John Ruskin’s Strawberries
We have strawberries growing in the front garden. Unlike Lady Ludlow in Elizabeth Gaskell's novella, the decision to plant strawberries was not prompted by a wish to show our aristocratic genes. We are told in Chapter 3 of My Lady Ludlow, that
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Sir Joseph Paxton
Sir Joseph Paxton has returned to the garden. To be accurate it is the rose named after him that has returned. Here he is (with his small green admirers!) The rose was planted in the garden because Elizabeth Gaskell met Sir Joseph
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Finding Breathing Space at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
As part of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Heritage Lottery funded project celebrating the bicentenary of Ruskin’s birth St Luke’s Art Project have been invited to run some workshops in the house, garden and Swinton Grove Park (land which used to belong to the house
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Sweet Nancy is its pretty Lancashire name
A brave Sweet Nancy was in flower in the front bed this cold and wet Wednesday morning. A white, double, scented narcissus it took some finding in the bulb catalogues, because it is a name that has been given to a number
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Amber sunlight streaming on the gold-grey Roman roofs
It was only a week before the recent warm and sunny Easter weekend that I looked out of the window at the blue sky and the sunshine and thought that at last spring was here. In previous weeks the wind had been
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