Category: Out and About in the Garden

Blossom and sunny days – hurray!

We’ve just had two wonderful long weekends with Richard and Marigold Farmer’s “Giant Leap” groups (for their work, see www.soulmoves.co.uk).  The Spring weather was glorious and there were lots of opportunities for the groups to work outside and enjoy the sunshine.

The cherry and pear blossom was at its peak this week, before the winds picked up in the last two days.  Look at this!  Absolutely beautiful!  We even had breakfast out under the pear trees the other morning – the breeze lifted slightly and suddenly we were in a lovely confetti shower of white petals!  All very wonderful!  Mel’s been out snapping pictures of some of the plants that went into the shady beds last year and have really started to flourish this Spring:  



Also, the new acer that we’ve put into the walled garden is looking gorgeous in its yellow and red:  

So, that’s all from the garden right now.  Jan Adamson & Desiree Emery’s shamanic group are with us tonight and it’s a blustery old evening!  We hope a little bit of sunshine graces their weekend too x

More soon!

Mel & Steve

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

 

A week of firsts

Last week was definitely a week of firsts!  We saw the first swallows and martins on Tuesday – Mel actually saw them arrive this year as she was barrowing compost up to the veg plot.  Then on Friday we heard the first cuckoo calling and in the evening we spotted the first bats out of hibernation here.  All very exciting, and combined with the sunny weather we’ve had this last week, it seems, after all the false starts, Spring is here!  The trees are starting to show the first faint haze of colour as buds start to open.

Today is sunny and glorious – there are cabbage white and peacock butterflies enjoying the light warm breezes, the (big, fat!) bumble bees and honey bees are out investigating the flower beds and the air is alive with the sounds of birds – buzzards’ cries high above, the chatter of sparrows and the distinctive sounds of the swallows’ call, the soft voices of the pigeons, the alarm call of pheasants….

The silent retreat we have here this week with Burgs (www.theartofmeditation.org) has just broken silence and people are enjoying talking and sharing experiences out on the lawn in the sunshine.

Steve has spent the week weeding and catching up a bit outside and Gail has at last been able to plant the potatoes.  The courgette, squash and pumpkin seedlings are starting to show and last week Mel planted rainbow and swiss chard and spinach, as well as starting to prepare the bed for the carrots.  It feels like we can steam ahead a bit now!

 

 

 

 

Steve and Dave have also finished shaping the new area by the fountain ready for re-planting – more of that to come in a little while!

We shall say goodbye to our meditators tomorrow morning and then get on with readying the house for Richard and Marigold Farmer’s group (www.soulmoves.co.uk) arriving on Friday.  Hopefully this lovely weather will continue so they can do some of their work outside over next weekend.

Anyway, that’s all from us right now.  We hope you’re having a little Spring sunshine where you are and enjoying the feeling of everything enlivening around us.

More soon!

Mel & Steve,

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

Day in the garden

Wednesday was wonderfully warm and sunny and everyone got out into the garden.  Even Mel was sprung from behind her desk!

Steve and Dave have begun a new project around the cherry tree by the barn (more of that in due course) – the area had become a little dark and overgrown so time for a change.  Mel swept and tidied the kitchen yard and potted up some hanging baskets for a bit of colour out the back.
Gail and Mel also sowed under cover the calabrese, sweetcorn, brussels, kale, squash, pumpkin and courgettes.  It’s felt too cold to plant much outdoors apart from the onions….still, the warmth of the day made us hopeful of some warmer weather to come and a chance to really get going on the veg plot.

Given the coldness of the wind today, it’s hard to believe that we ate our lunch out under the pear trees…….!!

Well, Steve’s out in the garden again today – in steady drizzle – ho hum….Everyone else is working in the house.  We have a lovely yoga group from Bristol here (www.yogabristol.com) lead by Charlotte Hunt and her partner Dom.  They’re having a nurturing weekend of yoga, walking, massage and relaxation.  We’re greatly enjoying having them here x

Mel & Steve

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

 

Lambs, arctic winds, big birthdays and freefalling

Well, we’ve had a time of contrasts just recently.  We had a great week with the meditation retreat – silent and peaceful – followed the same day (!) by Gail’s 60th (yes, very hard to believe) birthday weekend.  Gail borrowed Poulstone for an “at home” from Friday to Sunday with a party on the Saturday evening and a singing workshop too!  It was lovely meeting Gail’s family and friends, and nice to catch up with old buddies, many of whom have been Poulstone-goers for a decade or two.  Also, a great chance to dust off outfits that we might not have the opportunity to wear anywhere else, given the rural nature of our general lifestyle!  Gail has been a great support to Poulstone in many ways over the years and it was lovely to have a chance to thank her by letting her use the space for her celebrations.

