Permaculture gardens, handling grief and dancing swallows.

I have just returned home for an over night stay, then back on the road to Cornwall.

The view across the Torridge from Tapeley Park.

Tapeley House.

  Each August I return to Devon to celebrate my youngest daughters birthday, this year she would have been sixteen.

On this trip we decided to make a vist to Tapeley Park, it is situated on the old Bideford to Barnstaple road, at Yelland.

Their Permaculture Garden.

Perennial Vegetables

Unusual Edibles

 The house dates back to the 1310's, it is mentioned in the Doomsday book as Tapelia, Hector Christie the current owner and his family have been there since 1855.

Hector like so many of us, did not during his youth appreciate the beauty of his family home and inheritance, for a while he turned his back on society and lived a hippy lifestyle.





   With age and the dawning of responsibilty, he has now firmly taken the reigns of responsibilty and put Tapeley Park back on the tourist map.

Most of the hippies have now left, the house and Italian gardens are well on their way to being restored, the walled kitchen garden is very productive and there is a fine adventure playground in the woods for younger children to discover whilst on a walk through the woods.

The Herbalist

Organic gardening.

Compost and manure.

   Several of the outbuildings have been opened to the public showing the mixed history of the site, there is a cafe in part of the historic house, which has a patio with a spectacular vista of the italian gardens, looking down over the valley towards the lake


All of which were lovely.But not the reason for my trip, I had heard that as well as the restored kitchen garden, and a 'green house build' for less than £700, they had also trialed a permaculture garden, and I was very excited to see what it was like.


And in truth.......it was rather.......full.The garden is bordered by large trees, which rather than shading the plants seemed to enclose them in a sense of security. There were lots of little grass paths running through the garden and plants and fruit trees in every direction you looked. All the beds were mixed, except the soft fruit bushes which were covered in nets and shared with chickens.

The Forest Garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wild and crazy, but definately working, the garden was brimming with fruit,vegetables and a few flowers.

It was amazing to see so many plants growing together in each bed. My photo does not do the plants justice.
If you are at all intrested in permacultural garedning, it is definately worth a visit, it does reenforce any beliefs you may have that you can grow a huge diversity of plants in a relatively small area and grow enough to keep a large family and probably their neighbors.

On the 10th August we made  our way down to the 'Daisy' project to plant some trees and have a birthday picnic in honour of our Daisy.

GF BBQ

New hedging plants.

Some of last years.

Sisters sunbathing!

Silver Birch

Next years job.....clearing the stream.

saplings.

Water Iris

Last years water Iris, growing so well.

Luckily for the first time since her passing ,we had splendid weather for her birthday tea. After the planting had been done and we had eaten our birthday tea, we were able to sit back and watch the swallows dancing, it was truely spectacular and a very magical end to a very beautiful day.

The field is now full of wildlife, as we sat,there were too many butterflies to count and although the wild flowers in the meadow were pretty much passed, as you walked through the culm grasses you kept stumbling upon little floral beauties, a true treasure hunt.

I dont think I will ever get used to the sudden and shocking death of my baby, I know she was no longer a baby, but to me all my children are still my babies, what ever their age. But spending time away from the house doing something positive on her birthday does seem to help in some ways,  I was delighted to find the purple [Daisy's favorite colour] wind flower with a pink butterfly [Daisy also loved butterflies...which was the seed that lead to the Daisy project] at a small shop in Torrington just before we left for the feild. It felt so right. All in all , it was a near perfect day, and the swallows were the icing on the cake.

The knitting too has progressed, I have now finished all the flowers for the top of the teacosy, leaves next followed by the cosy itself , more photos to follow .