The Primrose path

May is probably my busiest time of year. After a long winter and a colder-than-average early Spring, we've had a few warm days and everything, flowers, weeds and grass, has sprung to life and is growing like crazy. There isn't much grass to cut at Hill Top but at Monk Coniston, one of the other gardens I look after, there is enough to keep me busy for quite a few hours. I cut it the week before last and I've just been over there and it already needs doing again!

Given the amount of work to do at this time of year, it probably wasn't a great idea to take a week off for a 'boys trip' (or more accurately a 'middle-aged and increasingly decrepit blokes trip'). We stayed in a remote and basic bothy near Inverie in Knoydart on the North-West coast of Scotland, and spent three days mountain biking and walking whilst dodging the rain and snow showers. 

Quite snowy on the tops!

One of the highlights of the trip (apart from the excellent Old Forge which claims to be the remotest pub in Britain) was the sheer number of wild flowers.
On one of our jaunts up an unpronounceable Scottish munro, large areas of the lower slopes were literally covered in wild primroses, accompanied by wood anemones, dog violets, lesser celandine and even a common lizard warming up in the sun. The surprising thing was all these woodland flowers were growing quite happily a long way from the nearest woodland. We came to the conclusion that at one time in the past (before the clearances?) the area would have been wooded, and although the trees have gone, the flowers have remained and are thriving thanks to the very low grazing pressure. We saw quite a few Red Deer but no sheep at all while we were there.

Primroses by the thousand

Back in the real world, my little greenhouse is bursting at the seams with all sorts of vegetable and flower seedlings all waiting until they are big and brave enough to go out and face the slugs and snails and mice and rabbits and cold and wind and rain of Hill Top garden. I've got marrows and broad beans, hollyhocks and everlasting flowers, lettuces and kale, pumpkins and French beans and I'll be planting them out over the next few weeks. I've put in my onion sets and planted potatoes already and I'll be sowing seeds like beetroot, peas and spinach straight into the ground as soon as I get chance. I'll keep you updated on their progress.

Waiting to go out

Other plants looking good at the moment include the white wisteria on the house wall which is just coming into flower and the Azaleas opposite which will soon be their usual riot of colour. Having looked back at some photos from last year, the flowering time seem to be about two weeks behind last year. 

Something which you just have to see and hear if you're in the area is the 'Harmonica Botanica' currently installed in the fern house at Wray Castle. A plant growing in a pot has electrodes clipped to its leaves and roots and the change in resistance as the plant grows is fed into a box of electronic gibbons which converts the signals into wonderful soothing, constantly changing music. One of our visitors found it so relaxing that they fell asleep and missed their bus home! Here's a link showing the Harmonica when it was installed at Cragside, apparently the gardeners there are really missing it. It's at Wray Castle until May 20th so pop along if you can.

My musical link this time isn't one of my all time favourites but it ticked too many boxes to pass up, especially in the week following the somewhat momentous result in the general election 'North of the Border'.

See you next time

Words and pictures by Pete the Gardener

Lost your bottle?

Very recently, here on the South Lakes Property we held an Assessment Day to help us choose a new member of staff - an Assistant House Steward. The Assessment Day was held at Wray Castle, on the shores of Windermere, which has to be the best location for a job interview - it certainly has the best views. And thankfully it wasn't as snowy on this day!

We put our potential new member of the team through all manner of tests (but we also gave them lunch). My role on this day was to work with the other House Steward and do the 'Object Handling' session.

The idea of this Handling session is to test the candidates' knowledge of the care of and conservation of various items; in this case a textile, a book and a piece of ceramic. We ask the candidates to handle them, watching carefully to make sure they do it in the correct way so as to minimise any risk of damage. We ask them to look carefully at the object - describing its condition in detail. They will tell us about cleaning the object and maybe displaying it safely to the public.

The ceramic we chose this time was not a fancy gilded delicate piece, which our candidates may well have expected, thinking of Beatrix Potter's lovely collection of cups and saucers and ornaments that are on display at Hill Top. Instead we chose an earthenware bottle, with a broken handle.quite at random.

