Greetings from my beloved Surrey, and the UK generally, where most folk are practically giddy with joy over the fact that (a) it's a bank holiday weekend, and (b) by some miracle it's also warm and sunny. And I mean summer-heat-warm-and-sunny. Five weeks ago we had snow. In terms of temperature, spring has been bypassed and full summer has arrived in Blighty.
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| The beginnings of spring in late April - Farnham Maltings and the River Wey |
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| Yours truly in front of St Mary's Church in Apsley, on a recent jaunt to Hertfordshire |
Even without abnormally high temperatures, spring is always a mixed bag for me. Whilst I fully appreciate the splendour of nature waking up from what has been a pleasingly long and cold winter, I don't like the sun and anything above 18 or 19 degrees celsius is too warm for the nordic blood in my veins!
Then there's the hayfever.
I'm not a chronic sufferer, and I've found it very difficult to identify exactly what sets me off since I first developed hayfever in my thirties - though I'm now fairly certain the main culprit is tree pollen (and specifically birch).
Some years I barely get a couple of days of sneezing, or else I get it in weird seasons - like at the start of winter. And other years... well, there have been some times when the symptoms have been completely debilitating for weeks, even months. At my worst, I have been known to sneeze all night in my sleep, and to have such terrible itchiness of eyes, nose and skin that I've nearly been driven mad.
Years ago I did have allergy testing with the world's most incompetent 'specialist' in Canberra, having waited nearly six months for an appointment. That test revealed a mild reaction to white birch and pine, as well as the inadequacy and total lack of empathy of the doctor in question. Thus I turned to natural therapies, which have proven so very effective for me, and done very nicely for the human race generally over the past few thousand years, thanks very much. Far from being 'alternative' medicine, natural therapies have seen our species survive plagues, famines and a myriad of diseases.
About eight years ago I was lucky to have a friend recommend an acupuncturist, whom I saw periodically as needed - and with great success. If you're prone to hayfever I heartily recommend you give acupuncture a try.
And so on to our springtime adventures. You'll see from the variety of pictures below just how much the landscape can change in the course of a couple of weeks.
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| Mottisfont - originally an Augustine priory founded in 1201, it became a family country estate in the 18th century |
This first series of photos shows our visit to National Trust property Mottisfont, near Romsey which is about an hour's drive away from Farnham in the neighbouring county of Hampshire. As you see, many of the trees are still bare or only just coming into flower or leaf, and there are still lots of early spring bulbs in evidence.
I particularly enjoyed this house because it lovingly portrays the life of its most recent owners, Maud and Gilbert Russell, who arrived in 1934. I am absolutely fascinated by the between-wars years; it was such an exciting period for art, architecture, fashion, social freedom and of course female emancipation. Maud frequently entertained artists and writers including artist Ben Nicholson and novelist Ian Fleming, and the stamp of her designer friends is everywhere.
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| Kevin admiring the 'font' - ie spring - that runs through the property |
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| The parterre garden at Mottisfont |
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| We were the only hardy souls to brave afternoon tea on the lawn - everybody else was huddled inside on this very chilly day, which was more like winter |
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| The lime walk - pollarded trees just about to burst into new growth |
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| The rear of the house |
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| The walled garden |
Two weeks later, and below you'll see what a few days of temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s will do in this neck of the woods. Most of the trees have their leaves, the spring bulbs are just about finished, and it's Bluebell Central.
This weekend we drove about an hour north-west to Oxfordshire, visiting two National Trust properties within a few minutes of each other.
Nuffield Place was our first stop, an Arts & Crafts home not far from Henley, where Lord and Lady Nuffield lived in modest style, despite their incredible wealth. Lord Nuffield was William R Morris, who founded Morris Motors from humble beginnings. For some years Morris was the world's wealthiest man, but he was stupendously generous - in today's terms, during his life he and his wife gave away £700 million to charities, businesses, and ordinary people. His philanthropy is still in evidence today throughout the country.
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| The front entrance to Nuffield Place, with some of Morris's famous motor cars on display |
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| The property has far-reaching views over Oxfordshire |
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| The rear lawn of the house |
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| Mint green shutters |
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| Bluebell woods behind Nuffield Place - glorious! |
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| Kevin capturing the bluebell spectacle |
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| A blaze of copper beech against the spring blue sky |
Our second property was the more grand Greys Court, a Tudor era mansion beautifully situated in the rolling hills of the Chilterns.
