Part Eight
Posted: 20 April 2022
If you haven't followed the entire tour you might prefer to start at The Beginning.
Having come across the bridge from the island we stand on the bottom step that we find ahead of us. It's been two years since we began to work on this area of the grounds. Before they left us The Green Team laid the path edging across what we then referred to as the "Wildflower Meadow" and constructed the raised bed. Later they added a wonderful arched frame for growing runner beans. You'll get a better view of that later!
In the first year after clearing the nettles and reed that covered this area almost the only thing that was growing were foxgloves. We did scatter some meadow seeds that first year but it didn't take well. We tried another batch the next year. Now there's much better growth all over and the path is grassing over well.
Stepping down from the step, we follow the path beside the old reed bed as we did in Part One of the tour and turn left at the staggered crossroads to reach the utility area behind the reed bed.
The path has changed remarkably little, though there is talk of using the spare paving grids to raise the whole of this path above the flood level that we've experienced in the past.
As we enter the area, currently, there is a pile of unsorted timber on the left and our "for chipping" pile to the right.
Moving round the bend in the path things are much the same as before. The two burning bins are there and the three cages full of leaf compost. The collection of fallen and cut timber has changed a bit as old logs are used somewhere on the site or set aside for burning in The Manna's stove or the chiminea by the Tree House.
The next scene is much as it was in 2020. It seems that last time I held the camera above my head and angled it downwards as I did in a couple of the shots on that tour. This time we see much more of the mature oak tree close to our boundary dyke.
The one change you can see is that a small plastic compost bin is now found here. It was moved from being hidden behind the oil tank in the front garden some time in 2021.
As before I skip round to take a view looking north along the dyke that separates our ground from the Poor's Allotment. This dyke forms our western boundary and is also the boundary of the land the Broads Authority manages. These days they have the right to call it a "National Park", although it's responsibilities for navigation of the Broads and Rivers means it doesn't meet all the criteria for formally being a National Park.
Returning to the main path we reach the large oak tree and will turn up the slope towards the Wildflower Meadow.
As we rise up the slope we encounter the raised bed seen from the steps on the opposite corner of the Wildflower Meadow. Now we can see the wonderful arched trellis that was designed for runner beans. It's a wonderfully complex structure that the Green Team crafted for us when a simple structure would have done the same job.
A second view of this end of the Wildflower Meadow shows that it also houses a set of six further compost bins. These are constructed out of old pallets and are hidden from view from the house by some a couple of 6ft x 6ft trellis panels.
In 2020 the raised bed was only recently constructed and held only freshly filled soil. Not too much attention was paid to the bed in 2021 and now it has more foxgloves in it than anything else.
Now facing east we proceed towards the house, alongside the dyke that forms our southern boundary. The hazel on the right was coppiced in 2015, cut right down to the ground. It's now getting close to the point when we might want to do that again. It's all a question of how we might want to use the timber.
About a third of the weay back to the house we approach two oaks between which the path zig-zags.
This year I stop a little earlier on the path as it helps to locate where we are in relation to the Arbour Seat seen in Part One of the tour.
Stopping again we get a closer view of the daffodils which seem to have lasted a little longer this year than is usual.
Breaking clear of the trees and shrubs on our left we can now see the house ahead and the junction where the "High Road" rejoins the path on which we started our tour.
Standing part way up the rise from the High Road Juncton we have a similar view to that seen in 2020. Now our garden sports an oak-framed gazebo that was erected in August 2020.
Our final picture completes the tour. The growth of reeds along the banks of the lake mean it isn't possible to get a picture taken from the same angle as that seen in the 2020 tour. Even from much further back in the grounds and with a large zoom set there's still plenty of reeds in the picture.