Down in the basement there are all nature of interesting things during the closed season: all the Craft materials for children's activities; Christmas decorations; dressing up clothes; a taxidermied Herdwick sheep; recycling bins and boxes containing items dug up from the grounds of Wray Castle.

Once our candidates got over their surprise at having to deal with such an unusual item, they seemed to relish handling and describing it. One rightly surmised that it had been dug up from somewhere!

After the assessment sessions were done and we were in the basement with cups of tea and leftover sausage rolls (from lunch). I decided to Google the mark that was on the bottle, as it was so unusual. Herzogthum Nassau was stamped on it, along with a kind of lion decal and the word 'SELTERS'. I wanted to know what this all meant!

What I discovered was that this bottle once contained German mineral water! Herzogthum Nassau, means the Duchy of Nassau, a province in western Germany that is today the state of Hesse. The Selters area of the province on northern slopes of the Taunus mountains was famous for its mineral springs. Starting in the mid-18th century, the water was packaged in stoneware vessels and sold internationally. Shipments went out to the Netherlands, Sweden, England, France, Russia, Africa, even as far afield as America and Jakarta. It was a highly profitable venture, with more than a million jugs sold in 1791. In 1850 three million jugs were sold!

Wray Castle was built in the 1840s by James Dawson (a surgeon) who had way more money than sense, and he would appear to have been a fan of the health benefits of drinking this carbonated mineral water. Who would have imagined that way back then bottled water was readily available and drunk by those who could afford it? I certainly learnt something interesting that day.

Written by Fiona (one of the House Stewards)

Exploring the Lake District by foot, bus, bike and boat with Peter rabbit

The Lake District is full of options for people wishing to leave their cars behind.  You really don't need to be an athlete to explore the countryside without a car.  Buses, bikes and boats allow everyone to enjoy the view and avoid congestion on the narrow roads.
 We have explored one of these possibilities with a very famous character; Peter Rabbit.  Peter wanted to follow in the steps of the woman who created him and learn more about her life, talents and legacy as well as seeing her home and many of his friends.

Peter was staying on the Eastern side of Lake Windermere near Bowness and so he decided to set out on his journey by boat.  First decision - whether to get the passenger ferry from Bowness or the car ferry from Ferry Nab.  Owing to Beatrix Potter's connection with Cockshott Point he decided to lollop a few steps south and get the car ferry.  It runs every 20 minutes and takes cars, bikes and pedestrians (and horses).

The next step can be done on foot or by bike or bus.  Peter tried bike but couldn't quite reach the pedals!

He wanted to see where Beatrix Potter first met the Lake District so he set out on the beautiful 4 mile walk along the lake shore to Wray Castle.

Beatrix Potter discovered the Lake District almost by mistake when her parents' regular holiday home in Scotland was unavailable.  She celebrated her 16th birthday at Wray Castle and fell in love with the area ....Maybe you will too!

Peter decided to explore the Castle.  The tour told him all about the castle and the link between Beatrix and one of the founders of the National Trust.  Then he had a play with some friends, built his own castle and polished off his picnic with some hot chocolate.

Then a quick scamper round the outdoor play area   ....

....Then on to discover more about Beatrix's passion and skills in sketching, drawing and painting at the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead - but this time on the bus from Wray Castle.

The bus only takes 10 minutes and the service also runs to and from the ferry if you don't fancy the 4 mile walk Peter did. 

From the bus stop it's only a couple of minutes walk through the village to the Gallery.  Peter couldn't resist a visit to the National Trust shop.

Back to the bus stop and another 10 minute bus ride to Beatrix Potter's house, Hill Top.

The village of Near Sawrey is where Beatrix Potter settled and took refuge from the London life.  It is where she found inspiration for many of her little books.  It was as wonderful as Peter hoped and he managed to catch up with some old friends hopping around the orchard!

