10 Comments CherryPie on Aug 16th 2011
Details from a sign next to the owl:
This Owl Sculpture has been created by Tommy Craggs, an award winning local artist. You can view his work on the internet at treesculpting.co.uk.
The tree is one of our historic Oaks, planted in 1892, which was badly damaged in storms last year. When it became apparent that it could not be saved, we looked at ways of keeping it as a feature in the garden and decided that a sculpture would add interest to the area and and keep the tree as a presence in the garden.
The stump is carved with an owl, red squirrels and a woodpecker, all of which used the tree when it was alive. The bark is covered with wonderful lichens and mosses which Tommy has kept as part of the design.
18 Comments CherryPie on Aug 15th 2011
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating;
there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin
20 Comments CherryPie on Aug 14th 2011
Views towards Rothbury, taken in the formal garden at Cragside.
12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 13th 2011
6 Comments CherryPie on Aug 12th 2011
Regular readers will know that Cragside is one of my favourite places to visit. During my recent visit to Northumberland I enjoyed seeing the gardens in a different season. In this post you can see the formal gardens being stripped back and prepared for the summer bedding.
New to me on this visit was the addition of a bird hide just outside the formal gardens. I took the opportunity to sit and rest a while within the hide. I saw many varieties of birds flying too and fro. Unfortunately they have stopped encouraging and feeding the red squirrels that can normally be seen there. A grey squirrel has been seen in the vicinity and there is the worry that it might spread disease amongst the reds…
10 Comments CherryPie on Aug 11th 2011