Mind you, we did all spend a little time wondering if Gail’s party would be snowed off, but in the event only a few people couldn’t get here due to the weather.   An arctic wind has remained since then though and only in the last couple of days has the sun broken through to offset the cold breezes.  If you’re visiting in the next few weeks, take a walk over the bridge to Sellack to see the new lambs.  Some are very new and tiny, and the older ones are already banding together into naughty little gangs for races and other lamby mischief!  They’re such a pleasure to watch and more curious than frightened at that age.  They must be very glad of a little sun on their backs these last few days after the severe coldness of the last week or so.  Mel’s just come back from a walk and taken some pictures of the lambs and the blazing sunshine on the river today.  Also, some photos of the lovely daffodils coming out under the copper beech (good to see the Buddhist approach to “pest” control (ie leave everything as it is!) has had some rewards!!).

We now have a week-long writing course in called Freefall with Barbara Turner-Vesselago.  The first morning, as we begin printing the morning’s writing for Barbara to read, is always a good test of technological know-how as we try to print Mac files from PCs, ease data off sulky memory sticks and download printer drivers for those whose memory sticks won’t work.  It was pretty smooth this morning, all in all.  It takes not a little courage to sit with yourself all morning and see what comes to you to write – freefalling into the words.  There’s a lovely quiet, focused feeling in the house.

 

That’s all for now.

With love,

Mel & Steve

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

Spring is on its way!

Well, the squirrels did’nt eat all the crocuses!  A sweet little cluster of purple heads have started to appear by the silver birch and dotted into the lawn.  They don’t last long but are a lovely little treat if you take the short cut down past the mulberry tree at the moment.  We currently have a resident pheasant who has so far escaped the camera but he’s clearly enjoying sitting on the garden wall where he’s able to survey things from a good height.  The swans are very active at the moment, flying low over the garden and on to the fields beyond.  I don’t think we could ever get bored with the wonder of them flying overhead.  The other day we were on the bridge over the Wye and five or six flew over us (and one flew under us!) – magical.

There’s a general sense of Spring being in the air.  Mel has been spring-cleaning the office and now has zero-tolerance of anything being dumped in there for repairs or on its eventual way to somewhere else!  Sweet peas and various kinds of veg seed have been sown in pots ready for planting out later in the year.  We’ve also bought some plants for starting to plant up the kitchen yard for this year.  This week Steve and Dave decided the time had come to take down an old and ailing fir tree by the corner of the barn.  It’s been cut fairly high and we plan to grow a clematis through it so it will live on as a piece of natural sculpture.  Mentioning this was really only an excuse to include a picture of Dave in his balaclava – there’s a very brisk wind coming up the valley at the moment!


 

 

 

 

 

Having said farewell to Manda Scott’s two shamanic groups last week who we loved having in the house, we’re joined this evening by Burgs and his crew for a seven day meditation retreat.  The meditation retreats are wonderful to have here and we hope to be able to sit with them this week.

Anyway, more from us soon!

Mel & Steve

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

Flu, Spring, masseurs and rabbits…

Well, we haven’t got to the blog for a few weeks.  Mel had several weeks of flu last month and was out of action.  Still, there are silver linings to most things  – she discovered she wasn’t indispensable and also lost a few Christmas pounds!

Despite the nocturnal bulb eating forays of the local rabbit population, we still have at least some lovely bulbs bursting into colour – the snowdrops are coming up amongst the dogwoods and around the place, and crocuses and daffodils are beginning to appear.  There should be lots of colour in a week or so.  We also planted some bulbs in rows up in the veg patch for picking for the dining tables, and as we wait for the group to arrive today, the tables look lovely with daffs and helibores on them.