Peter had intended to finish his journey by following the footpath through the fields and down to the ferry but he fancied a cup of tea at the Tower Bank Arms which he remembered from reading the story of Jemima Puddleduck  ....

..so, after some refreshment, he caught the bus back to the ferry.

Why don't you follow in the steps of Beatrix Potter like Peter did?  If you're staying in Ambleside you can get a boat directly to Wray Castle.  Maybe Peter will try that on his next visit ...

Bye for now.

Enjoy your holidays  using your feet, bikes, boats and bus to explore!

Potter-ing at Wray Castle

Beatrix Potter has been a recurring theme at Wray Castle recently and over the next few weeks, renewing a relationship that started when Beatrix's family rented the castle for a summer holiday when she was a girl.

The Potters at Wray Castle, photo courtesy of V&A and Frederick Warne

Recently we had Simon a specialist conservator in to the castle to work on Beatrix's collection of insects, butterflies etc contained in her collection cabinet, on loan from the Beatrix Potter Society. The contents of Beatrix Potters Collections Cabinet had to undergo some essential repairs (in some cases re-uniting heads, torsos, wings and legs!). Each of the sixteen drawers contains a mini themed collection eg fragile moths, butterflies, beetles, birds eggs, shells and geological specimens - all collected by Beatrix and her brother Bertram; collecting in this way was a favourite hobby for Victorians interested in the natural world. Unfortunately we're not able to put the cabinet on view yet but hope to do so next year.

Simon at work, clearly a patient man!

Each Monday afternoon until the end of October, our house team are on hand in the castle to demonstrate to the visitors aspects of our conservation work. For September they're focusing on Beatrix Potter heirlooms ie artefacts and objects owned by Beatrix and in our collection but which don't normally form a part of what is on display. If you are interested in Beatrix or in our conservation work do come along and see the team at work as they carry out the regular regime of caring for our objects.

At the end of September and into October we'll be joined by members of the Beatrix Potter Society who will be doing readings from Beatrix's tales and also talking about her life and work. The members are all experts in Beatrix Potter and will be a great source of information, so do come with your questions.

Members of the Beatrix Potter Society at a reading and questions event

Finally for the younger visitors more interested in Peter Rabbit than Beatrix Potter they can visit the Peter Rabbit playroom where they can dress up in that famous blue jacket and watch the latest version of Peter and his friends, an animated series showing on CBeebies. The new playroom is a collaboration between the National Trust, CBeebies, and the show’s creators, Silvergate Media.

Great fun for young fans of Peter.

The Beatrix Potter Society members are at the castle on Sept 29 at 3.30pm and 30 Sept at 2.00pm and Oct 1,2 , and 3 also at 2.00pm. For more information on the Beatrix Potter Society.

Keep up with our Wray Castle events on our Wray Castle Events page.


Post by Linda
Photos via V&A; from Wray Castle team and from the BP Soc

Summertime, and the livin' is.....

....quite hectic actually!

It's been a busy month since I wrote my last blog post; and the Lakes, like most of the country, has been basking in glorious sunshine. We had three weeks without so much as a drop of rain and it got to the stage where I was forced to break out my hose pipe to water the wilting Astrantias and parched rhubarb patch. We've had some heavy showers in the past few days which have watered the garden far more effectively than I ever could and cooled things down a bit.
The dry weather didn't stop the weeds growing though and as the season progresses many plants finish flowering and need to be dead-headed or cut back completely to produce a new flush of leaves and hopefully a few more flowers. The roses flowered well but didn't last long in the dry weather, so there's plenty of dead-heading to do there too.
Other flowers are taking their place though, the Shasta daises, phloxes and evening primroses are blooming nicely.

Shasta daisy

In the vegetable garden we have had more rabbity visitors (six were reported one afternoon) and I eventually discovered two large holes in the paddock fence, caused by the sheep putting their feet (hooves?) on the netting to try and reach an overhanging rose bush. Once the holes were repaired, no more rabbits have been seen.

