When Nature Fights Back

Every year many trees up and down the country get blown over and most quickly get cleaned up but some are just left to be reclaimed by nature. Most shrivel up and are taken over by fungus's that slowly decompose the tree back in to the surrounding soil.

But some want to fight back just because they have been blown flat on the ground it dose not mean that their time is up. I was out for a walk this morning and came across this blown over in the corner of a field. The daughter thought it was great a great big natural climbing frame that she wanted to bring home and put in our garden.

But what amazed me was the tree is full of leaf and also covered in blossom just as good as the surrounding trees. This horse chestnut is showing no signs of going to tree heaven just yet it just goes to show the power of nature it will always fight back.





Days out - Bridgemere garden centre

I have not been to Bridgemere garden centre for many years Europe's largest garden centre so when on my way home from my parents. I saw a sign for Bridgemere so I decided to take a detour luckily the girls had not noticed that I had gone on a detour otherwise there would have been a few moans about gong to another garden centre.


Now it is pretty much a normal garden centre café, books, plants etc. but what makes Bridgemere different apart from the sheer size of the place is there show garden. The garden covers six acres and you could easily spend several hours just wandering around the show garden. The garden was originally built for the Gardening program Gardeners Diary which I believe was aired in the 1980's. I even found an old episode on You Tube proper old school gardening program teaching how to grow plants.

 If I remember rightly there used to be a booth at the entrance to the show gardens when you had to pay a small fee to get into the garden. Now it is free to get in there is not all the fruit and veg that there was during the TV years but there is defiantly lots to see.

 Although the fruit and veg are no longer there which is a shame the garden was full of glorious spring colour. A couple of the beds where empty waiting to be planted up with this coming summer bedding.

 The garden is also full of lovely clipped box and yew hedging which added lots of colour and shape to the borders.

 One great part of the garden is the fake ruined castle tower which if it was not for being able to see the brick work inside you think it was a real ruin.

 The tower sits well with in the garden especially down below where you get to gaze across all the summer flowers up to the tower.

 The garden is well maintained in fact there was hardly a weed to be seen it will defiantly be worth another trip back in the summer to see how it develops through the season.

Full details can be found on Wyevale's website

http://www.wyevalegardencentres.co.uk/garden-centres/bridgemere/Bridgemere/2

Open 9am - 6pm seven days a week

Days out - Eden Project

I have wanted to visit Eden for many since it was built but have never got down to that part of the country until now. Cornwall is a long was to go for us it took nearly 6 hours to get down there but was well worth the drive I should point out that we went for the weekend and not a day trip. As we pulled into the entrance the sun was shining although the wind was a bit chilly. Parked the car jumped on the bendy bus that takes you to the entrance there is still a bit of a walk from where you are dropped off but it is all under cover. I managed to pick up a discount voucher from the holiday park where we stayed giving us 15% off the entrance price bonus. There is a viewing platform as you enter the garden that gives you a full view of the Biomes they are very impressive and sit well in there surroundings following the shape of the surrounding land. Knowing that it was only gong to get hotter during the day we headed straight to the tropical biome. It is like stepping into another country as you enter the biome it's only when you get the occasional clips of the roof that you remember that you are in a great big greenhouse.



It's also bigger than you think inside we where walking around for nearly an hour there are lots of really great plants to look at. Every thing from Bananas to coffee trees as it was Easter there was lots of chocolate displays to keep the children happy. Coco trees and some very helpful staff on hand to answer all your chocolate related questions the only person who was missing was Willy Wonker him self. after a trip round the tropics we decided to go on to the Mediterranean lucky it was only next door and no plane ride needed. I will say that as soon as you walk into the Mediterranean biome you are hit with the lovely small of the cooking coming from the restaurant inside the biome. It's a shame we had just had lunch as the food looked great it was just like being in the Mediterranean. 

There was a great collection of citrus giving off some wonderful scent in the middle of the biome this is where we sat for a while. Listening to the story teller telling the tale of a button and the kings Tylor which the girls enjoyed listening too. There was so much around the garden for children to do especially in the stage area there was a egg hunt, egg shy, hook an egg etc. as well as face painting so we ended up taking home a tiger as well. It was an all round excellent day out for the family that I would recommend to anyone who is visiting that part of the country.

