It is now mid July and its harvest time in the Walled Garden at Parke
Ranger Fred Hutt and volunteer Ellie processing the picked fruit
It has been a good year for red currants
Gooseberries and red gooseberries
Some more red currants still to pick
And some glassy looking white currants
We held our Dartmoor Senior Leadership Team meeting at Finch Foundry yesterday – I got there early so I could take a few photographs of the garden.
The garden is very colourful at the moment and is looked after by Catherine, an NT volunteer and her two assistants Sheryl and Mike – they do an excellent job – thank you
Alstroemeria aura Peruvian Lilly – I love the markings
A red monbretia
The Quaking Grass – Briza major
The garden also attracts lots of insects – here is a tree bumblebee – a species that has only recently arrived in the UK. See here for further details of the arrival of the tree bumblebee
A mating pair of the very common soldier beetle Rhagonycha fulva
And the black and yellow longhorn beetle Rutpela maculata
Finch Foundry is well worth a visit – see a bit of old industrial Devon and a beautiful garden – see here for more details.
Here are a few shots from Parke’s Walled Garden
Lovely display of miniature daffodils – they may be small but they are around the same size as wild daffodils!
Beautiful colours in these quince flowers
Almond flowers – really deep pinks and purples
Onions
The vineyard – still sleeping
The view from the top of the Walled Garden down towards Bovey Tracey
A few photos of some spring flowers at Finch Foundry yesterday
Winter hellebore
Crocuses
Primroses
Snowdrops
And a jackdaw on the chimney of Foundry Cottage
Glorious sunny day in the Walled Garden at Parke yesterday – here are a few photos.
Little bowl of daffs
The almond is flowering – pretty spectacular
It was swarming with honey bees and hoverflies – this one is the drone fly Eristalis tenax. These were the first honey bees and hoverflies I had seen this year
And here is an almond from last year
It is less than a decade ago that we started to restore Parke’s Walled Garden – here are a few photographs showing some of that work.
The walls are being ‘repainted’ with lime wash – the garden is still a jungle and the capping wall tins have yet to be replaced
Repairing the main wall
An old photo from the early 1900s – note the glass house and the box hedges around the beds
Major Hole’s gardener
This pit outside the Walled Garden used to house the boiler for the glass house – you can still see some of the pipework
It is good to see the Walled Garden now back in use and we hope that as the years go by and more money becomes available we will be able to restore some of the other older features that were once in the garden.
And finally the sunset over the Walled Garden yesterday evening
The Walled Garden at Parke is currently looking amazing – the fruits and many of the vegetables are coming up and are ready for harvest. Once ready all the fruit will be one sale at Parke (first come first served!) or will go to Parke’s Home Farm Cafe.
Grapes – both white and red varieties have done well this year. We will be juicing them on Apple Day later in the year – maybe wine in the future!
NB – these are the red grapes – the white ones on this bunch will turn red soon.
Don’t these apples look good?
Same goes for the pears
I just want to pick this loganberry straight off the page!
The figs are half way there – give them a month and they will be ready too
Tomatoes in the polytunnel
Hmmm – is this a marrow or a pumpkin? I suspect the latter.
Popped into Finch Foundry earlier in the week to see how the team were getting on with Ben, the Foundry Manager on holiday – all is well! Took a few pictures of the lovely garden at Finch – it is looking really fabulous. Well done to the volunteers who look after it so carefully. Here is the link to the full photo set.
Red poppy
Plenty more poppies still to flower
Blue iris
The grass Briza major
Fushcias
A type of carnation
Been to Castle Drogo today – fantastic trip up the new Tower to review the repair works – absolutely brilliant – a must do thing! This along with the visit to the garden made a great afternoon’s entertainment. During the winter Tower trips only occur at the weekend – check here for full opening time details. Here are a few pictures from my visit.
Drogo’s roof under the biggest tent and scaffolding you have ever seen
It takes a few moments to get your bearings – everything looks so different.
Big time scaffolding.
The trip up the Tower.
And into the garden – the view across to Hay Tor.
Maples
More maples
Down the main path
The garden seat
A full set of photos can be seen here
I was over at Finch Foundry this afternoon to have a catch up meeting with Ben (the brilliant Foundry Manager) and afterwards I was mesmerised by a buddleia bush by the tea room – it was absolutely stuffed with butterflies, bumblebees, moths and hoverflies.
In 15 minutes I reckon there were 25 small tortoiseshells, 5 red admirals, 5 peacocks, various small whites, small copper, meadow browns, a silver washed fritillary, a silver Y moth and four species of bumblebee. Impressive – one of the most busy feeding frenzies I have seen – definitely worth a look if you are at Finch – right next to the entrance.
And then out of nowhere a hornet appeared and zapped one of the peacock butterflies – savaged it, tearing off its wings before flying off with the body …
The Serengeti arrived at Finch in front of my eyes.
Here are are my photos.
One of the 25 small tortoiseshells
Red tailed bumblebee
Red admiral
Silver washed fritillary
And finally .. the hornet dispatching the peacock
A Dartmoor blog 