The dry weather has kept the slug population nicely under control and kept them away from the strawberry patch long enough to produce this absolute whopper of a strawberry, pictured sitting in an egg cup for scale.

Bigger than a sheep!

In my role as Hill Top's unofficial handyman I'm quite used to wielding a drill and a screwdriver to fix everything from shop fittings to gates and even the coal bunker, but the most unusual request so far came from the shop team. Could I make a 'rustic hat stand' to display our range of headgear outside the shop. Always one for a challenge I set to with saw and drill and produced this-

Hat stand or art installation?

It's amazing what can be done with some hazel poles and an off-cut of oak beam. The only problem is Hawkshead and Wray Castle shops want them now too!

Also this month, I made a brief appearance on Radio 4 Gardeners' Question Time http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036l5kq (my bit starts at 11 minutes and 10 seconds if you don't want to listen to the whole thing). I was suffering with a nasty bout of food poisoning at the time and had to literally drag myself out of my sick-bed to be interviewed, so if I sound a bit spaced out, you know why!

We also had a visit from renowned photographer Allan Pollok-Morris who spent two days (and two very early mornings) in the garden taking pictures for a feature in The English Garden magazine, to be published some time next year.

He didn't get a picture of a giant strawberry in an egg cup though!

See you next time.

Words and pictures by Pete the Gardener.

Why did the chickens cross the road...?

... to get to Hill Top of course! At least several chickens did this week.

I'm getting used to the unusual (if that makes any sense at all) in my job with the National Trust. This Tuesday was a classic with the call coming over the radio 'Car park to Jo, can you come down and help us catch some chickens please?' So off I went and found that the chickens who live opposite had decided to cross the road to visit us at Hill Top. Ken managed to catch a couple and return them, but they were doing a great job of entertaining our visitors and dodging cars! Normal service was resumed fairly swiftly with all chickens returned home safe and sound after their adventure.

One of Hill Top's more unusual visitors

There's always something new happening at Wray Castle, and this week has been no exception. Rose has been working with the Secret Windermere project to install an exhibition of sculptures made from the rubbish which was brought up from the lake. Your first thought might be that this sounds dirty and dreadful but it's exactly the opposite - it's fab! I loved it! A professional artist has worked with the materials and the local primary school to create all sort of creatures which could be swimming in Windermere. And it's amazing to see what some people have lost in the lake!





Come and have a look the next time you're in the area - the exhibition is on all summer through to September.


This is my favourite time of year at Hill Top, a time when I feel so lucky to spend my working days here in this beautiful place. It's no surprise to me at all that Beatrix fell in love with it and gained so much inspiration for her writing, her art and her conservation work. The garden always looks lovely, whatever time of year it is, but in my opinion, in late May to mid June it's at it's most colourful and best. So I've just been out to take a few photos of it to share with you. Hope you enjoy.


I love this purple wisteria which covers the roof of Pete the Gardener's shed. It's always out a bit later than the white wiseria and the smell is gorgeous




The white wisteria is so much better than last year, when it was very sparse



Although a bit past their best now, the azaleas have been lovely, despite being battered by the rain






And the veg garden is doing well too - especially the rhubarb

And finally, the path where Tom Kitten, Mittens and Moppet played, looking lush and lovely.

Hope you enjoyed that!

Jo

Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter - and the world!

The last few days have seen lots of really exciting goings on around are area of the Lakes - all inspired by Beatrix and what she did 100+ years ago.  There is always lots of interest in Beatrix and her life in the Lakes, particularly around Hill Top, the very first place she bought and the place that remained most special to her.  The 'Miss Potter' film in 2006 generated a massive increase in visitors to Hill Top and other places - and in a few days time, there will be another major new series starting...  However, I jump ahead!

Miss Potter - still very popular (and you can buy the DVD from our Hill Top Shop and support us that way!)

