Edinburgh and the Titan Arum

I spent a few days in Edinburgh at the beginning of August staying with our youngest son. These are some photographs of the city taken from Calton Hill. On a clear day there are good views of the city and surroundings.

Below, looking North over the Firth of Forth

looking towards Leith

and a view of Arthurs Seat and the Crags.

While I was in Edinburgh, one of the world's biggest flowers was blooming in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The Titan Arum, Amorphphallus titanum, first bloomed in the glasshouses in June 2015 and for the second time on the 1st August this year. It is also one of the smelliest flowers emitting the odour of rotting flesh to attract pollinators. Luckily for me, the smell is only present during the first day or so and when I saw it on August 4th there was no longer any smell.

A hole was cut in the base of the flower to allow it to be hand pollinated, hopefully some seeds will be produced.

While I was there the height of the flower was measured, the photograph gives some idea of the size.

              
An information board shows the rate of growth of the first bloom in 2015.

It was raining when I visited the botanic gardens this time so no photographs outside but the glasshouses proved to be a perfect place to spend a wet afternoon.

around Chagford

More holiday photographs.

This is the cottage we stayed in in Chagford right the centre of the village. Its not obvious from the picture but it is built on a hill. It was a small cottage, only four rooms plus entrance but none of those rooms were on the same level, four or five steps between each one.

It was attached to the owners house at the back and we could use their garden. It was a long thin garden and when we walked the length of it, the furthest part through the arch, was just for us. This suited us because with my husband still not walking far after breaking his leg and ankle in the spring we spent more time at the holiday cottage than we would normally do. It was nice to be able to relax in the garden without intruding on the owners space.

There are two hills above Chagford and while my husband relaxed in the garden I was able to walk up both (on separate days). Meldon hill was the highest at  390m  and was a steep climb up through the bracken. It was worth it for the view of the village from the top.

I sat for a while on these granite rocks near the top. The path was steep and slippery with loose gravel so I made my way down very slowly grabbing hold of the bracken to stop myself sliding. Realising how much damage you can do after a simple fall ( my husband had two breaks in his leg and fractures in his ankle and after six months is still not able to walk far or to drive) has made me a lot more cautious especially when like this I am out on my own. On this day I didn't see anyone while walking up and down the hill. However if I didn't walk out on my own I wouldn't have seen these wonderful views and I do enjoy being out in nature. Its a difficult balance between being "sensible", not taking risks yet not being over cautious.

Another day I walked up Nattadon hill. This time I could walk up by the road. The next photograph is looking across to Meldon Hill and you can see the path winding up through the gravel on the right of the picture.

A slightly different view of the town.

I love the patchwork of small fields bounded by hedges in this part of Devon.

Just a few miles from Chagford was the National Trust property, Castle Drogo. As you can see from the photograph there is a huge restoration project on at the moment and the house wasn't open.

There were guided tours of the renovation work, so my husband went on one of those while I followed a circular walk nearby.

I walked down through the woods to the river in the valley, then along a shady path beside it

before climbing back up to the castle. It was a hot day but a lot of the walk was shaded by trees.

We met up in the castle gardens and enjoyed the sunshine before heading back to our little garden at the cottage.

Rosemoor

I have now been back from my holidays for two weeks so its time I sorted out my photographs. As always I took very many pictures, plenty of memories.

In mid August we spent a few days in Chagford, a small town on Dartmoor. It was a good place from which explore the area.

On my list was the RHS garden, Rosemoor. This was my second visit, the first being many years ago when the children were small, I was able to spend a bit more time looking at the plants this time.

In mid August the Hot Garden was at its peak. The colours were amazing

and the garden was filled with butterflies.

There was softer planting in the spiral garden

and then so many different shades of green beside the lake.

Beautiful reflections in the still water.

With so many visitors to the garden, the birds were used to people and seemed happy to pose for photos.

