Skip to main content

Cae Hir

At Cae Hir
We’ve seen a wonderful garden on Countrywise,’ says my sister who, with her family, is staying with us. ‘It’s not far from you. Shall we go and see it?’

Although Tom and I enjoy introducing our visitors to the attractions of this lovely part of the world, those regular trips can lose some of their charm if repeated too often. It makes a real change to go somewhere new to us. It’s also interesting to see how other gardeners are dealing with the challenges of this summer; the non-stop monsoon since April – apart from a handful of dry days – has rotted our veg, turned innocent shrubs into towering triffids and the lawn into a meadow.

Cae Hir


Both Ma and my sister are passionate gardeners; Ma, who hates not being able to get outdoors, can make the saddest specimen grow. My sister’s a wonderful plantswoman who creates elegant designs. Looking at the jungle that’s our garden at the moment just brings out my impatient streak and I feel like taking a shredder to the lot.

It’s just as well than that Wil Akkerman who, some thirty years ago, had the vision to turn six acres of rough pastureland into a beautiful and very special garden was born with a lot more patience than me! 


Created, as Wil’s proud children put it, by just one man and a spade, Cae Hir is an absolute delight and I would urge you to follow the links to its website here, the Countrywise programme here (while it’s available) or, best of all, to see the garden for yourself. My lasting impression was one of a spirit of generosity about Cae Hir; it’s there in the planting, in Wil and his family who gave their time to chat and share their experience and it’s even at the tea room, where five of us shared two enormous cafetieres of good coffee for the price of two cappuccinos from most chains.

Cae Hir
As for the non-stop rain? Wil’s only complaint was that it had made mowing the lawn difficult… so I can’t use that an excuse not to tackle the garden. I suppose I’ve just got to get out there!

(Apologies for my photos which were taken on a overcast morning and really don't do justice to this lovely garden!)
Labels:

Comments

Frances said…
Chris, just having a garden of your own seems a dream. I do wonder if this year's record-setting rain, here and there, is a one off, or a glimpse of years to come.

If so, wonder which plants will be the winners. Still sort of in Olympic mode here.

xo
22 August 2012 at 17:47
Fennie said…
Know just what you mean about exhausting the visitor attractions. But there are some places here I never tire off and which have a certain magic. Your Cae Hir sounds like such a place.
23 August 2012 at 09:51
Pondside said…
I can't resist a look at a beautiful garden - even if it does rather highlight the inadequacies of my own gardening skills!
23 August 2012 at 19:57
Flowerpot said…
Looks lovely, Chris - as there hasnt been any sun recently, we can excuse the clouds!
29 August 2012 at 01:42
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heading for the Rocks

Blue Nun and the rocks! Aaaah! The joy of having a boat again! Blue Nun’s so much more responsive than our wooden boat, lovely as she was, and so nippy too! We enjoy a brisk sail from Neyland to Dale where we spend a couple of restful days, reading, writing and generally watching the world go by. On the third morning we decide on a change of scenery and potter round to a sheltered bay where we can pick up a mooring buoy. Well, we would have, if I’d been quicker. Now, I’m pretty good at picking up buoys, but make a right dog’s dinner of it this time. ‘Never mind,’ says Tom, ‘we’ll give it another go!’ He puts the engine in reverse and Blue Nun obediently travels backwards (something no previous boat of ours has ever done!) … and a rope which trails the dingy behind the boat whirls round the propeller. Yikes! Tom manages to free enough to regain control of the engine, but he’s pretty sure that some of the rope is still tangled up. Whilst I would quite like to preten...
14 comments
Read more

A Winter's Tale

Thursday 2 December Feeling confined in her snow-muffled flat, Ma takes a walk up her front path to take the morning air. As she returns a cat jumps over the wall and startles her. She slips on the icy path and lands heavily on her shoulder. When her injury doesn’t spontaneously heal, she eventually gives in and calls her local GP surgery. In the evening a GP visits and summons an ambulance ‘sooner rather than later’. Around 10.30 pm Ma is admitted to her local hospital. X-rays suggest she has a fractured scapula which will require emergency surgery. She is put on a nil by mouth regime that night and transferred to a larger hospital for an emergency operation. However, she’s picked a busy period for her accident so the operation doesn’t take place. Saturday 4 December The operation is rescheduled for this morning, so Ma’s had a second night of nil by mouth. A CT scan shows that Ma’s humerus is broken in four places. Despite her obviously smashed-up arm, which is in a sling and...
45 comments
Read more

Forever Young

Looking at the blurb for my new Lacura WrinkleStop from Aldi, I see that its active ingredient has been ‘proven to help • Reduce forehead wrinkles by 52% • Reduce crow’s feet by 24% • Restrict 82% of wrinkle muscle activity’ That’s quite a claim, isn’t it? Frankly, after years when my face looked like a lunar landscape thanks to the joys of acne, these days I’m just grateful to see a fairly blemish-free skin. Part of me wants to believe that the wonder cream’s making everything looking a bit smoother and tidier, but, hey, there’s also a lot of ‘aqua’ and ‘glycerin’ in the stuff, too. Besides, I could tamper with my skin as much as I like (and I don’t), but I’ve only got to stand next to my beautiful daughters to see the difference. Ma has wonderful skin, so the chances are there are some helpful genes in the mix, but my dad died far too young of cancer, so it’s not all good news. My dad was a carpenter. ‘You can’t get age from a tin, Miss Chris,’ he’d say when rubbing his hands o...
26 comments
Read more