Whispering Knights and Mysterious Stone Circles.

I've always known about the Rollright Stones but up until now not really thought about them that much. Now that we live so close it seems churlish not to pay them a visit. Home to pagan rituals, myths and legends this ancient circle dates back to Neolithic times and according to the leaflet I picked up in our local farm shop the stone circle was constructed around 2500 - 2000BC.

Legend has it that a King and his army were marching across to the Cotswolds when they were stopped by an evil witch who tricked the King into thinking he would become ruler of the land. Needless to say being the wicked witch that she was, she turned him and his army to stone instead!

Now hang on a minute, one minute these soldiers are marching forward, the next standing in a circle???  What's all that about?? I've never heard of that as an army manoeuvre before!

Anyway a week or so ago Henry suggested we should take doglett for her afternoon walk to the Rollright stones. It was nearly dark, cold, damp and foggy! Mmmmmmmmm, can't say it filled me with enthusiasm. Oh well...the dog needs her exercise so why not?

It's a short car drive away so we were there in a few minutes. Our previous visit was in late summer, hedgerows full of blackberries and sloes, autumn leaves just starting to fall and it was a warm, sunny day. High up and overlooking the hills towards Chipping Norton, tonight it's a cold spot and there is an eery light that hangs.....a stillness about the place that is chilling.

Who knows what ancient rituals and ceremonies took place here? Only the stones can tell....and they ain't talking!

A short walk along the path and we find the whispering Knights. A huddle of enourmous stones that really do look as if they are planning treacherous deeds. The surprising thing is that these were built around 3800 - 3000BC, long before the stone circle. So was it the same witch who turned these chaps to stone too?

As we head back towards the car our pace quickens and I resist the temptation to glance back over my shoulder...Truffle is drawn by the call of roosting pheasants and being the silly Spaniel that she is we have to make every effort to stop her running off into the mist. The coldness is starting to bite and even once we're back in the car, feet and hands are like ice blocks. It's a short ride back and we're thankful for the warmth and comfort of our little home.

Rollright Stones

New Dawn....New Lawn!

For some time now mother has been nagging me about the lawn! She's right of course...it's looking a bit tired, full of lumps and bumps, thinning at the edges and a wierd looking water-feature plonked in the middle!             .........Now what does that remind me of????

The electrics for the feature run through a pipe buried under the lawn and when you switch on the thing glimmers in the dark...but that's about all!

Hmmmmmm....more landfill fodder!

A bit of internet searching to find a good supplier of turf....might as well get some gravel for the paths whilst we're at it! Friday morning delivery, 60sqm of turf and a tonne of gravel....not much to do here then!

Mr F is looking worried!

Now all we have to do is prepare the old lawn, wheelbarrow the turf into the back garden and get to work! It's heavy stuff and back-breaking work, how come Mr F is all warm and cosy indoors whilst us girls do all the labouring????

Water feature is no more and we've filled in a few gaps with soil...mum reckons we can lay over the old grass so I'm not going to argue with that. We've calculated that we will have just enough to cover the area so starting from the bottom end of the garden here goes.....

Ideally the whole lot needs to be laid within 48 hours so it's a race against time to finish before dark - and my arms are starting to ache. I'm sure this stuff is getting heavier by the minute!

Job Done and nothing to spare! Now all I have to do is move a tonne of gravel.....but not today!

New Borders

Meanwhile, back in the borders more work to be done. Having cleared out all the random wild trees and self-seeded nut bushes we are left with a few gems previously hidden amongst the overgrown jungle!

All dormant now but hopefully if they survive the winter we will have some lovely Spring blooms to look forward to.

Buddleja-Globosa

A very long time ago when I lived in London I had one of these and the bees love it. We've cut ours back right to the base - seems drastic but you can do this with Buddleja and it will happily regenerate new growth. Situated at the top of the garden in the newly laid veggie plot it will provide a pretty feature next to the patio area.

Tree Peony

At this stage not sure what variety we have but the leaf looks very much like the photo below. We've cut out the dead wood and given the poor thing a bit of support. It was so starved of light it was leaning forward into the garden, desperate to grab sunshine where it could so it's a bit spindly at the moment but there are some promising sticky buds that look pretty healthy so fingers crossed.

Magnolia Tree

Another tree that has survived the purge but only just! Looking a bit tired and weary at the moment but hopefully now that it has space to breathe and light to feed on it will thrive.

The only thing is I'm not sure that these trees are too keen on limestone and ideally prefer acid soil - so the fact that it has survived this far is interesting.

Might have to get the soil testing kit out soon...apparently we have 2 types here as we are borderline limestone so maybe that's why the Magnolia is still hangin on in there!

With the final addition of leaf mould which is in abundant supply thanks to our enourmous resident ash tree, the planting up of a few more shrubs and trees and our border is finally taking shape.

Neatly edged with log roll and ready for the next phase when we re-lay the lawn!

'Armless Gnomes!

I can't say I'm a great fan of Garden Gnomes so this one found amongst the shrubbery made a brief apprearance on facebook before taking up residence in a Warwickshire landfill site!

