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Jan 29, 2012, 5:53 pm
I have exchanged a couple of comments recently with ExmoorJane after one of her posts got me thinking. I spend a lot of my time thinking, it goes with the day job. Now these thoughts are not usually high powered for I don't spend my working hours in a dynamic office environment; I spend them - ... Comment - Like
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Life in the English Cotswolds
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Jan 21, 2012, 11:11 am
Perhaps it is because London will be hosting the Olympic Games later this year that the capital seemed rather quiet and devoid of people and traffic when I visited it at the beginning of the month. Although it lacked its usual 'buzz' it did mean more comfortable walking and it was definitely ... Comment - Like
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Oct 8, 2011, 4:22 pm
It is said that the English, compared to those from other countries, always talk of the weather and, I have to admit that it is true. I have also heard it said that, whereas other countries have 'climate', we just have 'weather'. And it is weather that has shaped the nation's psyche, especially thos... Comment - Like
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Sep 17, 2011, 3:46 pm
To compete at the Burghley horse trials you have to be brave, for the size of the fences are not for the faint-hearted. However, to have reached the standard that is required, riders and their horses have had to overcome fear in plenty and have the necessary skill, stamina and strength to compete at... Comment - Like
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Sep 6, 2011, 4:13 pm
One of the highlights of my social calendar is the annual trip to Burghley for the horse trials. Although I ride and, probably immodest of me to say it, ride rather well, neither my horse, nor my skill, nor my nerve would take me to this level. As it happens, we have just got an additional new horse... Comment - Like
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Aug 22, 2011, 4:47 pm
Much has been written about creating wild flower meadows in recent years. Many gardening magazines infer that somehow you must be lacking in something if you don't rush out there and then and rip up your precious lawn to create the daisy and orchid studded turf depicted in medieval tapestries. There... Comment - Like
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Aug 6, 2011, 2:41 pm
Everyone seems to love poppies. It doesn't matter if they are the delicate crepes of the Icelandic or big and blousy Oriental poppies - even 'though the latter so often lie sprawling across the ground, flattened by the weather or their own weight. But most loved of all are the wild scarlet poppies t... Comment - Like
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Jul 16, 2011, 3:57 pm
Last Sunday turned out to be a glorious day after twenty four hours of much needed rain. Thank goodness it did for a friend had organised that most English of traditions - a posh picnic on the lawns of a large country house, followed by a concert in the music room.
And so we found ourselves eating ... Comment - Like
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Jul 2, 2011, 12:16 pm
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A sad day. Tim, the last of She-dog's seven puppies has gone to his new home today. We had kept him for an extra few weeks while his new owners were away on holiday. Never again - we've grown far too attached to him. And so, we now find ourselves not quite 'Derby and Joan' more 'Derby and Joan wit... Comment - Like
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Jun 20, 2011, 4:07 pm
How quickly time goes by when you are having fun - and what fun we have had! From the very moment that She-dog gave birth to her seven pups in the middle of a dinner party, to this very hectic time now, we have had ten weeks of sheer magic and joy.
We did not know if we, or She-dog, would cope, for ... Comment - Like
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Jun 12, 2011, 9:19 am
From early childhood my parents taught my sister and I the skills to be self-sufficent. From my father we were both taught how to grow and harvest things from the garden which ultimately led to me earning my living from gardening. My sister became a skilled plantswoman and, although she has never ea... Comment - Like
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Jun 11, 2011, 5:07 pm
I am sure that I am not the only one having problems with Blogger ar the moment. For quite a while I've been unable to see my Followers - that seems to have resolved itself today.
However, I also cannot respond to messages for some reason. When I do I am asked to sign in and then told that I'm not a... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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May 7, 2011, 9:33 am
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It has been difficult to remember, sometimes, that it is still only spring time. After the unusually early, bitter and snowy winter weather we experienced, 2011 came in cold but dry. It remained so until the end of March when, wham!, summer arrived.
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With temperatures soaring into the mid 80's, m... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Apr 29, 2011, 9:40 am
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!!Breaking News!!
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Although the puppies are rather young they have attended their first Royal Wedding. I have to admit that the humans that live in the secret valley has been rather excited by the build-up to the wedding - most of us are ardent royalists. The puppies, however, decided they must h... Comment - Like
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Apr 24, 2011, 2:16 pm
Puppies progressing well!
Feeding time ......
Tummies filled and feeling sleepy .....
First view of the world - one eye open, one eye closed .....
First steps on four legs - rather wobbly ones .....
More puppy updates to follow! Comment - Like
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Apr 10, 2011, 8:28 am
Photographs speak louder than words at times like this! For those of you that are not familiar with this blog, She-dog, is our adorable three year old lurcher who shares life with us and bantams and horses in our fantastic, little secret valley, deep in the Cotswold Hills in England. . 9 hours old ... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Mar 26, 2011, 7:24 pm
In my last post I discussed a new-to-me variety of Ribes, Ribes laurifolium. In it, I mentioned that it was unlike those I have seen elsewhere. That is, I have since discovered is because it isn't a Ribes at all! It had been wrongly labelled in the nursery where I bought it. It isn't even related to... Comment - Like
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Mar 22, 2011, 4:41 pm
I hardly dare mention it but I think Spring is finally coming to the Cotswolds. After I wrote about it back in February, the man from the Met Office sent us cold again. Hard frosts put spring on hold. To be fair, as I also wrote, the Cotswolds may be one of the most beautiful places to live in the s... Comment - Like
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Mar 1, 2011, 2:49 pm
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First Update - Ancestors!
