Cragside

Welcome to the country home of Lord Armstrong. Wow, what a country home. While it was built as a two-story country lodge in 1863, it continued to be expanded and improved until Lord Armstrong passed away in 1900. As recently as 2007 - 2008, it was completely refurbished and its famous iron bridge restored to its former glory.

The boys and I on the iron bridge with Cragside in
the background. The path from the house to the bridge
was made up of steep rock stepping stones through
one of (said the guide book) Europe's largest rock gardens.

The rock gardens, on a steep slope down to the iron bridge.

What we already knew about Lord Armstrong is that he was an inventor and major benefactor to industry and philanthropy in England, particularly in the northeast. We learned this when we went to Bamburgh castle, which he bought when it was only partly renovated and finished the renovation.

Armstrong's country home, Cragside, used hydroelectric power to run a laundry machine, a rotisserie, and a hydraulic elevator. It later installed the first hydroelectric power station in the world, which powered a single (!) arc lamp in the gallery. 

Mike and Ollie in the art gallery.

One thing I loved about the interior of Cragside was how it was obvious that Lord Armstrong was a scientist at heart. Actually, it made me think of our little friend back in NC, Andrew, with his moth/butterfly collection in zip-lock bags. :) Armstrong had cases full of his collection of seashells and insects. There were taxidermied specimens of all sorts of birds (I think he particularly liked owls) under cloche jars. 

Seashell collection in case, flanked by birds of prey in cloche jars.
Marble busts and oil paintings, as well as early photographs and even
pen-and-ink caricatures were on display all around the house.

The other thing I really liked about the house was how it was "staged," if you will...as though someone still lived there; for example, opened newspapers and eyeglasses might be out on the side table in the grand room at the end of the gallery (see below). 

This impressive Italian marble fireplace was designed, crafted, transported, and
installed in 18 months to prepare for a visit from the Prince/Princess of
Wales. It weighs 10 tons, and had to be installed directly on top of the
mountain bedrock on which Cragside is built to support its weight.

Examples of this were found throughout the house--wooden toys on the floor in the childrens' rooms, crystal decanters half-full of scotch or some other amber liquid, Armstrong's microscope and specimen slides on the desk in his study--but my favorite signs of life were found in the series of rooms called the plunge bath, which was really about five rooms altogether. 

Going down the stone steps into the plunge bath.

A sauna with a cot for relaxing and fresh towels at the ready.

I'm reading the information sheet with one hand and
keeping Ollie from jumping into the Turkish-inspired
bath with the other.

Many of the objects in this room were souvenirs
from Armstrong's trip to Egypt. This house was
one of the first to have hot and cold indoor
plumbing (see faucet on the wall). 

 After we toured the house, we walked down through the rock garden,

...across the iron bridge,

...down a woodland path and past sheep fields, where we sat on a bench across from this view (below) and listened to the sound of the wind in the tops of the tall conifers, 

...up more stone steps,

...through a rabbit-proof gate,

...past the garden clock tower,

and into the formal garden.

What a view...

It must be said that most of the reason Cragside was so impressive was the weather. After a dreary morning, we packed a car-picnic (which has become our standby rainy day activity) and set off to find a pretty overlook. When we got to the Blyth seafront, the weather sort of lifted and, as we ate hot, sugary donuts from a beachside food truck (what a perfect way to finish off a picnic lunch!), we decided to keep driving north. I used my Trip Advisor iPhone app to see what attractions were nearby. Craigside was only 50 miles northwest. We were off.

The further north we drove, the more gorgeous the day became. We kept going up in elevation as we drove inland until we had just amazing panoramic views of sheep fields, cow pastures, and farmland crisscrossed with hedgerows and the most unreal expanses of sky. These are pictures taken from our moving car:

Pudding?

The stem of this peony snapped (rambunctious boys!), so I brought it inside to put it in water. I don't have any pretty glass bowls, so I floated it in an oversized cereal bowl. It looked so much like an ice-cream dessert, I stuck a spoon in it to complete the illusion.

In all these sentences, substitute the word "dessert" for the word "pudding" to get a sense of how the Brits use this term:

"Ollie had a great day at nursery school today. He worked on his letters, played with musical instruments, and for his snack he had cheese toast and for his pudding he had grapes."

"Lunch was great today, Mom! We had spaghetti and meatballs and yogurt for pudding."

On a restaurant chalkboard:

Today's Puddings

Carrot Cake

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Cheesecake

Just like Nanny's Garden

"Mom, let's stop and take a picture of this house."

"Why?"

"Because all these flowers remind me of Nanny's house."

Roses and Peonies

This week, a tall leggy rose bush in the front garden at our house finally bloomed. I have been wondering what color it would be! White. Wow. The flowers are stunning. Not fragrant, though.

Also appearing this week, after two weeks or more of what seemed to be buds ready to open up any second, this peony decided it was time to bloom.

 

Both these plants are right in our front yard. I'm enjoying the fruits of someone else's labor, that's for sure.

The English roses are blooming everywhere now! This is an awesome time to be walking the streets and peering into people's front gardens. Ollie and I always have to stop and, well...you know how the saying goes...

The Forbidden Corner

What is The Forbidden Corner? Ah, I'm so glad you asked. It started out as one man's personal garden, built on land that was stripped clean as it had once been part of a military base.

The goddess Venus.

With a butt tattoo?

