Laurie's Garden Tour

Welcome. I realized that one of the difficult things about being so far away is that you don't actually know what this area looks like - so I have decided to start this tour a little differently. I want to first set my garden in its context. I thought you might like to see a bit of the neighbourhood so you could get a feel of how it sits in the landscape. We are going for a brisk morning walk - keep up now.

(And it was cold this morning - gorgeous, but cold. Several of the photos were well out of focus, partly me shivering, and partly my fingers so numb that.....actually I was too cold to know why. Shoot, when you are taking photos you can't keep your hands in your pockets! Bad design!)

Let us begin - grab your jackets, its cold out there! (This is where I start the day: cuppa' tea, book, and wait for the day to get light enough to go outside).

This is our lane. I know it is hard to get a feel for proportions, but trust me, its narrow - if another car is coming, you need to be willing to back up or hope they will. At this point in the lane the road is actually about 1.8mtrs/6' below the surface of our fields (on the right) (even further below on the left). They weren't made this way, but over the early years as the carts and horses, and feet, rutted the road the surface dropped. With the steep incline, alot of the soil would have been washed away, and the relevelling would have taken more away. You need to keep in mind that these roads have been travelled possibly as much as a millenia - the main road at the top of our lane is an old roman road, and there are the ruins of a couple of old iron forges in the neighbourhood that date from that period. although we are on clay, we have a very high iron ore content - our stream which is spring fed actually runs red when it is in full spate.

At this point, too, it is interesting that the land runs downhill in two directions - across from left to right, and in the direction of this road. We are on a steep, tricky gradient.

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From the road, looking across our gate, to the field gate and the valley.

Walking down the road, this is the first house below us - our lowest field is on the right behind the hedge and ends at the corner.

Carrying down and across the river: I love this barn. I covet this barn. Fortunately I love our house and location more! Interestingly, the drop in the valley is so steep, that it is often as much as 3 degrees colder down here than up where we are - AND, they get wrapped in ground fog and from our perch up top we look right out over it! Hah - so they can keep their barn if I get to keep my location. But it is a gorgeous building - quite uncharacteristic for this area.

We are going off into the fields now following the footpath. We have a system in England and Europe that gives the right to traverse along designated footpaths. The paths are old established routes, generally waymarked, and show the way that people moved about the country. It is illegal to block or close them off, and there have been some real battles over them - particularly with celebs buying country properties and then wanting people kept out of them. All of the paths are mapped and available on Ordinance survey maps, and generally speaking, walkers are fairly good about sticking to them as much as possible. So we are sticking to the paths.

These are stiles, how you get over fences without tearing your britches.

And looking back towards the lane.

Now we can just walk along quietly - just looking around.

The proper way to use a stile

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I love these trees, they always remind me of a choir, singing out with all their hearts!

This area changes dramatically during the year. In the spring it is carpeted in bluebells, and in the summer the canopy is a beautiful overlapping cover of dappled green - like being inside one of those wonderful leaded glass lampshades.

And on into another field

And now into the long drop - if you look along the ridge line you can see Burwash, our nearest village.

here's a closer view - you can make out the church and the chimmney stacks on one of the big houses on the high street - this is about 2 miles away. We are going to walk to the bottom of the hill, and then turn left across the stream.

I carry on in the morning - for now, time for something to eat. And, possibly a nice glass of something adult.

Thanks for the walking tour, Laurie. I especially liked the part with the sun on the hills.
My hands were quite chilly, too. Next visit, I'm bringing warm gloves...

Oh Laurie, your countryside is beautiful as is your photography. Love your tea spot and the house below. Can't wait for more.

Ooooooheeee woowsa, Laurie, the countryside around your home is absolutely beautiful, as are your descriptions of it. I really approve of the community trails to get places on foot. That is a great historical tradition to follow. I had the opportunity to walk on some trails like that in Switzerland (25 years ago. I was on a European tour with the choir I sang with). It seemed like you could get anywhere given enough time and a backpack with provisions to get from one town to another.

The lane, depressed 6 feet by a millennium of feet, is also amazing to see. Makes the road by my house a mere infant

I love the pumpkins on the hearth.

