual at Morrisons Leominster we didn't leave the caravan site. Partly because it was hot but mainly because E was suffering from an ear infection and was in a lot of pain. Before we went away her GP had given her an antibiotic spray which sadly didn't work so now she is on oral antibiotics.

I think sadly it will be a few weeks before we can return as we have a car service and mot arranged plus a home gas boiler service and B has some medical appointments. Plus we need to buy a new cooker and will have to be at home for the delivery and fitting.  I will have to try not to worry about the plants if there is no rain unless we squeeze in a quick visit just to water the garden and stay for a night or two.

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).