Fairy Garden

Yesterday we went to Pleasure Gardens, one of the events in the South Norfolk festival of Arts. It was set in Rainthorpe Hall in the stunning Tas valley. It was amazing. Rainthorpe Hall is a beautiful tudor mansion and for one sunny afternoon we were allowed to run amok in the grounds and take part in some truly magical kids' events.

Strolling minstrels played medieval instruments all afternoon, a giant Venus flytrap chased a human fly all over the formal lawns, we made a boat from sticks and string and raced it on the River (we won!) But the best bits were the craft sessions runs by The Fairyland Trust Willow and Xanthe made Fairy gardens planted with flowers specially selected to please the little folk (photo above) and we went into a secluded woodland glade where we made fairy houses out of sticks and ferns.

Inspired by our experience I've spent today turning one of our shady borders into a Fairy Garden for the girls. This side of our garden is north facing and in constant deep shade. Hardly anything will grow there so most of it has been given over to the chicken coop. One small segment (130cm x 70cm) remains which is full of ivy, ferns, cowslips, mint and wild garlic. I've made some space for the Fairy Gardens we made yesterday and added a few other props. I'm thrilled with it, I get the impression Willow kind of likes it but seems more interested in a bucket of woodlice she collected when Adam dug over our wild front garden.

Here are a few photos of our new Fairy Garden - you won't get distracted by any woodlice will you?

Muntjac!

Last year we made loads of fruit liqueurs in the Autumn. Willow quite rightly pointed out that we'd neglected to make any nice drinks for the underage half of the household, I promised her that this year we'd put that right, so today, Willow, Xanthe and I made elderflower cordial (don't tell Willow it also tastes nice with gin!)

The conditions were perfect, hot, dry and still. For a common plant, elder is surprisingly sparse around our house, I'm only aware of 3 in the vicinity, one in our front hedge and 2 down the bridleway opposite. We stripped the one in the garden (12 heads) and set off down the bridleway. Elder no 2 only had 6 or 7 heads in full flower so we made our way down to the 3rd one.

As I looked up ahead I saw a small muntjac deer cross the footpath. Muntjacs aren't as impressive as the larger red deer, they're about the size of a large dog, don't have antlers and some churlish people complain they're ugly. However, I can't shake my urban upbringing and am always wildly impressed by seeing any type of deer so I grasped the opportunity to make some idyllic childhood memories for my children.

I hissed at the kids "There's a deer!! A DEER!!!!", dropped my bag of flowers, picked up Xanthe, grabbed Willow's elbow and started trotting down the path. "Where Mum? Where?" Bellowed Willow at top volume "SHHHH!!!!! There he is, there, going across the field!"
"I can't see, can't SEEEEEE" So, ignoring squeals about nettles, I pushed Willow through the long grass at the side of the path so we could get through to the edge of the field and get a clear view of the little deer.

Just at the moment Willow burst into tears at being nettled the muntjac plunged through the hedgerow into the cemetery next to the field so neither child got to see him. With great restraint I didn't swear and used the opportunity to teach Willow to identify dock leaves. Let's hope Willow fondly recalls the idyllic sunny spring day of 2009 when Mum pushed her into a bed of nettles. Sigh.

Strawberry breakfast.

Much excitement in our house today, Willow ran screaming into the garden at 6am yelling "We've got a red strawberry!!!" (yes we are popular with the neighbours, thanks for asking) Sure enough I found 2 tiny, perfectly ripe, alpine strawberries in our hanging basket. The girls snaffled one each in double quick time. Poor old Mum didn't get any though (sniff)