The house itself didn't fill me with joy, other than the intact art deco bathrooms with their fabulous colour schemes - each room entirely in one colour representative of that era (mint green, pink) - and their shiny chrome fittings... though at some point in the past fifty years an unnamed philistine had *shudder* installed CARPET in those rooms. Oh, the horror. I've never seen carpet in bathrooms anywhere but the UK - I mean, who in their right mind would want to trap all those skin cells, hair and urine droplets in the fibres of carpeting?!
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| Greys Court |
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| This ruin, directly opposite the house, dates from the 14th century |
It was too hot for me to fully appreciate my environment - despite being clad with sunscreen, hat, and long linen sleeves - but we stoically made the full tour.
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| The Parterre Garden with the tulips in their final stages of bloom |
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| Bluebells beneath the wisteria arbor - the 125 year old wisteria was just starting to flower; it would be fantastic in a couple of weeks' time |
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| The glorious, rolling green of the Chilterns |
Socially it's been an enjoyable and busy couple of months.
While Kevin was in Australia I had the opportunity to see a Kate Bush tribute band in nearby Guildford. We have seen Cloudbusting (named after one of Kate's most famous songs) perform a couple of times, at the annual Kate Bush night at the Vauxhall Tavern in London. To see them do a full set was fantastic, and this tour coincided with the 40th anniversary of Kate's first album The Kick Inside. It was the next best thing to the genuine article.
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| Kate Bush tribute band, Cloudbusting, performing at the Electric Theatre in Guildford |
There have been the usual visits to pub and local eateries, and we've also hosted our first Aussie visitor for the year, an old university friend of Kevin's who stayed for a few nights in April.
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| Kevin at one of our favourite pubs, The Mill House |
A real highlight of my year so far was a superb vegan meal at a special pop-up restaurant in London's oh-so-hip Shoreditch. This was a gift to me - a five-course tasting menu with matched wines, for two people. With Kevin being in Adelaide I had no hesitation in inviting my friend and former colleague from the Australian High Commission, Keirra, who has been vegan for some years.
Well, what an experience! We tasted combinations of things that we'd never eaten before - things that, if we'd been asked to identify the ingredients, for the most part we would have struggled. But all of it completely delicious, to the point where every time the very attentive staff served a new dish and we popped a morsel into our mouths, we'd simultaneously stop chewing, look up at each other and gasp. The phrases Oh my god! and That's amazing! were uttered with tedious repetition.
Plates is making waves in the culinary scene, with some suggesting it could be the first plant-based restaurant to win a Michelin star. It's only open on Saturday nights and you can't just turn up or call to make a reservation - you have to purchase tickets for specific dates well in advance (it's usually booked out at least six weeks ahead). Such an exclusive and innovative eatery is well beyond our budget, so to be treated to this experience was really special. Kevin was a tad miffed to have missed out!
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| The menu at the Plates special tasting evening |
Lastly, please enjoy the fabulous mid-century styling of our latest furniture acquisition. This little beauty pictured below is courtesy of Facebook Marketplace (a community online trading facility - a bit like Gumtree), where I saw this armchair advertised by a home-based upholsterer up in Hertfordshire. We managed to fit it into our car, despite being unable to remove the original Dansette legs, and Vickie subsequently offered to design and make a matching footstool, delivery of which I am now eagerly awaiting. Trés cool!
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| Mid-century fabulousness, now installed in our apartment |
In a couple of weeks our next visitor arrives - this time our friend Kate, a Canberra gal whom we met when she was doing a gap year at Frensham back in 2009 and who now lives in New York, doing all sorts of exciting things in the advertising world.
As usual, throughout the UK summer we are expecting a steady stream of visitors from Australia, all of whom we will be very pleased to see.
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| Cottage across the street from our apartment - draped in spring finery |
In the meantime I can't wait for this hot spell to end (nearly 29ºC today - the hottest early spring bank holiday on record), which it is forecast to do in the next couple of days. Hopefully we'll be granted a few weeks of more temperate spring weather before summer kicks in properly.
Until next time,
- Maree xo
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