We’re starting to get busy in the veg plot.  Gail’s bringing up manure from the compost area and has been planting onions this week.  Steve’s mowing the lawn today for the first time this year which always smartens the garden up after the winter.  After weeks of mainly greyness, it’s a lovely Spring day here today.  Hilary is on Iona having a much deserved rest and so the lovely Ellie, who some of you may have met last year, is cooking for us for the next few days.  We have two shamanic groups coming in this week back-to-back so we should be busy.  Since last writing, we’ve had a large group of lively masseurs (and masseuses!) here doing the residential part of their training and we’ve had a seven day silent meditation retreat since then.  Quite different energies – which is one of the pleasures of running the place!
             

Gail’s also quite an accomplished seamstress and has recently made roman blinds for most of the bathrooms, recycling some old curtains that had been languishing in the housekeeping cupboard for years.  She’s also adding thermal lining to existing curtains which should make things cosier after stepping out of the shower in the winter months.

That’s all for now.  Time to meet and greet!

With love

Mel & Steve xx

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

 

End of year retreat

We’ve just hosted a three week silent retreat at Poulstone from mid-November onwards, with meditation teacher Burgs (see www.theartofmeditation.org).  Some of Burgs’ more experienced students came for a seven day silent Vipassana retreat followed by 9 days of continued silent practice with some teacher input.  The final week was a foundation retreat for beginners upwards.  And we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to sit in on the retreat too.

It’s obviously not all bliss looking at the (mainly unwholesome) contents of one’s mind over a prolonged period (!) but everyone felt they benefited hugely from the retreat.

Particularly over the Vipassana period, there’s been a lovely still atmosphere in the house, very conducive to practice and rest.  We’ve also been treated to some extraordinary sunrises (see above and below)…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also have had gales and flooding too.  The Wye burst its banks at the end of November, transforming the landscape.  Unlike some areas of the country, we were very lucky that the floods were only a minor inconvenience here.  In fact, it was rather wonderful not to have to go anywhere or worry about people getting here/being able to leave!  The winds, unfortunately, had their way with the half-constructed greenhouse which we had to take down completely in a high wind!  We’ll try again in the Spring….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This wasn’t the only thing to test our equanimity after the retreat – the rabbits and squirrels had discovered a rich source of food while we were on retreat – our newly planted Spring bulbs!  We think the flood waters may have driven a lot of the wildlife from the fields into the Poulstone gardens.  Ah well, we were rather disappointed to say the least but we hope some will survive to brighten the Spring months.  The wildlife is part of what makes living and working here so wonderful, so we have to accept these occasional conflicts of interest….!

Anyway, we are back now into the end of year activities – finishing up the admin, washing valances and undercovers, putting the garden to bed for the winter (Gail has been doing lots of raking and cutting back over the last couple of weeks).  It’s nice to be working quietly at our own pace and it feels very peaceful here as we enter the darkest part of the year…..

Anyway, we hope you’re enjoying your approach to the festivities x

More soon,

Mel & Steve

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

 

The helibores are out

The lovely helibores are out!  We thought you might enjoy some pictures?!

 

 

 

 

 

They are usually flowering until February, sometimes later, so do take a look along the wall of the walled garden if you’re visiting next year.  You need to lift their heads to get a good view of the exquisite detail on them.

  

 

 

 

 

 

With love,

Mel & Steve

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre

5000 bulbs (what were we thinking?!)

We had a fabulously sunny morning to start our bulb planting day on Tuesday. Despite the prospect of 5000 bulbs needing to be planted (!), Steve and Elaine Hackett from Hereford joined us for the day and Gemma and Gail kindly volunteered their time to help as well. We planted several varieties of daffodil around the apple trees by the tennis lawn and within the walled garden. We have also put a drift of crocuses around the silver birch tree by the box hedges, and Steve and Dave have finished planting up the new white border with bulbs for the Spring.

We also planted daffodils and tulips in trenches above the vegetable plot for cut flowers  next year for the dining tables.

It was a lovely autumn day and really nice to have good company as we planted all these marvellous little promises of Spring colour. After making and filling hundreds of holes, we ate a welcome hot lunch outdoors under the pear trees in our wellies, and then in the afternoon made hearty inroads into a wonderful coffee and walnut cake Elaine had brought us, with our cups of tea.  Perfect!

Steve now “just” has the area under the copper beech to plant with daffodils.  He was still making holes as dusk fell last night and Mel came to get him to join the welcome talk for the new group arriving!  Bye the bye, there was a rather striking sunset last night too:

More soon!

Mel & Steve

Poulstone Court Retreat Centre