In no time at all there was another Walking Well Walk arranged by one of the leaders. Three ladies have taken over the organisation and running of the group and it’s all going really smoothly.
The walk was to take place in the grounds of the Gelli Aur mansion, a rather dour building, but surrounded by glorious woodland including many specimen trees.
As soon as I opened the car door the scent from the many lime trees around the carpark was quite over powering! Wish I could bottle it or indeed have smelly sensation available on WordPress to share with everyone!
We walked through meadows mown with paths and being aware of covid restrictions behaved extremely well (!) keeping in single file and metres apart!
The lovely stone walls marked the perimeter of the managed woodland. Even though the woods are managed there were clumps of Himalayan balsam- so pretty but our native plants suffer when they are present. Let’s hope the foxgloves fight back!
It was a wonderful walk as there were paths through the woods, through a small quarry, along a road, up a hill, down a dale and on the way meeting interesting people too! Chats with a gentleman who had been in the Gulf War and his memories all added to the enjoyable morning out.
Good to spot lots of wildflowers and things of interest- keeps the mind from wondering if the hill ahead is going to be manageable or not! One of the walkers had an app on his phone that tells you the name of the plant when looked at. It was fascinating trouble is I’ve forgotten many of the names of all the umbellifers..but I knew them when he said!!! Coffee and cake in the cafe ended another wonderful WWW – thank you Pam!
fossils in a kerbstone 
bindweed 
agrimony 
yarrow
My recent visits to the Botanic Garden of Wales have been marred by the weather. Heavy rain shortened my last visit so it was great to be back there recently in full sunshine and happy summer weather. The gardens looked amazing and I remembered to take photos of the plants I liked and their labels so I know what I want to buy on my next visit to a nursery! Also it helps me to see how plant colour combinations are used to enhance enjoyment in borders- my planting of planned colours in borders never seem to turn out as I envision them- mine is a pot luck garden!
The Great Glasshouse looked splendid inside and out!
It was lovely to share the time at the Gardens with friends and we enjoyed looking at the new bog garden and we all ended up buying a plant in the plant sales area!
Of course no post would be complete without a mention of Aberglasney Gardens where everything continues to grow and flourish and brings pleasure to all the visitors.
Field next door to Aberglasney! 
Back home the sunshine has meant the watering continues apace! It’s very time consuming but necessary!
The Canada geese are able to cool off, in the recent hot weather, by hiding under the gunnera leaves and amongst the tall grasses in the Pond Field. How the Pond Field is going to get cut is something to worry about later as it looks rather lovely with all the grasses, wild flowers and a steadily increasing number of butterflies flying about. The goslings are now nearly the same size as their parents and practice flapping their wings vigorously on the pond. This helps break up the dreaded pond weed which is strangling everything else!
The rest of the garden is looking bright and more flowers are popping up in unexpected places!
Good old feverfew filling the empty spaces! 
Clever clematis hiding the boring fir tree! 
The cottage has been buzzing with lovely visitors. It’s all to do with many deciding to stay in the UK for their holidays instead of flying off to countries new and then having problems with covid restrictions. It’s been really enjoyable welcoming people from all over the UK to stay in the cottage. Some have shared our home grown veg when it has been available! However, everyone has been delighted to visit Carmarthenshire, some for the first time, and discover what a beautiful county it is and a perfect place to spend your holiday.
cottage patio 
cottage garden
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the sunny weather wherever you are!
The camera was on full zoom so poor photos of an adult moorhen with two chicks and a chick ( the black spot!) running underneath the gunnera (which shows frost damage on its leaves!)
Just look who’s coming back over the fields for the night- hope the moorhen chicks are safely tucked up in bed for the night or there’ll be ructions!
Happy Gardening everyone!
The goslings are only two days old and already quite able to forage for themselves but stay close to mum and dad! The ‘dad’ chased away the moorhen , who had only come to say ‘Good Morning!’
As it was a dry, sunny but chilly day we thought a ‘brisk’ walk would be in order. Jim’s knee is not quite up to ‘brisk’ yet but it’s getting there…when the swelling goes down!!
There are many magnificent oak trees around the parkland – how many mysteries have they seen?
Turn the other way from this view of the bluebell woodland and you see Newton House and in front the White Cattle enjoying a morning snooze.
Continuing our circular walk we passed banks of primroses between the woodland bluebells and saw some White Cattle close at hand!
