Postcard 7: Aberglasney, The Garden Lost in Time

Strange Seasonal Mix

Autumn Colours

November at Aberglasney, the garden lost in time
and home of the poet, John Dyer,
Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK

'Hear the thrush, while all is still,
Within the groves of Grongar Hill'

John Dyer (d.1757)

Back in June 2009 (what a long time ago!), I decided to post occasional seasonal pictures of Aberglasney, the Garden lost in time, once home to the poet John Dyer. Dyer was the subject of one of Wordsworth's Sonnets. You can take a look at those first seasonal photos here. My photos for Spring 2010 are here.

I was in the gardens again last weekend, and thought it was about time I caught 'Autumn' on camera before the gales blew the leaves off the trees. We knew we might see some early Daffodils in bud, as they were there in November last year. Sure enough we were not disappointed. There were also some Primroses.

I see I try to take the following shots for my 'Seasonal Spotlight':

• The House at Aberglasney (partly open to the public, often with exhibitions)
• The view from Aberglasney to Grongar Hill (the view from my favourite seat)
• The Upper Walled Garden (with Celtic design flowerbeds)
• The stream in Pigeon House Wood
• The Cloister Garden
• The stream in Bishop Rudd's Walk

I'm afraid I failed to take a photograph of the stream in Pigeon House Wood this time. My back was turned as I was intrigued by the new bit of garden - and the fenced-off garden path!

By the time we reached The Cloister Garden, it was virtually closing time (4pm in the winter season), so we hurried on to the exit. I will post an old photo of the stalactites.  

So these are my Autumn 2010 photos (with the exception of the stalactites):

The House at Aberglasney (partly open to the public, often with exhibitions)

The view from Aberglasney to Grongar Hill (the view from my favourite seat)

The Upper Walled Garden (with Celtic design flowerbeds)

The new garden: the stream in Pigeon House Wood is behind us, i.e. this side of the rope

The Cloister Garden: stalactites in the Cloister

The stream in Bishop Rudd's Walk

Invertebrate Life

•  Back in the summer, Aberglasney was a riot of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies. They were a joy to behold. You can see photos by clicking here to visit my Wild and Wonderful blog.

Pond Life

• We have seen newts and an eel here (but not at this time of year): my photo of an eel at Aberglasney is here)

Bird Life: on previous occasions we have noticed these birds ...

• Chaffinch
• Pied Flycatcher

Garden Plants

• Old fashioned rose (the summer scent has gone, of course, but the top photo shows the hips)

Wild flowers - seen last summer

• Ragged Robin

... and finally, happy memories of those lazy, hazy days ...

• Afternoon Tea on the Terrace.

For Aberglasney's literary links (Wordsworth, Gillian Clarke...), you may like to click here. I hope you have enjoyed your virtual visit to this wonderful garden.

* * *

Postscript: for any who follow this blog and have been wondering where I have been, the answer is probably over at one of my other blogs. I may not post every day, but I enjoy 'mixing and matching' ...

• Caroline at Coastcard (largely poetry and writing)
• Wild and Wonderful (the natural world)

Do pop over to these and take a look ...

Postcard 28: Sir Isaac NEWTon at Aberglasney?

Aberglasney, home of the poet, John Dyer
a) Newt in the pond
(we thought we saw an eel or elver, too)
b) Looking for early bluebells
c) Magnolia bursting out

Spring and summer are merging into one, it seems, as the warm sunshine continues in this neck of the Aberglasney woods. It will not be long before the bluebells unfurl their shimmering blue carpet over Pigeon House Wood, home to treecreepers and - of course - pigeons. Gillian Clarke, in her Aberglasney sonnet sequence of 'Nine Green Gardens', referred to the lords-and-ladies in her poem about this part of the garden. The stream is currently lined with what I think is Yellow Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), a variety of less-than-sweet-smelling arum lily from the Pacific northwest region.

How many of you remember the tortoise, Mr Alderman Ptolemy and his newt friend, Sie Isaac Newton from 'The Tale of Jeremy Fisher' by Beatrix Potter? Jeremy Fisher invited them to dinner, and since fish was off the menu that evening, he offered them roasted grasshopper and ladybird sauce!

We were delighted to spot a couple of newts in the Aberglasney pond on our most recent visit. We also thought that we saw a small eel. Did you know that we have three native species of newt in the UK? - the Smooth Newt, the Palmate Newt and the Great Crested Newt.

'See her woods, where Echo talks,
Her gardens trim, her terrace walks ...'

John Dyer, The Country Walk

Postcard 9: Moth Art at Aberglasney

Above: Aberglasney, Wales
Below: Six-spotted Burnet Moth, Cornwall

Most wildlife photographers (and enthusiastic amateurs like me) have taken photographs of butterflies, but how many of us have taken moths? I had to think quite hard to remember when I had last caught a moth on film. The above burnet moth was taken near Rinsey Mine in Cornwall, although I have also watched the species closer to home at Mwnt in Cardiganshire.

I was back at Aberglasney at the weekend, and it was there that I visited a most unusual and exciting exhibition of Moth Art, In a Different Light. The artistic exhibits are the work of Julian and Fiona Wormald, the 'Garden Impressionists'. The Wormalds were very inspired by Monet's Garden at Giverny, and hoped to encourage the rest of us take our own gardens more seriously as places of beauty and wildlife habitats. The Aberglasney exhibition includes images of an amazing total of 190 moths seen at Aberglasney in 2006. There are also larger pieces of Moth Art on display, which incorporate wing patterns and colours in the designs.

Back in the 18th century, the poet John Dyer lived at Aberglasney, the garden subsequently 'lost in time'. He loved the landscape, and wrote about 'the face of nature' in 'all the hues of heaven's bow': I feel sure he would have been amazed by the number of species of moth on his home turf.

• The Moth Man blog

Postcard 2: Aberglasney, the garden lost in time

The photograph shows a silhouetted John Rudd in the garden at Aberglasney in Carmarthenshire. However, the person that I particularly associate with this secret 'garden lost in time' is the poet, John Dyer. Wordsworth admired Dyer, and wrote a sonnet addressed to him, which begins 'Bard of the Fleece'.

Daffodils have been out in the garden since early December: I wonder what Wordsworth would think of that. A firecrest caused great excitement when it was spotted before Christmas.

I have a number of favourite Aberglasney and John Dyer books: I have listed a selection of them below.

• A Garden Lost in Time by Penny David (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999)
• Nine Green Gardens by Gillian Clarke (Gomer, 2000)
  
• Grongar Hill & Other Poems by John Dyer (The Grongar Press)
• The Fleece by John Dyer (The Cyder Press, 2007)
• Writers of Wales: John Dyer by Belinda Humfrey (University of Wales Press, 1980)
• The Poems of John Dyer edited by Edward Thomas (Llanerch Enterprises, 1999)
• Selected Poetry and Prose by John Dyer (Trent Editions, 2000)
  

• History of Aberglasney
• A panoramic view of the garden from Enjoy Gower
• My photo of the mansion
• An otter at Aberglasney