I had invited some cycling friends to join me for a ride I have done a few times now, from Ewelme to Waterperry Gardens. A few couldn't make it, but 6 of us set of this morning in two vans to hopefully enjoy a lovely ride through the Chiltern Villages, and see the beautiful Aster display.
I checked the forecast this morning for Waterperry...... it was looking grim. One raindrop from about 10 o'clock, and two raindrops from about noon. The weather map had green colouring. I gave them the option to either forget the idea, or else set off and see what it was like when we arrived in Ewelme.
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| Rose and I both drove our vans and shared the bike transportatoin. Dry at 9.15 at Cantley. |
It drizzled as we drove through Henley but after Nettlebed it started to rain quite heavily..... good! Decision made. No fun riding in this weather. I pulled up in Eweleme car park, with Rose following. I was wondering if the ladies in her van probably thought I was parking up to get my bike out!
We had a loo stop at the Almshouses. A couple of ladies had never been into the Church here, so they did that too. The rain had become a drizzle, so we did a short walk around the village, which happened to pass the Village Store, who do teas. š. Well it was after 10.30 now.
Rather than get on the M40, (quickest route), I decided to drive to Ewelme using part of the route we would have ridden. Much more interesting. By the time we arrived it was miserable. I had asked Rose to bring a couple of brollies and I had taken 4. They were well used! Gill and I were able to use our GW 2for1 cards, so we shared the cost with 2 ladies. The car park was pretty busy, but there was NO ONE in the garden. Think they were all in the teashop.
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| Rain jackets on, as we stop off in Ewelme. |
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| They had some second hands books, asking for a contribution. Gill bought 5, and Amanda and I bought one. |
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| The Lavender still flowering in the School garden. |
Rather than get on the M40, (quickest route), I decided to drive to Ewelme using part of the route we would have ridden. Much more interesting. By the time we arrived it was miserable. I had asked Rose to bring a couple of brollies and I had taken 4. They were well used! Gill and I were able to use our GW 2for1 cards, so we shared the cost with 2 ladies. The car park was pretty busy, but there was NO ONE in the garden. Think they were all in the teashop.
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| Lovely colours, although a lot of them were falling over with all the recent rain. |
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| The sky was just "bleah". |
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| This was taken LAST year, with blue sky. |
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| And there were several clumps of Persicaria. Deep pink, white and also pale pink varieties. Great plants for ground cover and late season interest. |
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| Another border with lots of grasses amongst the perennials |
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| It was wet! Stipa Gigantea grass. |
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| Rudbekia and some kind of lemon sunflower, with a dash of purple. Rose's colours looked perfect! |
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| Huge Rose Hips. |
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| The Aster Demo Beds. |
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| This has become a tradition, although not usually with brollies! š Take by Kim. |
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| And this one with Kim, who I notice has no brolly. A lot easier! |
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| The white border is now about 2 years old and filing out nicely. |
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| There are no chestnut this year on this tree. I've seen them before and they had smooth outer shells. |
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| Heading back along the long border. Is the light any better this direction? |
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| The walled garden |
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| Interesting textures going on. |
Time for lunch, and we all fancied a bowl of hot soup, so a disappointment to hear they had sold out! Never mind, we all enjoyed a hot savoury dish, before we headed for home, this time on the very soggy M40 with lots of spray. Thank goodness we made the right decision not to ride. We would have been miserable.
Thanks for your company ladies, and we will definitely revisit on a beautiful sunny spring day next year.