June in the Garden

I have long admired the splendid Italianate rill and water channels at Buscot designed for Lord Farrington by the Edwardian Garden Designer, Harold Peto. 
Walking the rill takes you down a couple of flights of stone steps from the house,

 past this delightful playful dolphin and putti water feature, 

across this manicured stretch of lawn, and over a small bridge, until you eventually reach the lake.
This is just a taster of what is yet to come as soon we are heading off in a slightly different direction to view the garden designed by Harold Peto for himself.

Everything in our garden is currently growing like 'topsy'.

Today we have planted up the hanging baskets, and lots of tubs with various geraniums. I have made, what I am hoping, will be a blue flower pyramid. I have used some homegrown Ipomoea seedlings - heavenly blue 'morning glories' along with some bright blue Convolvulus seedlings - 'royal ensign'. Fingers crossed that they will mature and become established before any hungry creatures come visiting the garden.

Buscot

During this season of blossom and renewal I am reminded of the words used by A.E. Housman in A Shropshire Lad, written as a young man of twenty at a time when seventy was considered to be good.
"Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room".
These thoughts are a gentle reminder of how time is of the essence and every moment so precious.
****  
The weather has been perfect, and we have been making the most of it following what felt like a very long confinement during the winter months.
A visit to Buscot Park for a stroll along the water rill designed by Harold Peto for Lord Faringdon at the beginning of the c20th was our choice of destination. There was plenty of welcome dappled shade beneath the canopy of fresh green growth on the trees.

Buscot is surrounded by parkland, a formal walled garden, and has many magnificent vistas.

The steps leading down to the water rill and the lake beyond always pleases and provides a source of anticipation.

Having now reached the lake, I also discovered when back at home, that it was also the end of the line as far as using the computer was concerned. I could not finish this post or export photos - was it blogger or the computer?

Previously I have solved problems sometimes with wise advice from eldest son, but I was finding things far too complicated to solve via a long distance phone call. Everything I tried led me down a different dark pathway with no light at the end. The machine was taken away, and has only just now returned. It appears that my Apple Mac is not the junior I thought it was but is really past it's retirement date. Obsolescence is built into them from the minute you bring them home. I am not sure how things stand at the moment as problems are still being encountered. I may be absent for some time during the foreseeable future.

Buscot

via 
Buscot in 1938 - Eric Revilious (1903-1942)
Should you ever find yourself travelling across the southern Cotwold borders with Oxfordshire then Buscot is a 'must' visit. A wonderful parkland filled with vistas, a beautiful walled garden in which to wander, and a stunning water garden designed by the reknowned Harold Peto, and lastly a Palladian style house filled with exquisite treasures from The Faringdon Collection 
On this visit we walked through flower strewn parklands

enjoyed pathways and vistas

peeped in at the walled garden

bypassed the house filled with treasures
and wandered down 

to the water garden

which we enjoyed all by ourselves

(Primrose is derived from the Latin primus meaning first)
but you dear friends are welcome

 to join us 

and share Harold's 

lovely water gardens

before anyone else arrives!