A week or so later...and look what's lurking in the geranium pot!....A bit prettier than the last.... and due to a plea for amnesty from a friend I decide that maybe I'll keep this one after all!

Apparently one of the first garden gnomes was introduced to the UK by Sir Charles Isham and was called Lampy. This particular gnome still exists and is insured for a million quid! Blimey......and to think I might have thrown out a national treasure!

Gnomes are meant to ward off evil spirits....just as well I kept one of them in view of the sink hole find....who knows what lies beneath??

Dungeons and Dragon Whisperers!

Now who's this in the middle of the herb garden? Non other than my friend Agent Green the Dragon Whisperer aka Chloe of the Midnight Storytellers!

Death and destruction to all weeds, wherever you are!! Now, whilst Agent Green was aware of the mystery drainpipe hole, what she is not aware of until now is that this weekend we made a startling discovery...right underneath where she was busy digging!!!!

Well???? ....And?????

A rather large sink  hole that looks like an underground tunnel!

Lined with London bricks! Hey...I could do with some more of those but maybe that's taking the whole recycling thing a bit too far and the consequences don't bear thinking about!

 

Now if you look closely you will see a little froglett sat on the rubble.... wait a minute - of course, why didn't I think of that before? It must be the Soup Dragon's lair!!!

Mmmmmmmmm....think we might have to get Agent Green to come back and investigate!

Time for a nice cup of Tea!

"What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?"

Or in my case, time to stop and sit down for a nice cuppa! One of the garden pieces we brought with us was our much loved old swing seat. In order to move it though, we had to dismantle the frame  - but as some of the bolts bolts refused to budge, drastic measures were needed and the only solution in the end was to get out the hack saw! Bolts and fixings carefully stored in a plastic box but on arrival here nowhere to be found! Funny that.

Oh well...Henry and his friend Silas managed to fix swing seat and frame back together so all it needs now is a coat of  paint  and it will be as good as new. More slab laying and a repair to the dry stone wall, steps made from faux log slabs found under the Yew tree, a few pansies to pretty it all up and we have a little place in the sun to sit and contemplate!

 

Truffle likes it too!

Now here's a funny thing....whilst building the steps we find a deep drainpipe hole but with no manhole cover! Goes pretty deep too as  no sound when dropping stones down it. What could it be? An air vent for an underground bunker? The next discovery deepens the mystery further........

Reuse and Recycle!

I think this should be our family motto...not sure what the translation would be in Latin and as I'm not fluent in the language the best I can do thanks to Google is:

praecessi quod redivivus
So if there are any Latin scholars out there...please feel free to correct!

Now that the basic garden clearance is done, time to start sorting out the borders, build a terraced seating area in a sunny spot....and create a veggie plot at the top of the garden. We had to get outside help following the tree felling in order to dig out the stumps. And what better company to call in than our local man from 'Grindforce'.

Job done and we set to work...endless digging and masses of roots removed. A scout around the garden and I find a supply of Bradston bricks and random slabs left by our predecessors. Rich pickings and perfect for building the patio. Hard labour for someone who spends most days slaving over a hot computer and muscles found that I never knew existed before!!!

However, things are starting to take shape and remarkably the pation area works really well. I have no means of cutting the bricks so have to hope that I can fit them all together somehow without ragged edges...bit like doing a jigsaw but with heavy bricks! However it works and here is the final result.

Just enough London red bricks to create an edging between the lawn and top of the garden, set in a curve and bedded down with sand and soil it makes a pleasing curve that defines one area from another. More finds in the undergrowth as we discover a whole collection of old fashioned hand thrown terracotta pots....perfect for potting up random bulbs found when we were digging through the border. No idea what the bulbs are so it will be a pleasant surprise to see what emerges in the spring! 

Taming the Garden Jungle

Well, here we are in the depths of rural Oxfordshire. Most of the boxes unpacked, some rooms redecorated and our studios up and running!

We knew that we'd taken on let me say 'a bit of a project' regarding the garden but it was only once we arrived that we realised just how much work there was to do!!

20 years of neglect, unruly hedges, overgrown trees and shrubs, a tangle of a broken rose arch with an old gate hidden in the undergrowth and a pretty apple tree engulfed by ivy require drastic action....

 

Time to call in the professionals and get some help with the clearance! Luckily we have a neighbour who is a tree surgeon, although not much surgery involved here, more of a general chopping down!

Meanwhile in the front garden we are busy at work, and the apple tree is released from it's ivy prison. A little bit of pruning (with help from Henry and my 80 year old mum) and we have a pretty tree rescued from oblivion!

Now it's a haven for birds since we added a couple of feeders and a little bird table. Daily visitors include a family of blue tits, plus nuthatches, sparrows, goldfinches, the robin, chaffinches and blackbirds. This week we were really excited to have our feeders visited by a gorgeous woodpecker. The greater spotted, swinging on the nut feeder with gay abandon! Haven't managed to get him on camera yet - he's quite shy but we're working on it!