Thursday 12 June 2014

Another outing.

Today, Friend W, her Jack Russell Sophie, and I went to Thorpe Perrow Arboretum for a wander round in the lovely warm, sunny weather.

Thorpe Perrow is the home to Sir John and Lady Ropner.   They have a private garden (which you can see in the photograph of their house across the lake) but the rest of the arboretum is open to the public.   It has a huge collection of rare trees as well as collections of things like narcissi, acers, bluebells, flowering trees at certain times of the year.

After our wander we had a soup lunch (pea and spinach) in the cafe - delicious and a combination I haven't tried, so shall put it on my list of soups to make.

We came home through beautiful Summer countryside, calling at Brymor Ice Cream Parlour (black cherry whim-wham/strawberry cream) for a cornet on the way.

The farmer has been busy spreading slurry on the silaged fields, so it was a good day to be out of the way; the breeze had blown the strongest of the smells away by the time I arrived home!



We found two patches of this interesting plant which a passer=by told us was 'toothwort'.   It is lilac-coloured and close to the ground, with little or no stem.   It was growing at the root of a large tree.  I looked it up in Keble Martin when I got home.  Toothwort is a parasite and it does grow on the root of trees.  Keble Martin gives the only colour as cream, so I shall try and find out more about it.   Anybody know anything?

12 comments:

angryparsnip said...

I think I enjoy hearing about what soup you decide on for lunch as much as seeing the beautiful walk.
I too must look up pea and spinach soup.

cheers, parsnip

Heather said...

The soup sounds good and those grounds are beautiful - the perfect day to visit. I haven't come across that plant - so pretty for a parasite. I love the moss covered statues.

jinxxxygirl said...

Hi there!! I did a quick internet search and came up with Cathraea Clandestina Purple Toothwort. The picture looked quite a bit like what you have there.

I also loved the pictures of the moss covered statues. Sounds like you had a lovely day!Hugs! deb

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Hiya Pat!
Found this on Wikipedia. From what I can see, there are two kinds of toothwort, one of which is parasitic. Here's the linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathraea
Quite interesting.
Pea spinach soup sounds very good. Was the spinach whole or chopped?

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Me again. Obviously, there should be a space before the http. Here it is again to make things easy for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lathraea

Virginia said...

Thanks Pat, that soup sounds so delicious I had to look for one immediately. This had a 5 star review so I'll try it next time it turns cold! http://www.food.com/recipe/spinach-and-green-pea-soup-146503

Having somewhere interesting to go while the slurry was being laid was a good idea too!

Reader Wil said...

Thank you for sharing your outing and for your comment on my blog. You once told me about the hard labour in a Japanese camp where your first husband was a prisoner. We shall never forget.
Wil, ABCW Teamt

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Sounds like a lovely day out - soup and ice cream and a garden tour.

Cloudia said...

You are so far from the Pacific, yet so immediate to my heart in your wonderful post!

ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= <3

Crafty Green Poet said...

looks like a lovely place to walk. I've never tried pea and spinahc soup.... I don't know anything about toothwort either, sorry

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks to your comments I now know that it is indeed the purple variety - the power of blogging! Thanks for calling and glad some of you will try that soup - must say it tastes better than it looks.

Terry and Linda said...

I love that dragon statue!!!


Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com