Revisit to Fulham Palace and Its Gardens!

2010 Visit to the Fulham Palace Herb Garden!

This was the information on the sign for the herb garden:

"The walled garden at Fulham Palace was enclosed in the 1760's to form a kitchen garden.  The gateway and entrance wall are Tudor.  The glasshouse for grapes (vinery) and garden buildings (bothies) existed by 1825 and the knot garden of box hedges was laid out in the 1830's.  It was planted with herbs in this century (20th century).  The wisteria pergola is at least a hundred years old."

I always try when I go to England to come with some new herb gardens that I haven't seen before.  September is a beautiful month to visit England.  It has warmed up and the gardens of every sort are blooming at full intensity.  The herb garden when we first visited in 2010 was in a state of flux.  The gardens were overgrown.  Although there were beautiful specimen bay trees, one golden and one green, the rest of the herb garden needed some TLC.  I made sure that I could go back to a new herb garden at Fulham Palace on my visit in May 2014.

One Beautiful Golden Bay Tree

So I not only returned to Fulham Palace, but discovered one of the many allotments in London on the road to Fulham Palace.

Allotments Are On Part of the Original 36 Acres of Fulham Palace

Allotments Are An Important Part of Gardening in England

East Courtyard at Fulham Palace

The Wisteria Blooming

The Knot Garden Was Replanted With Box in its Original 1830 Layout

The Glasshouses Rebuilt Along A Wall

Lavender Blooming

Scented Geraniums Blooming As Well

The Replanted Knot Garden

The Tudor Wall Entrance Drawing You Into the Knot Garden!

Fulham Palace has been called a Hampton Court Palace in miniature because of its Tudor structures.  The bishops of London have called it home for over 1,000 years.  The present Bishop is living in more modest quarters in the city. The Tudor wall enclosing the two acre garden was constructed between 1764 and 1766.  The glasshouses were reconstructed in 2010-12 as close to the original as possible through archaeological research.

The knot garden was planted with box hedges and designed for Bishop Blomfield in the 1830's.  In 1915, it was planted with irises and roses.  In the 1980's the Hammersmith and Fulham Council filled it with herbs.  It was replanted in 2011 using herbaceous perennials in the knots to coincide with the colors of the coat of arms of the Bishop, blue, red and yellow.  It is a very tranquil garden.  Only some herbs in the knots and no bay trees in sight.  Their root structures alone were taking up space.  Hopefully they were moved to another part of the garden.  I will just have to go back to do further research!

Henry Compton was one of the botanising Bishops who gave the Palace's gardens more important trees and shrubs than any other bishop.  When he died his collection was dispersed, but some trees still remain on the grounds.  I am anxious to go back next time and not only track down the bay trees and also view the almost 60 rare trees located on the grounds.  There is also a lovely small cafe and terrace to enjoy your meal outside if it isn't raining.  I battled a sudden downpour during my visit, but if you aren't using your umbrella in London, you are very, very lucky!  Lots of families with children come and enjoy the expansive lawn to play.  It is a beautiful Palace and gardens not to be missed.

Well, we have had a January day here in the 'Burgh.  It is 21 degrees at the moment!  The forecast is for 60 by Wednesday, no fooling!  Hope you have had a wonderful Saturday.  One more post to go for my 2014 trip.  Then we should be out in the gardens getting plants cut back!  Talk to you later. 

Celebrating Five Years of Blogging! A Favorite 2010 Repost!

Well, you may not be able to tell from this photo but one of my favorite posts from 2010 is called Having Afternoon Tea at Claridges, London, England!

So hope you enjoy this early journey in my blog.  Again, you may comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway.  Please do not comment on the early post.  Oh, you can comment if you wish, but it won't count towards entry in the giveaway.  Please if you don't have a blog contact, please give me some kind of contact info.  You can also leave a comment on my Facebook page, Nancy Heraud.  One comment per person please.  I will be reposting my five favorite posts from each of the years in the coming days and if you haven't already commented, you may comment on those reposts as well.  This giveaway will end next Wednesday, August 14, 2013 at 10 AM EDT.  The winners will be announced once selected by The Herbal Husband from the magical cheese making basket.  Good luck and thanks for reading my blog!

Finally, getting a break in the humidity and so we're going outside to work on the front garden.  Talk to you later.

Have a Few Seeds With Your Omelet!