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Regular readers of this blog may recall my post about discovering not only my great (and also great-great) grandparents graves but also finding that the church that they had been instrumental in building still there and thriving. Great-great grandpa Wright had also been... Comment - Like
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Feb 27, 2011, 5:13 pm
The first signs of spring are always welcome and especially so after the winter that we have had this time. Frosts arrived early in the season, followed by snow that lay both deep and long, which is unusual for the south of England..Winter in the secret valley: sheep wait patiently for food by our l... Comment - Like
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Feb 4, 2011, 8:00 am
It is a busy time in the garden as the weather at the moment is quite mild and dry. This is an unusual combination for an English winter as warmer winds that come from the Atlantic Ocean also bring rain. It is the bitingly cold weather that comes from Eastern Europe or sweeps down from the Arctic th... Comment - Like
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Jan 22, 2011, 7:58 am
Last summer I spent a day walking on Dartmoor, an area of wild, remote and barren land situated in the south of the county of Devon. Dartmoor is an area of granite outcrops (tors) and coarse grassland, trees are few - except for occasional conifer plantations - and people and properties even fewer. ... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Jan 10, 2011, 4:20 am
Plans are afoot to visit Dublin in Ireland once again this Spring. I went last April and the weather was glorious - it is a nice thought anticipating some spring warmth. The highlight then was the day spent at Glasnevin, the city's botanic gardens.
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Like many events in life, it is often the unexpec... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Jan 1, 2011, 5:15 am
The snow has all but gone from the secret valley, thanks to a sudden thaw, after the temperature rose from -15 centigrade to +6 centigrade. Some still clings to the gullies at the sides of the fields and on the colder banks of the hillside but elsewhere, in its place, is the battered appearance of a... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Dec 25, 2010, 3:33 am
.Christmas Greetings.from the.(very snowy).Secret Valley. For the first time for very many years we have a white Christmas
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Thank you for your continued support and interest - keep the comments flowing, I'm always interested to hear your views!
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May you all have a very happy holiday
Johnson
Cotsw... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Dec 19, 2010, 8:51 am
The other day I recalled one of the nursery rhymes that my mother used to sing to me when I was a small child sitting on her lap. Goodness knows why, after so very many years, but no sooner had I done so than the words became true:
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"The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow and what will the... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Dec 5, 2010, 3:18 pm
The tiny road that passes the converted chapel that we have been staying in once again for a late holiday continues to climb further into the mountains. The grassy areas, cropped short by sheep, give way to bracken, heather and stunted gorse, also shortened by the harsh climate. And an hours walk al... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Nov 16, 2010, 3:11 pm
These days the Cotswolds, with its rolling landscape, dry stone walls and picture postcard villages, give the impression of being sleepy and sparsely populated, basking (or some may say smug) in its glory of being one of the jewels of the British countryside. But this is not so. For it is a working ... Comment - Like
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Nov 2, 2010, 3:50 pm
There comes a time when old friends go and new ones appear and so it is with Henry. Not that he has met his demise, despite being elderly and a little infirm. He has gone to pastures new.
. .Henry, our Irish Draught horse, has had a blissful life here in the Cotswolds after a hectic time in his earl... Comment - Like
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Oct 28, 2010, 4:13 pm
If ladybirds landing on you are traditionally a sign of good fortune to come, I wonder what the latest invasion of hundreds of them coming to hibernate in my bedroom means? Probably not much as I have evicted the majority of them! However, there is something rather special when a wild creature, howe... Comment - Like
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Oct 19, 2010, 8:48 am
Autumn has been at its best the last week or so with blue skies and warm sunshine by day, the perfect weather for long walks. And afterwards, as the evening chill sets in, what can be better than to laze contentedly in front of a blazing log fire, losing your thoughts in the flickering flames? This... Comment - Like
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Oct 6, 2010, 5:41 pm
I love sheep! There is something about them. They are supposed to be stupid but I've known some clever ones in my time (like I've known lots of people who claim to be clever .....). They have exquisite faces, full of charm with a look in their eyes that just beg for a little more human understanding... Comment - Like
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Sep 29, 2010, 3:05 pm
To quote from the Keats poem 'To Autumn', is rather cliched I know but it really is becoming the "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" here in the secret valley. I have to admit until I decided upon the theme for this post that, although I had heard this line so many times before, I'd never read... Comment - Like
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Sep 22, 2010, 4:57 pm
The lower reaches of the river Otter turn from fresh water to brackish as the river joins the sea. At low tide, mud and salt flats are exposed creating a safe habitat for the hundreds of seabirds and waders that feed, breed or rest on migration there. This area, including its wildlife, I have writte... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Sep 14, 2010, 11:21 am
The River Otter although not long in length - barely 20 miles from its source in the Blackdown Hills to the sea - is rich in wildlife. Mostly flowing through Devon, in Britain's West Country, it rises just over the border in the county of Somerset. Passing through rich and fertile farmland it enters... Comment - Like
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Sep 2, 2010, 5:36 pm
I have found that there are no shades of grey when appreciation - or lack of it - of Richard Long's art is discussed. It seems that either, like me, you are swept away by it or you just cannot see the point of it at all. Whilst respecting this latter point of view, I ask myself, "Does art have to ha... Comment - Like
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Aug 28, 2010, 5:29 am
As far as butterflies go, the Large Skipper is not particularly uncommon but I don't recall seeing them in quite the numbers that I have this summer. They are active butterflies, frequently on the move and fast flying but eventually come to rest to feed or bask in the warmth of the sun.