Obviously, this gent has a sense of humor and is a kid at heart. There were so many interesting things to see in the gardens. From holes in the wall that actually have mirrors in them, to water spouts that squirt unexpectedly when you walk by, to quirky sculptures like bears playing cards, amazing murals, gorgeous rock work, hedge mazes, and more than a few claustrophobia-inducing tight, dark passageways.

We went with friends to this spot--they've been here many times before--and we all had a blast! Here are some of the best pics of the day...

The entrance to The Forbidden Corner is via this big mouth.
When you walk through you have to dodge a huge, swinging
epiglottis and  a loud burp erupts, activated by motion sensor.

An overlook from the hedge maze. Don't miss the deer in the fields.

Merrit and his friend run down the hedge maze. Thankfully, no one was lost.
At least, not permanently. 

Here we are in a rotating room with seven doors...

Going down, down, down, deep into the caverns beneath the gardens.

It was too dark to take pictures, but we found underground waterfalls, twisting and turning passageways, statues of Ancient Greek gods, scary soundtracks, murals, illuminated and moving floors, and all kinds of craziness.

We broke for lunch. Between my friend Jo and I, we had an amazing spread. A cheese board and pate with crackers. Plums, strawberries, and bananas. Hummus, tabouli, chicken salad with walnuts and grapes, and fingerling potato salad with scallions. Wine, sparkling water, and OJ-spritzers. Cookies and chocolate. It was fab!

After lunch, we had some company.

Swinging around and around is good for the digestion.
Not so much.

These stepping stones had motion-activated sprinklers
in them...take a look at the next picture!

Mike barely escaped without getting drenched!

Huge woodsman with his axe. The legs are tree trunks!
Amazing.

How lucky am I? I married a man with a great sense of humor who's a
kid at heart...just like the man who created this garden.
Oh, and his legs are like tree trunks. The coincidences just keep coming.

On our way home we stopped at this village pub for tea.

My First Hellebore

I know it's a rental.

But I can't help myself.

After pruning the shrubs HARD last week, the front bed looks sad. It really needed it, and eventually all those plants will look better for it, but -- wow -- it looked so bad that I just had to go buy some plants. I had to. ;-)

I went to a shop near the house, the whole time thinking, "How am I going to bring any plants back with both kids in tow?" I figured I'd  buy one thing at a time and make multiple trips over a few days.

The shop owner was a petite woman with a big smile, dirty knees, and soil under her fingernails. As I was trying to pick her brain about what grows locally and would do well in my small garden, I kept having to call the boys down. "Ollie, get out of the fountain." "Boys, put those ceramic rabbits back right this second." And so on. She tells me she has seven kids. Ages 15 months up to high school. School had just let out and they started filtering in. Dark hair and freckles, all in their school uniforms.

When the proprietor and mom extraordinaire told me that they had free delivery, I felt a little delirious. I have been known to spend some money on plants.

My self-talk as I walked around the store and sidewalk displays: Just a few plants. Don't go crazy. It's a small garden. Settle... LOL

For 35 pounds, I bought a four-pack of primroses in white, pink, and purple to go along the walkway, glenchoma to fill up and trail out of a potted rose bush in the front garden, a dwarf azalea of 'hiroko' variety with bright pink flowers to go near where I pruned a leggy, woody lavender plant all the way back to the ground, a pot of an ornamental grass called gramineus variegatus, an evergreen shrub that I've been admiring in other gardens called skimmia (japonica reevesiana) which looks sort of like a viburnum. And I also splurged just a little and bought a potted red amaryllis for my kitchen and a potted white geranium for my desk.

And...as the title of the post suggests...I bought a hellebore. Sigh. Happy day. I don't know why I love the look of these plants so much. I used to regularly eat lunch in the Raulston Arboretum when I worked near there and the arboretum had a small hellebore garden. I have always been partial to the hellebores with the pale green flowers especially. I love the melancholy look of the plant, the macabre flowers, the polite posture. They are like little drama queens in the garden. Back in NC, I always had too much sun to grow them, but that's not a problem in England! :-)

My first hellebore. Yay!

Stuck at Home Today

Merrit climbed to the top of this pillow mountain and proclaimed,
"I'm the King of England!!"

The boys and I are stuck at home today. It's raining, for starters. But also the man from Virgin Broadband, our new Internet service provider, is supposed to be coming by to set up our phone line and install wireless Internet access.

Full disclosure: I faked all the previous blog entries because I didn't have Internet yet.

We are also waiting for a plumber. I noticed this morning a large wet area across the ceiling and down the wall of the small dining room--right underneath the upstairs bath. Called the landlord. A perk of renting, right?

Rain. And more rain.

The boys won't have their boxes of stuff for about four more weeks. That means that only the toys they traveled with on the plane are here. They're a bit bored, but I like to see them work through it and make up games and use their imaginations.

What started out as a plan to build a fort transmogrified (a little Calvin and Hobbes for ya) into Pillow Mountain. Imagine gleeful giggles as the boys slide down the sides and scramble heels over head to see who is first to reach the summit. Ollie can hold his own, let me tell you.

The next nine days call for rain. Pretty quickly, I bet, we'll do like the locals do and:

1. Dress for it.
2. Get out in it.

No one here stays in. I have watched them through the front window all day. Moms with infants in plastic-sheeted prams. Kids in rain slickers and Wellies. Old couples with umbrellas. Commuters walking quickly by, head down, all business.

I am keeping my eye out at the charity shops for size 10 rain boots for Ollie. Merrit already has a pair of rain boots (so cute, got them from L.L. Bean last Christmas, they have turtles on them)...but can we wait four weeks to get them?

On another note, look what popped up overnight in our back courtyard: