Uppingham!

Yes, dear friends, we have finally moved and settled-in to our new home in the East Midlands and what a journey it has been!
It took forever to find a home to move to, and although we visited many wee towns and villages, it was difficult to find one with much availability - after all - who would want to leave such beautiful surroundings? But eventually we were successful in finding a place to live in charming Uppingham.
Would you like to learn more about it? Here is a video highlighting the county and Uppingham.

Our home is a modern built cottage that has kept its charm in being built to look like an older cottage. So we enjoy the energy efficiency found in new home construction with the period charm of an older home.

Lots has been unpacked but there is still a lot to do. We have moved from a home that had a lot of storage built-in to a home with very limited storage. So we have been busy filling the gap buying things we need to make our house a home.

I have found a chest of drawers to rework with some paining magic and an IKEA bookcase to transform into a linen closet. And more to come!

A view down the High Street from Market Square

Market Square at Night

We love being part of a small town and have begun getting to know some of our neighbours. In coming posts I will highlight some of them and their businesses in town.

We are just now beginning to tackle some of the outdoors with a concentration on the front garden.
Let's just say it is a 'natural' garden right now, filled with lovely wildflowers in the form of weeds, sharing the bit of earth with plants which no longer can be seen!
We are trying to get it weeded and then plan on planting lavender because it takes care of itself and comes up every year and looks and smells divine.
A bit of spring bulbs should also be planted as well as some hydrangea and peonies.
In the back garden, I would like to plant some lilacs and lily-of-the-valley.
If you know any good sources for any of these plants, please share!

So it is a happy post this time with many more to come.
Please leave a note to let me know you are still stopping by - and accept my apologises for the lack of posts in ever-so-long.
xxx
Maggie

David Austin Roses - So Perfectly English!

My neighbour encouraged me to get out of the house a couple of weeks ago. I have been, more-or-less, a shut-in for the last three months, and so it was decided we would travel to Shropshire to have a visit with some fabulous company - English roses.
A friend of hers offered to drive and the three of us began a journey to tease all of our senses.
I was expecting to visit a nursery that specialised in roses. You know what I mean: the typical lanes of shrubs, with row after row of plants, all set out for you to select and buy the best one of the lot. My, was I mistaken!At David Austin Roses you drive in on a lane that lies between fields of roses all in bloom, and it is a heady, breathtaking, experience. Once your car is parked, you are directed by signs on which way to enter through the sales gift shop, but then - oh my!

You wander out from the shop and into a dreamland of roses. Roses, roses, everywhere.
They are in pots or growing up the side of a wall. They greet you under canopies of wooden lattice that are so covered with their vines, it is actually dark beneath them.

Some formal, and some less formal, gardens of shrubs, ramblers, and climbers of many varieties.

Queen of Sweden

We sat for a bit to rest beneath a beautiful portico overlooking a gazing pool, perfectly centered to look ahead into the depths of the rose-covered pergolas.

It was a day of feasts for the senses- seeing, smelling, touching, listening, and even tasting as when took a wee lunch break on the patio, just outside the tearoom, on the premises.
We watched as people walked around discovering new 'friends' and old favourites.The heady scents of so many different roses all mingled together and hung in the afternoon air, making our outing ever-so fragrant, too.


We saw children accompanied by grandparents and watched as they tentatively touched the heads of the roses, all the time worrying about the possibility of being pricked by a thorn. All the while, their youthful voices were chattering away, asking one million questions of their companions.Tiny sparrows kept us company while scurrying about collecting crumbs from the pavement and swooping up to their nests under the eaves of the buildings.

It was a gorgeous sumer day, a bit overcast, and very breezy. The rain held off until we were headed home so our day was just perfect in all ways!After our garden walks, I had decided to return home with A Shropsire Lad, a hardy climber, with a fabulous scent.

I guess other people had the same idea; it was all sold out!

A Shropshire Lad

So I decided to purchase my second choice, The Generous Gardener, but it was not to be!
Suddenly I was, (not surprisingly), taken with, Penny Lane.
As a child of the sixties, naturally, I had to have it! Who wouldn't want a rose bush with the same name as the famous song from the fab four?

Penny Lane

Penny has been planted in a special spot in my 'instant garden' that, you may recall, I wrote about earlier in the year. With a bit of luck she will climb over and around a corner of the wall and bring a bit of beauty to a drab space.
She is holding her own right now, and you are sure to be reading more about my little Penny in upcoming posts.

If you are in the area, plan a visit to David Austin Roses - you will not go away empty-handed or disappointed!
xxx
Maggie