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The Lar... Comment - Like
johnson posted an article on
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Aug 20, 2010, 5:16 am
..... well, great-Granny actually. I hadn't exactly lost her for I had 'discovered' her in old census records when researching our family history. I also remembered being told, as a child, that "Granny used to live there". What I hadn't realised was that Granny and my more distant ancestors were som... Comment - Like
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Aug 12, 2010, 5:00 pm
The heatwave may have ended a good number of days ago but the dry weather hasn't and the gardens are desparate for water. Digging down to plant some large shrubs the other day, there was no sign of moisture in the soil, nor earthworms for that matter, no matter how deep I dug. It is tedious to water... Comment - Like
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Aug 6, 2010, 4:34 pm
It is a family joke that whenever a large piece of stone is seen, one person asks "What is it?" and the other answers - slowly and after much deliberation and head scratching - "well, it's a massive piece of granite". For, many years ago, this was the only answer we got from an old countryman at an... Comment - Like
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Jul 31, 2010, 5:58 pm
How often does a garden plan go awry only to find that you have something equally as good, if not better, instead? This is what happened to one of my designs, a large area taking up almost one quarter of a walled kitchen garden.
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Formal beds, surrounded by box(wood) hedging and topiary, were pla... Comment - Like
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Jul 26, 2010, 6:10 pm
Greetings from the secret valley! Today is a special day for it is exactly one year since my very first post.
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the secret valley
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When I began blogging, it occurred to me that, as what I was writing would be in the 'public domain', that someone might read it. However, deep down, I didn't think ... Comment - Like
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Jul 25, 2010, 11:20 am
It has been a good year for cherries. Despite the hard and late frosts, which continued well into May, there has been a bumper crop. And, for some reason, the birds have been kind enough to leave them for us humans to harvest. There is the appearance of something exotic, or even of decadence, in the... Comment - Like
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Jul 16, 2010, 3:34 pm
This year is proving to be one of extremes. Weather wise, first it was snow, then late frosts, then rain, more recently drought and scorching temperatures. And it also seemed to be a similar situation with wildlife. The tree blossom and wild flowers have been amazing with every month some new blooms... Comment - Like
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Jul 8, 2010, 9:38 am
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am very fond of garden plants that have not been messed around with too much. By that, I mean I generally prefer the simpler flowers. So-called 'improvement' is so often just another word for vulgar, blousy and big - although there are occasions when I h... Comment - Like
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Jun 19, 2010, 7:45 am
...go out in the midday sun, according to the song sung by Noel Coward. But I don't think it was the noon heat that made She-Dog behave more like a deranged She-Devil, I think it was an extremely herb scented and squelchy bog that got her all worked up. Although she does certainly looks completely m... Comment - Like
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Jun 14, 2010, 5:41 pm
One of the pleasures of living on a small island is that you are never far from anywhere - except another country (apologies to Wales and Scotland, I know that you are proud of your separate identities and rightly so).
So last Friday I spent at home in the Cotswolds - limestone country, wide open vi... Comment - Like
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Jun 8, 2010, 5:15 pm
We all go through periods of our lives when plans are thwarted, futures unravelled and forgotten pasts unfortunately remembered. It is something we have to come to terms with for, after all, if there were no 'lows', we couldn't have 'highs' either.
It has been a difficult couple of weeks although, i... Comment - Like
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May 25, 2010, 4:52 pm
I always feel better when the sun is shining. I have more energy and achieve far more, whether working in the garden or even doing indoor chores. And sitting outside feeling the warmth on bare bits of body (not much on show these days after a bout of skin cancer), preferably with a glass of a good, ... Comment - Like
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May 16, 2010, 5:18 pm
.....or should it be There's no Blossom like Sloe Blossom?
This winter was long and cold and, by the standards of southern England, very snowy. Spring has not been much better with little in the way of warmth for, even on sunny days, there has been a chill wind blowing from the north or east. Frosts... Comment - Like
Blog written by a Garden Designer and countryman, born and brought up in the Chiltern Hills, England but now living and working in the Cotswolds. When not gardening, still outdoors with horses and dogs or watching wildlife or walking. Garden talk, as well as tales of the country and prattle about the area, its history, landscape and people. Other areas include the Chilterns and Exmoor, both of which are known intimately.
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