Bath House Terraces

The Bath House Terraces at Harlow Carr Gardens have in recent years been replanted with a spectacular display of woodland plants and looked amazing. (The brown fibrous lumps are tree ferns, yet to unfurl.)

The Bath House itself, now used for exhibitions, dates back to the time the area was first developed as a hotel and spa in the mid-1800s, taking advantage of several mineral springs here. The well-heads are now capped but you can often smell the sulphur. 

Hellebores and drumstick primulas made an eye-catching display (above).  

The rock garden too looked fantastic, against a backdrop of azaleas.  

 

Woodland ablaze

In the woodland at RHS Harlow Carr the azaleas and rhododendrons were in full bloom. They provide a very attractive blaze of colour.  Many of the shrubs are now really old and rather 'leggy' and untidy, but they are still worth seeing. 

The woodland is perhaps a little more sheltered than some spots so the camellias and magnolias seemed a bit fresher - less brown and frost-shrivelled than most of those I've noticed locally. 

I rather liked this unusual cherry red magnolia:

 

Streamside

I drove over to RHS Harlow Carr gardens in Harrogate recently to see the displays of spring flowers. It really was spectacular, particularly the areas they have recently replanted. The streamside was looking lovely, with an abundance of yellow: narcissus, trilliums, marsh marigolds and the like. The water level was low as April was unusually dry. 

A massed display of pale lemon Pagoda lilies (Erythronium) was particularly gorgeous:

The bright yellow marsh marigolds are so cheerful, like millions of little suns.  Ignore the black plastic markers everywhere. I know it's important to identify the plants, and many visitors will want to know the exact varieties so they can buy them and plant them in their own gardens - but they do spoil my photos! Half the time they don't even name the actual plant in the photo; the one below said 'iris'... but it isn't.  

A new Hockney unveiled

I count myself fortunate that I can leave my home and, within a few minutes, be standing in front of a new artwork by David Hockney.  'A Year in Normandie' is Hockney's biggest ever picture, at over 90m wide. He has joined together some of the 220 iPad pieces he created in 2020, recording the changing seasons around his French garden while he was spending the pandemic lockdown in Normandy. Influenced by Chinese scrolls and the Bayeux Tapestry, Hockney's intent is that the viewer will walk past it and experience in one picture a whole year in Normandy. 

The piece has been unveiled in the huge, timber-beamed roof space in Salts Mill, along with an animated iPad painting, 'Remember You Cannot Look at the Sun or Death for Very Long', a joyful depiction of sunrise. 

Whatever you think of his art, there is no doubt that even at the age of 84, after a career spanning 60 years, Bradford-born Hockney's zest for life and commitment to innovative and ambitious projects is undimmed. 

Sunday meditation: Be kind

In today's world, simple kindness is needed more than ever.

Bluebells in Hirst Woods and a quote seen scrawled in the side of a narrowboat I passed on the canal, put together in processing software, just for fun. 

It's bluebell time again...

It's bluebell time again. I didn't intend to take as many photos this year but once you get into the woods it is very addictive! This is Hirst Woods, where the bluebells are fabulous, though this year the ground is so littered with fallen tree branches after the winter storms that it all looks rather untidy. 

I know at least one of my blog friends likes English bluebell woods so these are for you, Vicki. 

Arts Trail 2022

The early May bank holiday saw Saltaire's annual Arts Trail take place around the village. It didn't seem quite back to pre-pandemic vigour, with rather fewer artists and makers participating, but it was lovely to see people out and about enjoying it. There is always a Makers' Fair in the Victoria Hall, along with various exhibitions and workshops. The best bit is that local residents open their homes in the village as mini art galleries, hosting a wide range of displays of their own creative work and that of other artists. The weather was fine and dry, which meant that David Starley could show his large oil paintings in his own garden, with visitors able to watch his work in progress whilst enjoying refreshments from the food stall. Some younger visitors were busy making their own artistic marks on the flagstones. 

I hardly took any photos, preferring just to wander and enjoy the atmosphere, but the colourful scene pictured seemed to sum up what the event is all about. 

St Mary's and the boggarts

Beyond Studley Royal Water Gardens and the ruins of Fountains Abbey there is a deer park with a large area of grassland and some huge, ancient trees, some of which now lie fallen and decaying. In the middle is St Mary's Church, a High Victorian Gothic Revival masterpiece built in the 1870s by the architect William Burges. It was commissioned by the Marquess of Ripon as a memorial after a family tragedy. 

I was interested by the echo of the church's shape in the semi-derelict tree in front of it. Closer inspection of the tree provided some wonderful boggarts (or perhaps gargoyles) lurking in the wood. See what you can spot. Pareidolia is alive and well here!

Studley Royal water gardens

Even though I visited Fountains Abbey fairly recently, on a sudden whim a friend and I set off for another visit there, to see photographs of the World Heritage Site taken during lockdown by the landscape photographer Joe Cornish, which are currently on display there.  This time we spent more time exploring the Studley Royal end of the estate, rather than the abbey itself. The water gardens were laid out in the early 18th century by the landowner John Aislabie and his son, William. (See HERE). John's political career had foundered (he was Chancellor of the Exchequer and was implicated in the South Sea Bubble crisis) and he retired in 1720 to his Yorkshire estate, with a vision to impress visitors with a breath-taking formal garden, studded with classical statues, follies and garden buildings. William later bought the ruins of Fountains Abbey, conveniently next door, as a romantic ruin to complete the gardens. 

A flurry of pink froth

More cherry blossom... (I keep typing 'cheery blossom', which really isn't far wrong.) It lends itself very well to a frothy, multi-layer fantasy. Pink candy floss, cotton candy, fairy floss - call it what you will but it looks like you could eat it!

'Oh, the wonder of it! The outrageous beauty! God didn’t have to give us cherry blossoms, you know.'

Lynn Austin

A benediction

Heber's Ghyll was all so green and mossy, soothing for one's soul. These three images seemed to fit quite nicely as a triptych. (Click on the image to make it bigger, so you can see it better.)

moss-drenched storm fall,

velvet-edged

thought streams steadied and stalled,

run to ground, brimming

balm-soaked,

a benediction

(Not my poem, though I don’t know who wrote it. It was one of a series scattered through the woods in Hardcastle Crags, part of a trail developed in collaboration with the National Trust and the University of Huddersfield.)

On the woodland floor

During our photography visit to Heber's Ghyll, I was not only looking for broader views but for small points of interest or 'intimate landscapes'. Here are a few that caught my eye:  

- the beads of rain on the grasses, and the geometric arrangement of grass and stems,

- the bright new flowers of this plant, which I think is wood spurge (euphorbia),

- this fungus, which I believe is known by the very appropriate name of 'jelly ears', slightly repellant to me! 

- the bright green of these 'hart's tongue' ferns, contrasting with the water below. They are far from perfect but I like the tinges of rust and amber. 

- a pine cone lying on a mossy bed, which seemed a good candidate for a mono conversion,

- as did the remains of last autumn's leaves, decaying gently underfoot.