 

for full detail visit there website :- www.edenproject.com

Monkey Forest

Its bank holiday Monday so it's time for a family day out and Monkey Forest is the destination. The Monkey Forest is on the Trentham Estate in Staffordshire and is home to 140 free roaming Barbary macaques Monkeys. We left at 10.30am and headed up the M1 traffic was good so after a stop off at the services we got to Monkey Forest just after 12pm. We where greeted by a see of cars field's full although there was no problem on the roads getting in we soon found a parking space under a nice old oak tree. We grabbed our packed lunch and made our way to the entrance this is when we realized just how many family's had decided to make Monkey Forest also there destination of choice. It took over half an hour to get through the gate which was a bit disappointing luckily it was not raining but we did manage to eat the contents of the packed lunch while we where waiting to pay.

 At the pay both we where greeted by a friendly girl who took our payment quickly and we where in it was £24.00 for the four of us which i thought was good value. Once inside it did not feel like there was hundreds 

 of people there was plenty of space for every one our first stop was the toilet there was extra portaloos on hand but we headed to the main toilet block no cue even in the Lady's they where also very clean and tidy.

We made our way over to the Monkey enclosure we where given a brief talk on the rules of the enclosure don't touch the monkeys etc. The monkeys are in a mainly oak woodland with an under story of Rhododendron ponticum which was just coming into full flower. We walked through the wood looking up into the tree canopy trying to spot them they are difficult to spot at first as they are nearly the same colour as the bark of the trees. But once you have spotted one you soon start to see the rest as you wander through the woods you come out in a clearing where there was 30 odd Monkeys from baby's to fully grown adults. This is also one of the areas where they carry out the feeding every hour one of the keepers gives a little talk about the Monkeys while feeding them. The monkeys get real close here walking across the paths and swinging through the trees the Girls loved being so close to the Monkeys watching them peel the oranges and bananas. There are very helpful guides dressed in yellow through out the enclosure and are more then happy to answer any of your questions about the Monkeys. It's a really great way to see Monkeys up close with out a wire fence between you like in a Zoo and the girls really enjoyed seeing them jumping through the trees above there heads.

After coming out of the monkey enclosure we went to the Banana cafe for a cup of tea but it was unfortunate that there was such a big cue to get any food or drinks it was all reasonably priced only £1.50 a cup for tea. 

After tea we went over to the play ground area when the girls got to run around and act like Monkeys themselves on the climbing frames. But of cause we could not leave with out a visit to the Jungle shop which contained a vast array of monkey related merchandise so we now have two new Monkeys in our house.

All in all it was a great day out for the family and i would highly recommend a visit but get there early if it's a bank holiday to avoid the cue to get in.

Visit there website for further details www.trentham-monkey-forest.com

Enterance cost 

Adults: £7.50 each
Senior citizens/students £7.00 each
Children (from 3 to 14 years old): £5.50 each
Disabled/carers £5.00 each

Under 3 years old Free of charge

Opening times for 2014

Open weekends in March 10am - 4pm, last entry 3pm.

Open every day from 1st April 10am - 5pm, last entry at 4pm.

19th July - 31st Aug open 10am - 6pm, last entry at 5pm.

1st Sept - 25th Oct open 10am - 5pm, last entry at 4pm.

26th Oct - 2nd Nov open 10am - 4pm, last entry at 3pm.

Robs Nursery

The bedding plant season is now in full swing with millions of packs being sold every spring to keen gardener wanting to get a good splash of colour in there garden. B&Q sell over 10 million bedding plants through there stores every spring but if you want the best quality bedding you need to go to a specialist. This week i went off to Robs nursery in Moulton, Northamptonshire Robs is a family run nursery in the centre of the village of Moulton. 

As you come off the road you wind your way down a narrow lane you will go past some houses and in to a farm yard but keep going you are not lost and the greenhouses are straight in front of you.

Rob has been running this nursery for the last 30 years selling just to the public and specializing in bedding plants. You will find it hard to get better quality plants from any where else and at very reasonable price's too.

The first thing that hits you when you walk in is the colour Orange, Reds, Yellows right through to the pastel colours Blues, Pinks etc. Plants are available in small pots, strips right up to big pots with instant fan trained Geraniums and Fushias. 

 But lets not forget the hanging basket's and pots there are loads to chose from already planted up or let Rob plant your own container up for you.

But Robs nursery is not just about Bedding they also grow lots of Monkey puzzles and Wollemi pine from small ones to big ones Rob grows all the Monkey puzzles they sell from seed so all have been carefully tended for many year. 

Robs Nursery was also the first nursery in the UK to collect seed and germinate it of the Wollemi pine seed the videos below to see how Rob did it.

To visit Robs Nursery or get in touch with them they are open 9-5 Monday - Saturday and 9-4 on a Sunday

19a Church Street Moulton, Northampton. Tel.01604 495073
(between Church and Artichoke Pub)
email: sales@robsnursery.com