solstice

Happy Winter Solstice!

It’s no secret how much I love and look forward to this day, probably from about the end of September, truth be told! I feel the worst is over, now I know we may have lots of poor weather to come but it’s all about the light, the light is coming back and that feels so good. Tomorrow even though we won’t even notice it will have slightly more daylight than today and that is a wonderful thought.

I had a walk around the garden this week and even in depths of December there is colour out there but more importantly there is so much hope in the form of bulbs and buds, just bring it on!!!

However I’m not so caught up in pre-spring that I’m overlooking Christmas, it is of course happening here at GRD HQ. My son is home from Berlin this evening and along with my daughter and son-in-law we’ll have a lovely festive week together as a family.

I’d like to thank you all for visiting me here this year, it is always lovely to have you stop by and leave your wonderful comments, which are always appreciated.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas with those you love!

See you all in pre-spring! :)

 

villa & jardins ephrussi de rothschild

The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild was without a doubt the highlight of our recent trip to the south of France.

The villa was designed and built between 1905 and 1912 by Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild (1864–1934) who was a member of the Rothschild banking family, Béatrice was married to the banker Baron Maurice de Ephrussi.

The Baroness filled the mansion with antique furniture, Old Master paintings, sculptures, objets d’art, and an extensive collection of rare porcelain.

I’ll take you for a little tour of inside the villa first!

The villa is situated on the Cap Ferrat peninsula with outstanding views of the Mediterranean on either side but the most amazing thing about it are the gardens. The grounds are divided up into various gardens each one beautiful.

Spanish Garden

Florentine Garden

Stone Garden

Japanese Garden

Exotic Garden

Rose Garden

French Garden

My favourite garden was the French Garden, it was beautifully laid out with it’s musical fountains, I could have sat there forever!

Such a wonderful place, how amazing would it have been to have lived there!!

 

musée renoir

One of the places we visited on our recent trip to the south of France was the Renoir Museum.

The musuem is housed in the Renoir family home in Cagnes-sur-Mer, there is a reconstruction of Renoir’s studio where the painter spent the last years of his life and it holds many personal possessions, paintings and sculptures.

The house is a neo-Provençal building designed by the architect Jules Febvre in 1907 and is set in an olive grove and where the painter lived until his death in 1919. In 1960, the house became a municipal museum featuring the family’s furniture and fourteen original paintings and thirty sculptures by Renoir. The grounds contain beautiful old olive trees, orange and lemon trees and a rose garden and there is a wonderful view of the Haut-de-Cagnes, a very pretty French hilltop village.

I’m now just going to let the photos do the talking!

These were my two favourite paintings, I loved the apples, the light in the room in which this painting was hanging was amazing and the colours just stood out, I would really love to have this hanging on one of my walls!

The other painting looking out towards the Haut-de-Cagnes is a very beautiful painting too, I love the fact that I actually stood in the exact spot that Renoir stood to paint it. The two old olive trees are still there, they must be very old as the painting was painted 100 years ago and they were quite mature trees then.

As I’m never going to own either of these masterpieces I treated myself to postcards of them.

It was a wonderful day out, the house was amazing, what a fantastic place to live surrounded by an olive grove with that brilliant Riviera light!

 

florence court

The European Heritage Open Days were held here this weekend, it’s a time when all over Europe historical and famous buildings throw their doors open to the public.

We always like to pick somewhere we haven’t been before and this year we chose to visit the beautiful Florence Court, near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh.

Florence Court was the 18th century home of the Earls of Enniskillen.

We started off our visit with a picnic in the grounds in the brilliant sunshine, the weather was very kind to us, big cheer for Indian Summers.

We then took a tour of the house.

Now as is almost always the case with all these magnificent buildings there was no photography allowed inside the house except in the room that the tour started in.

So you’re just going to have to take my word for it that it was indeed magnificent.

There were many treasures from a trunk that belonged to William III to a chair that the Earl sat on in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of Elizabeth II. So many interesting artifacts and beautiful furniture.

I really loved the ‘downstairs’ it was so very Downton Abbey, the kitchen where the food was prepared, the rooms where the servants ate and where they filled hot water jars and oil lamps for ‘upstairs’, all fascinating.

After the tour of the house we went back out into the sunshine to enjoy the grounds and gardens.

Now at first sight this tree doesn’t look very significant. It’s an Irish yew tree which is a different species to the English Yew, this particular yew is the mother plant of every other Irish yew tree in existence throughout the world today. It dates back to between 1740 and 1760.

I’m not sure how much of this plaque you can read but it explains the history of the tree.

I was so jealous of their pumpkins, considering the fact that mine never got beyond the flower stage!!

It was a lovely day out, Florence Court is definitely worth a visit.

 

summertime

We’ve had some lovely days out during my Hb’s time off work!

There have been visits to parks, woods, the seaside, gardens, mountains and canal tow paths.

We’ve played in mazes and with sun dials (I liked the human one best), we’ve looked down on the city from on high and over the sea towards Scotland, we’ve walked through trees, up mountains, beside rivers and canals and the sea. We’ve had lovely meals out, picnics and ice creams, there has been sunshine and showers but most of all we’ve taken time to smell the roses (and other flowers too)!

I wish it could be summer all the time!!! :)

Photos taken at ~ Carnfunnock Country Park, Larne, Co Antrim : Black Mountain, Belfast, Co Antrim : Newry Canal Tow Path, Co Armagh : Groomsport, Co Down : Bangor Castle Walled Garden, Bangor, Co Down : Clare Glen, Tandragee, Co Armagh

 

rowallane garden

On one of our days out this week we visited Rowallane Garden a Natioanl Trust property in County Down.

I thought you might like to take a stroll with me, bring your umbrella though as unfortunately the weather wasn’t kind!

Despite the weather we had a lovely walk around the gardens, the walled garden is particularly beautiful!

We also had the company of this little chap (photo thanks to my Hb with his many lens!!) who seemed very pleased that someone had turned up on a damp day, he was a very good tour guide, he knew all the best perches and places to shelter from the rain!

Thanks again for visiting and for all your comments on my last post.

Have a lovely day (sunshine has been restored here)! :)

 

july days

At this time of the year my husband always takes some time off work, it’s a stay at home holiday with lots of days out and about.

On Saturday past we had a lovely picnic in a country lane among honeysuckle and wild roses and then visited the lovely Antrim Castle Gardens, a favourite of ours, which we enjoyed in a mixture of sunshine and showers.

We have another nine days stretching out in front of us with lots of little outings planned, fingers crossed for lots of sunshine! :)