Oatcake Annie? Galanthophile Annie!

Galanthophile: a snowdrop enthusiast.

Shown: some pictures from the day at Attingham Park.

I do an annual “snowdrop walk”, sometimes here and sometimes at Rhode Hall, in Cheshire.  The weather, as can be seen, was glorious and, considering the past few days’ temperatures, relatively warm.

My dog accompanied me and she, as well as I, enjoyed the walk round , looking at the flowers, visiting the walled garden and peeking inside The Bothy; the range and some of the interior of which is shown in the pics. I’ve posted the chair pic twice!

The walled garden is well underway to its full fomer glory, a picture of it from 2008 was on display there and it was pretty much scrub then. Now it is growing, growing and growing produce , for sale to the public these days, but originally to provide the Berwick family with most of its food.
It even  has beehives, not pictured, for honey.

I’m rather interested in these gardens and home farms, as, like today, people in past times liked to have a year round supply of foods. Some of the ways that this was achieved is interesting to hear and some of it rather distressing, for example, some aristocratic families liked to have a year round supply of grapes, the estate gardeners grew them on vines in the glass houses, then broke off
bunches of  them, putting the stalks into the neck of a bottle and then sealing the neck up. No one quite knows how, but the grapes remained  fresh for weeks afterwards, ready to serve with the family’s cheese course at dinner.   I read on one of the information cards that, before modern beekeeping and hives, bees would be living in a skep and then killed off to get the honey. Thank goodness for modern methods.  I once attended a basic beekeeper course and one of my neighbours keeps bees, modern hives are all about keeping the bees alive and healthy to produce their honey and to make sure the hive thrives. I would recommend anyone, even if they don’t then go on to keep bees to attend a course,  just to learn about this fascinating insect.

I’m a member of the National Trust, so the day was free (apart from the cost, if you like, of driving there), although I purchased a couple more pots of snowdrops to add to the ones I purchased when I last visited a couple of years ago.

Snowdrops are best planted out “ in the green”, that is to say, when they have come up and are beginning  to to die back down. The ones I have already are not yet fully out, their little flowers are still closed up, probably because they are not in an exposed location. These, along with the little pots  bought today, will be replanted into a nice garden pot, ready for next year.

At this time of year, the main house is still closed, but some of the buildings can be visited , eg, the stables and , of course, the tearooms and shop. Well worth a visit.

One of the pics shows a couple of chickens and “their” cockerel, who crowed loudly when I went past in the car  on the way out. I had to take a photo of that bold bird.

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Saturday Night’s All Light

Last evening, my mother and I braved the bitter cold to drive into Burslem for this free event. Over the past couple of years or so an organisation called Appetite Bites has been busy organising these things and, so far, I’ve been to a few. Based at The New Vic theatre in neighbouring Newcastle under Lyme, this theatre-in-the-round is renowned for the quality of its ideas and productions.
Last year, I went to see the circus show it organised,.  Circuses were all over the place in the area , due to it being the anniversary of the birth of Phillip Astley, the man considered to be the father of the modern day circus, who originated from N u L.

The Enchanted Chandelier. The Water Fools.  The No Fit State Circus. Excellent, offbeat, arty and quirky productions and last night’s little display was no different.

The pictures show some of the light displays around the Mothertown of The Potteries and the culimination was a procession led by drummers  to find 2 light puppets and a drum dance display with the large puppet of the two. When I say large, the puppet was probably about 12 feet tall and lit up. How the drummers and puppeteers managed to stay in sync, I don’t know, but the display was excellent.

This show was free, the others I have been to had a small charge to see.

All highly appropriate for an area which needs a good injection of revitalising serum and an inexpensive one, as since most of the pot banks closed, work, especially well paid jobs, are a rarity.

More out of cold than thirst, we took advantage of the 10% off (on production of a Light Night programme)  at the local Titanic Brewery pub, The Bull’s Vaults and got warm by the real fire in there. Downside was that I had to have a soft drink, as I was driving, rather than a pint of the Titanic brew, but one can’t have everything.

Burslem, The Mothertown, has some beautiful and historic buildings and boasts The Leopard Inn, which is detailed by Josiah Wedgwood himself to have been the place where he met and dined with James Brindley to discuss the building of the Trent and Mersey canal.

By the way, there is a local connection with The Titanic ship, after which the locally brewed Titanic ale is named. Captain Edward Smith, The Titanic’s captain,  was born and lived in Well Street, Hanley (another of The Towns), until he left the area by running away to Liverpool to become a merchant seaman.