We were very busy on Wednesday hosting a several Japanese press visits including a TV crew shooting for a new show on the Lakes (if you are in Japan in July, keep your eyes open for 'Kosuichihou' on the screen!)  This involved filming inside Hill Top as well as in the garden, the village and other places associated with Beatrix.  We also had a visit from a team from Sony in Japan, also accompanied by a number of press who were also visiting in preparation for the new Peter Rabbit series - it's easy to forget just how 'big' Peter and Beatrix are in Japan and in many other countries around the world.

Cath welcoming the Japanese press to Hill Top - konichiwa!

Later in the week, we welcomed some of the team from Silvergate media and Penguin books who have been working on a new Peter Rabbit animation series for children.  We've been helping them for several years to develop this (it is very much based on the Lakes and the area that Beatrix loved so much) and they were here to discuss how we move it forward.  Indeed, keep your eyes open on our Wray Castle site from some exciting news in the next couple of weeks... http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/wray-castle/

They were also here for Saturday, which saw the launch of the new series by the BBC and CBeebies at Zeffirellis cinema in Ambleside.  As one of the key partners with this, several of us were lucky enough to be invited to the premiere - and we then took a number of those present on a boat trip to Wray Castle, the place where, in 1882, Beatrix and her family stayed and where she started her lifelong love of the Lakes.  As well as giving those folks a short taste of what the Castle has to offer, we were also able to persuade everyone else on the boat to come and have a look round as well!

Coming in to the Jetty at Wray Castle - definitely the way to arrive!

It was really exciting to see the new animation series - and keep your eyes open in the next few weeks to see when it launches on CBeebies - it is aimed at about the 3 to 6 year old, but is just as good for the older amongst us!  You'll see many characters that you'll know already - Peter, Benjamin, Nutkin and Mr Tod - as well as a new character called Lily, who is set on Beatrix herself.  We're really hoping that it will bring Peter to a new audience - and from this, to Beatrix, to the classic tales that she wrote, and then to the Lakes and the work we do looking after these special places.  And, as well as all these extra special events and goings on - we've also been very busy looking after all our visitors to give them a great time with us - and looking after the very places that have inspired so much.

A very sneak preview - welcome to Peter, Benjamin - and Lily, coming soon to a screen near you!

 Finally, this week ended with a big local event, the Brathay marathon, where runners complete a circuit of Windermere, England's largest lakes!  The course runs right past the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead - and this year, a group of Brownies were visiting and they all had loads of fun cheering and 'high fiving' the many runners as they went past!

4 miles down - 22 to go, but lots of cheering here!

 As you can see - lots has been going on and it's great for us to be able to tell you a bit more about what goes on beyond the day to day operation of our houses - and keep your eyes open on our websites and with the BBC for the exciting new things that will be coming soon...

John

What's going on at Wray?

It's been a whole month since Wray Castle opened and a lot of things have happened since then. It might be easier for me to list what hasn't being going on, rather than what has being going on, as the latter is quite a long list! However, I realise that such a list of non-events would not make a very interesting blog so here are a few highlights from the past month.

After the Arctic start to the season, Easter, by comparison, was positively tropical. The sun shone and there was no rain for days, which meant that our planned outside Easter Egg Hunt could go ahead as well as the back up indoor hunt too. We got through several hundred chocolate eggs and only a couple got eaten by staff at the end of the holidays! 


A young visitor with some excellent examples of Easter Crafts.


We welcomed lots and lots of families, many of whom were returning for a second, third or fourth visit. Our Easter Crafts were a great success, as illustrated above by the fantastic Easter Bonnet and pom-pom chic proudly on display.

For smaller children our new foam blocks are proving to be very popular; some visitors definitely showed a preference for demolition rather than building though!



Demolition by head but!

 The recent dry and sunny weather has been great news for walkers and cyclist too, many of whom now make Wray Castle Cafe a stop off point for tea, coffee and most importantly, cake! Last week we welcomed our first ever (I think?) visitors to arrive by horse. The re-surfaced Western Shore Bridleway is not only great for cycling on but is now much easier for horses to use too.

Icelandic Horses Blakkur and Gigja outside Wray Castle.