You are a joy Laurie! I walked with you in the early AM and enjoyed the rooster pheasant crowing in the woodland. I had Loreena McKennit singing on my IPod and I so enjoyed the warm tea before our walk. Though I have to say I love that barn and a little fog in the winter is not such a set back. I would sit inside and enjoy all of the joinery that placed it together for such a long time. Now another thing is the road setting. I am an old man (55 yrs) and the soil in my home town has elevated in my short time (sand has been over-layered by humus). Do you suppose the depth is both erosion on the road and layering on the soil from proper soil protection? Now lastly how is the shire lay-out determined? Is it by slope and sun or by small privately established preferences allowing for unique spacial orientation or all on a rectangle? You must be looking South Southwest down your valley. Is that correct?

Glad all of you enjoyed this so far - Katye, gloves are a definate, as are silk longjohns. Dress warm for the next installment. glad you stopped in for tea, WW and MHF, we will really need it. So glad I went out and did the photos yesterday, the frost is even deeper today, but still clear skies.

And Sofer - questions questions: SSW is absolutely right. The road and the raised banks - there are areas that you can see where the dirt cleared from the road is piled up on the side, but that is in very specific areas and there is an old trench that separates the pile from the bank - but as far as raising the surface of the fields with mulching - nope, not done here. these are not arable fields, they don't get planted and they don't get manured - the slope is too steep, everything would wash down. These fields were cleared and grazed. The rich mix of wild flower and rare grass, as well as the consistent soil of compacted clay is also evidence that these have not soil treatment over the year. The other is the consistency of the levels from one side of the lane to the other - the survey that was done several years ago shows the contours continue regardless of the lane. As far as field hedges - originally the hedges mark the amount of area that a man can work in a single day - nice measure, hey? I'm not sure how that equates to area that is used for grazing, perhaps in terms of haying? The layout I'm sure has a reference to sun exposure, and certainly to drainage, but I also think it shows what one was given, and the nature of the land. For ours, only one side of the hill has been cleared for grazing, and the house is placed on a high sight, with shelter on the northern sides. It also happens to be build on very shallow soil, with solid sandstone underneath - I think they were pretty canny on choosing land use.

The 'shires' were gifts from the king, both as rewards to assure loyalty, but also to make people responsible for maintaining the cohesiveness of the social fabric - anyone given a section of land had to raise and keep an army that defended king and crown. Our house is originally a yeoman's house: he would have been the local leader of the militia, and the law enforcer and tax man - he would have overseen a group of farmers that had a responsibility to defend the area as well as grow crops.

Enough history lessons - time for tea and breakfast and a brisk walk. More later.

Oh, Laurie, Loved the walk with you, but was not properly dressed for the cold and the beauty that I walk thru. so breath taking so wonderful to live there. I am so envied of you to be in a wonderful place with so much history behind it, and the pics, I can't find the words to tell you how I feel. I have loved all the movies that have showed England. The one that comes to mind is 'Iron Heart' at the moment.

Just love your Tour, gives me a warming inside.

And I think, tils, you need to take a bow, too, for having started this series of threads. Thank you, its fun.

Oh sigh, and sigh again! It's so lovely to have land and to have laws that protect people's rights to walk. To think that you can simply go out and walk across fields and not have to worry about tresspassing! My son would be in sheer heaven! He has never understood that one cannot do that around here. He must have some genetic memory of how it is supposed to be.
I was enchanted by your description of the trees singing as a choir! That is exactly how I describe my large firs when the wind is blowing! They dance and sing together as though they are just joyful in the wind.
Your starting the tour with such a walk through the neighborhood to show the garden's setting is just another example of how many cultural differences actually do exist between the U.S. and the U.K, in spite of our common language. At least in this part of the country, I've not experienced people envisioning their gardens as part of the larger landscape. The landcape is too chopped up into little pieces, each of us with our own little domain. Maybe part of that is because in this area there are really no 'vistas' to be had unless you live up high and cut down a lot of trees. But I fear it is really more of a statement on the American tradition.

Love the road! Absolutely love it!

