Friday Bliss # 51, Local countryside

We're blessed to have beautiful countryside on our doorstep with a combination of farmland, moorland and woods. A short drive from home on Monday we were on the ridge overlooking our local reservoir.  The lanes are narrow here, but there are a few places where we can stop and admire the views.  Birds hover in the sky and as a passenger I saw a small creature scuttle across the lane from the grassy bank to the field.  It had a long, thin body and was probably a weasel. We could smell the cut grass as farmers are cutting the hay to store for Winter.  We see their vehicles laden with hay bales or tractors that have been used on the land as they pass through our local roads.

Damflask Reservoir - our local reservoir

 nearby is Agden reservoir.

calf sitting in the shade of the mother cow

Remnants of a dry stone wall and gate post on the moors gives a good idea how the wall was constructed.  Now this piece of land has been fenced off.

This photo was taken on a different day when we stopped on the lay by just before the entrance to a farm. (The top lane is narrow so it's dangerous to park there on the road and obstruct other passing vehicles).  A new wall is being constructed breaking up huge boulders. One day it'll look as weathered as all the others in the area.

 The old stone walls and rocks covered in lichen and mosses on the moors.

 collages of the wild flowers I photographed and left undisturbed

common ragwort, bird's-foot-trefoil, creeping cinquefoil, white dead-nettle

common knapweed, a variety of vetch, campion gone to seed

and signs of the changing season with the blackberries everywhere

Joining Riitta's Friday Bliss # 51 linkup

Summer days in August

I took a break from blogging and did less photography. 

There were opportunities to sit out in the garden and read or just relax with family as well as enjoy gardening and visits to local garden centres with our daughter who had come to stay for a week or two.

We have three excellent garden centres in our area and it's a pleasure to drop by, browse and buy a few plants or a garden ornament. I bought one of those wind chimes with a solar light that changes colour, dahlias 'Happy Days' (some with bronze-coloured leaves), rudbeckia 'Little Gold Star', some pansies to put in pots and our daughter bought Japanese anemone 'Pink Saucer' and some cyclamen. I'm hoping to widen one of the borders to accommodate more plants, but grass over another so that we have the same width of lawn.

We've been harvesting vegetables and beginning to enjoy the first of the figs.  The two peaches were picked and enjoyed before our daughter returned home.

We celebrated my husband's birthday with members of the family. We visited nearby Conisbrough Castle, a partially restored medieval fortification.

 a view from The Keep of Conisbrough Castle

There have been days out in the local countryside, coffee mornings in town with friends and the occasional church planning meeting and visits to see a grandson. 

 

The heather is in flower on the moors and even on a misty day I love being in the local countryside around Strines and Derwent Moors and Bradfield Dale.

I

A restful few days

The weather forecast promised sunshine so we decided that we would take a break from some of the household routine of the last week and the ongoing building project in the entrance hall.

On Friday morning we went over to Ladybower Reservoir.

I love the combination of water and countryside 

and the walks along the many reservoirs in our area

are a good way of enjoying both.

The banks and woods along the Ladybower

are still covered in a haze of blue.

On Saturday morning I took a walk in the walled garden next to our local library.

There's so much to see and enjoy in every corner of it, including the kitchen garden.

 I also went into the woodland area just beyond the walled garden, which is always a quiet spot

for wild life.

On Sunday DH and I drove down to the Matlock Bath area

in Derbyshire to visit Lea Gardens and Nursery. They looked wonderful.

 The rhododendrons and azaleas are a speciality

of the owners of the garden and woodland set over several acres

in the heart of the countryside.

I do love white blooms so I added to our garden collection
with this azalea 'Alba' (below).

Our own small garden is bursting into bloom and the vegetables also are
coming on well. If the sunshine continues that's where I shall be
in the next few days in between some indoor projects.