 These beautiful creatures are Icelandic Horses, a small but strong breed of horse and were ridden to the Castle by Nadine and Phil Butler. It would be lovely to see more horses and riders at Wray Castle; we can provide carrots and polo mints if required!!

Inside the castle work has continued on two different artistic projects. In the dressing up space upstairs, two mural scenes are taking shape; complete with a fire breathing dragon, handsome prince, splendid princess and a unicorn!


One of the murals in the dressing up room.

 The other painting project is being created downstairs in the library. Work started last week on our tromphe l'oeil bookshelves which will help recreate the spirit of the room as well as continuing our activity of allowing visitors to add their favourite book titles to the walls. Work on the tromphe l'oeil is being done in full public view so please come along and ask our artists about their work.



The bookshelves taking shape in the library.

And finally; after all the hard work over Easter, last night we had a well deserved get together for all South Lakes staff and volunteers. The event was held at Claife Station, an eighteenth century viewing station that sits just above Ferry House on the Western Shore of Windermere. The viewing station, unsurprisingly has amazing views across the lake, which originally would have been viewed through different coloured glass in the tall windows situated on the first floor of the station.



Staff and volunteers enjoying the view.

 A project is about to kick off to look into ways of repairing the ruin and making it more accessible for visitors, for more information about the site please see our website. Last night was a great opportunity for our teams to learn more about the site and start thinking about what we could do there. Gazing at the view is most definitely top of the list!



The view looking south from Claife Station.

 The weather may be slightly unpredictable at the moment, but the views from both Wray Castle and Claife Station are certainly worth braving the rain for!

Wrong turn!

In my blog on the first of February I optimistically wrote 'there are signs that spring is, if not 'just around the corner' at least in the right postcode'. Well it seems that Spring's sat nav has been playing up and it has spent the last two months heading in completely the wrong direction!

Like most of the country, we've had snow, frost, biting arctic winds and the result is that plants in the garden are three to four weeks behind this time last year. It's as though someone pressed a giant 'pause' button in early February and it got stuck on. I'm told it is going to warm up soon and when spring finally does arrive gardeners everywhere will be working flat out to catch up with all the sowing and planting that's been delayed. And the spring flowers will overlap with the summer flowers and...it could well be a hectic year!

But every cloud has a silver lining and the late spring has meant that I have had more time to finish the winter jobs that got put off due to the heavy snow.
The first was to replace a very wobbly rustic trellis at the side of the house. It had been in place for quite a few years and was only being held up by the rose that was attached to it. Needless to say, it came down very easily and I replaced it with one made from ash saplings from one of our woods (they needed thinning out anyway). A few hours with a saw, a drill, a hammer and some big nails and I was quite pleased with the result.

New trellis

I also took a trip to Barrow to collect a trailer load of compost from the local recycling centre. It's made from the contents of South-Lakeland's green waste bins which is shredded up and put in a big heap where it breaks down, producing much heat which kills off weed seeds and other nasties. The result is a beautiful dark compost which will add much needed organic matter to the rain-washed Hill Top soil. I took a Land Rover and trailer with me and came back with 1.2 tonnes of the stuff which seemed like an awful lot when I tipped it in a pile by the farm gate.



Black gold!

When I started barrowing it around the garden though, it quickly became apparent that I could have done with twice as much, so I might just have to go back for another load.
I also collected about half a tonne of horse manure from a local stables but it was a bit fresh to put straight on the garden so I filled up one of my compost bins with it and will use it later in the year.

My third job this month was a quick trip to a bustling Wray Castle to spruce up last years planters a bit and plant up two half-barrel tubs at the front entrance which are strategically placed over unsightly manhole covers. If the deer will keep off them they should provide a nice splash of colour outside the mostly grey castle. 

Planters and new tubs

That's all for this month, by my next blog we'll surely be basking in lovely warm spring weather and everything will be blooming marvellous(ly). If not, I'm emigrating!

Words and pictures by Pete the Gardener.