What a wonderful way to begin my day. I walked with you from my desk enjoying a cup of tea. I wish I could have actually walked - cold or no. What a breathtaking sight. So different from where I am now. I love your history lesson along with the stroll, makes me feel like I'm actually taking part.

Can't wait for the next part of the tour.This has been a great way to share our spaces, Thank You.

Hurry Laurie - I'm still waiting at the bottom of the hill & ready to cross the stream. It's rather cold & dark...Send more hot tea.

i meant to post, also, thanks for defining 'stile' for me. I've actually always wondered what that was, ever since learning the nursery rhyme 'there was a crooked man who walked a crooked mile, who found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile'....Now if only I knew whether the man was physically crooked, or morally crooked.

More photos, please!! I may end up on your doorstep some day and I'll want to be able to recognize the place when I do.

I'm cold and waiting for you, where did you go? You can not leave me here, I am sure to die if you do. I will have to wait, I don't know my way out. I will die. sighhhhhhhhh

Took me a while to get here, glad you waited. What an absolutely beautiful area you live in Laurie. My BIL is from the U.K. and my sis has been there, so I've seen some pictures. Our own family roots come from England and Ireland so it's been an interest for a long time. But to actually walk with you in your own neighborhood...I'm awestruck. Love the history lesson and the descriptions. I don't have the words to tell you how much fun this is for me.

I'm waiting patiently, warm coat, gloves and a cuppa' tea. Going to send my sis a dmail so she can come join us.

Sorry sorry, had to go back to London to prepare for workwork to earn more money for more plants.

Pilates first, and then 6 patients and then I'll walk us on and back to the warm. You are all so good to stand waiting.

Laurie, what a wonderful tour so far. I'm definitely anticipating the next bunch! I love all of the pictures, but in particular the second one of the lane with the sun shining just around the bend. I remember those narrow roads very well.

(ssssshhhh, I'm suppose to be doing my income tax return right now, but I just can't leave Tils and the rest of you out in the cold any longer - )

so, we have turned left over the bridge and we are going to drop down and walk along the little river. This is really quiet right now, little more than a stream, but the path we are walking along goes right under water and the fields flood when we get several days of rain.

This is looking back to the bridge we just crossed over. (Have I told you that we are about a mile from any road in two directions, and about 3 miles in the other two directions. There is not a sound other than the water and the birds).

This is the path, (that we share with the cows in the summer, gawd they can make a mess of it)

I love what the water creates - sent that off a bit quickly. This is a favourite picnic spot in the summer, largely because there is quite a deep swimming hole just to the right, and a little beach. However, if the cows come they are no respector of ones picnic! I thought you could just say shoo, and they would turn tail and go back the way they came - nooooooooooo, they scatter: one towards you, two to the left, three across the river, another.....well, you get the idea.

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We'll climb back up to the field path because I want to show Sofer another of the old cartways - to show him that they really are just worn down by traffic and erosion - this is actually a cross road, there are three that come together right here

And one of the others - this one is well above my head height -

now I have to go and try to look like a therapist, when really I am a gardener. (so much for the tax returns)

Lovely, Laurie! Can't wait for the next bit of the tour. On my first trip to the UK, we took lots of walks (DH is a Yorkshire tyke) and DH and DSS had to keep assuring me it was OK to walk across properties on the paths.Took a little getting used to. Also learned the rule always to leave a gate as you found it - usually closed. Stiles and kissing-gates and dry-stacked walls...oh my; I wish we could go for a visit again.

Thanks, Sis (Sally_OR) for sending me here. Looking forward to the garden.

Kathleen

Hello Kathleen, welcome to the tour. Nice to have someone on thread that's walk some of the paths.

We are up and out of the woods, and walking back to, I was going to say civilization - but I think it is more like habitation. These are our neighbours a couple of fields away.

One of the locals - getting old now, but use to headbutt everyone who didn't stop to give her ears a rub

Looking back as we cross the last of the fields

And, almost home - This is what I mean about the steepness of our slope - we are in the field across from our house, and from the top of the field it is (American) 2nd and 3rd floor that you are looking at. I'll give you a closer look