One of my favorite flowers in the garden is the Nigella (Nigella sativa).  Here is the flower photo from a website called Nigella Flower Pictures & Meaning.  One of its common names is love in the mist.  Just love it for its blue flowers.  Very easy to grow and you can see in the photo below that the pod is starting to grow from the center of the flower.  Nature, don't you love it!  I think I bought some seeds last year and didn't get them planted!  Maybe this year or they have to be on the list for purchase.

The Beautiful Blue Flower of the Nigella

Dried Pods Used for Decoration

Nigella Seeds from Fortnum & Mason

Nigella Seeds Added to My Egg Beaters

Delicious Scrambled Egg Beaters with a Nigella Twist

I found these nigella seeds at Fortnum and Mason last time I was in England and thought that they would be great in my Egg Beaters at breakfast.   I loved it when it said on the package "Adds a notable onion note to breads and omelettes."  They gave the eggs a bit of a crunch to them.  Delicious!  Well, we have gone from blue skies and 40 degree weather to 20's and snow!  Lake effect from Lake Erie!

A Snowy Front Garden

Going to be in the single digits tonight!  Hope you are staying warm wherever you may be!  Been watching the Inauguration festivities.  Hope the country can move forward together!  Talk to you later.

Having Afternoon Tea at Claridges, London, England!

In the Mayfair neighborhood:  Claridges

Harpist Played Music During Tea!

Tea Table Set with Limoges Galerie Royale Porcelain!

An Arrangement with Twelve Dozen Roses!

Apple and Raisin Scones Served with Marco Polo Tea infused Jelly, Clotted Cream and French Pastries!

A Tin of English Breakfast Tea Comes with the Bill!

An Afternoon Tea Menu!

Can you believe it!  I forgot to take a picture of our tea sandwiches and we were little piggies!  We had a second round of sandwiches!  The Claridges known for its art deco interiors serves tea in the foyer and reading room.    We even stayed so long that they started the cocktail hour!  Claridges has been famous for afternoon tea for more than 100 years and hopefully, it will be around for at least 100 more!  I raise my tea cup to Claridges!  Hope you are having a wonderful afternoon wherever you may be.  I think we have squeezed out one more great day here in the 'Burgh!  Talk to you later.

Quite A Home Away From Home!

                                         

Not your typical Ramada!  This was a 19th Bath stone manor house back in its day.  This was the first stop on my trip to England.  Click on the link for the hotel's website, The Ramada Grange Hotel.   My English Herbal Companion and I stayed here for a couple of days.  It was very relaxing. 

This yew tree is several hundred years old!  What a beautiful specimen it is!

Maybe a caretaker's house on the property.  It was very picturesque.

The walls around the property were very old.  The English Herbal Companion and I thought this was the entrance for the kitchen garden.

Bad photo but we had wildlife visiting a green spotted woodpecker and a rabbit not a hare.  You will just have to take my word that the rabbit was climbing on and around the rumble of the wall in the back.   My English Herbal Companion will hopefully be adding her remarks to my posts when she gets back to Spain where she lives now.  More later!  Beautiful days outside.  Will show you the garden tomorrow.  Two more batches of raspberry jam today!  Talk to you later!

Just Wanted to Say I'm Back!

Made The Herbal Husband some blueberry muffins this morning!  My trip from England started at 5:00 AM yesterday in London and ended at 5:35 PM yesterday afternoon in Pittsburgh.  I ate "beef stew" at 11:00 AM and cereal at 8:00 PM in Pittsburgh!  It was a wild day!  Glad to be home.  Wait until you see the photos!  Got to go do some errands!  Will tell you some tales tomorrow!  Missed you and The Herbal Husband!   I had a walk in the mist and rain this morning reminded me of England!  Talk to you later!

Tricolore Salad Reminds Me of London!

You say, but Lemon Verbena Lady, you have lost what's left of your mind!  Well, certain food we eat during the day reminds me of places on our trips.  For instance, fruit salad reminds me of Boston.  Because every morning we woke up at our bed and breakfast in Boston, we had a fruit salad to share.  We have had that tradition at breakfast ever since.


So this tradition started in London many years ago.  There is a little Italian restaurant in the neighborhood where we stay that is very good called O' Sole Mio.  They have a tricolore salad that can be shared and is very fresh.  We hold our breath each year that it is still open when we go back because restaurants come and go so quickly!  The Herbal Husband makes ours with feta cheese instead of mozzarella and adds black olives for me.  How much more summery can you get then with a nasturtium flower to decorate it?  Hope you have a great day wherever you may be!  Rain on the garden this morning and our grass is growing like a field!  The Township will be after me!  Maybe I'll mow tomorrow!  More jelly to make!  Talk to you later!