It was a good day out. I'll leave you with this handsome chap I spotted in the woods.

goodbye March

Here we are in April. March was a trying month and although the start of April is only a date on the calendar, I'm hoping that it is a fresh start.

With my father-in-law passing away in February and all the admin that entails, my husband being diagnosed with calcific tendonitus which is a painful shoulder condition reducing the amount of movement in the joint (no driving) and work being busy/stressful for all the family,  March didn't get off to a good start.

We decided a family holiday would benefit everybody and our sons joined us for a week in the Brecon Beacons the week before Easter.

It started well. On the second day the weather was fine and clear and we walked up in the mountains.

 Fine mild weather,

stunning views

and then on the way back down to the carpark, my husband tripped and fell breaking his leg  and ankle (four breaks in total). He is still unsure how it happened, a well maintained path, fine conditions, the correct footwear and clothing - just one of those things.

Mountain rescue were brilliant, giving him oxygen, pain relief, strapping up his leg and carrying him off the mountain on a stretcher.

He was then taken by ambulance to hospital where he had surgery and stayed for ten days. Not the holiday we planned.

I stayed in the holiday cottage with our sons, visiting the hospital in the afternoon and evening.

We made the most of the days exploring the Brecon area. Then towards the end of the week, youngest son picked up the sickness and diarrhoea bug that was rife in the hospital. He could no longer visit his father in hospital and at the end of the week I was glad when the three of us were safely home and husband was being looked after in hospital.

I planned to return and stay in a hotel near the hospital but then oldest son and I went down with the sickness bug. After the required 48 hours had passed I drove back down to Wales and checked into a hotel hoping for a few quiet days to recover. The pressure on hospital beds meant that my husband was released the next day so still feeling rather fragile myself, I drove him home.

So that is where we are at the start of April. There is a lot to sort out with transferring care to here, fracture clinic appointments, physiotherapy etc over the next few weeks but hopefully things are improving. Well I thought that until I pulled my back unlacing my walking shoes yesterday (what?, how?!) and I am now shuffling around the house rather stiffly - my body may be trying to tell me to slow down but that doesn't seem possible right now.

A quick trip to the supermarket for some healthy food and then a quiet weekend I think.

I'll sign off with this photograph taken near the canal at Brecon, good advice in the circumstances.

A weekend away

Last weekend we went to Devon to see my parents. I think I have mentioned before that they now feel that they want just a short visit of an hour or two, anything longer creates a lot of anxiety. We do as they wish but it always seems a long way to go for so short a time. We try to make a weekend of it and squeeze in some time at the coast.

This is Budleigh Salterton in East Devon. I grew up in Somerset and this is somewhere I have been coming for most of my life and on the surface it seems unchanged over the years.

On the beach,  freshly caught fish for sale. There was a steady trade and the gulls were interested in any trimmings as the fish were prepared for sale.

This young gull was tackling a starfish.

Another view of the beach. In the summer there are pastel coloured beach huts along side the beach, it looks different in the winter with uninterrupted views of the beach.

We visited Mum and Dad on Saturday afternoon and then again on Sunday morning before making our way home.

We take the A303 home and often try to find somewhere new on the way to stop and explore. This time we chose Shaftesbury. It was very quiet on a Sunday afternoon with the shops closed but it looked as if it would be a bustling sort of place at other times. We had a coffee before strolling round the town.

Good views over the surrounding countryside.

We followed a path down to the bottom of Gold Hill, made famous by the Hovis TV advert.

This is the view looking up,

a few of the cottages

and the famous view looking down.

We noticed that there were no television aerials or satellite dishes - perhaps there are regulations against these being visible.

As you can see from the photographs, there was nobody about - the benefit of playing tourist out of season.

There are two museums open in the spring and summer. The Gold Hill museum which sounds quite interesting and also the grounds of the Abbey and the Abbey museum. I'd like to make a return visit when these are open - might not be so peaceful on the hill then though.