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?
Thursday 12 June 2014
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12 comments:
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
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.
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
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?
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
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!
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
Sounds like a lovely day out - soup and ice cream and a garden tour.
You are so far from the Pacific, yet so immediate to my heart in your wonderful post!
ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= <3
looks like a lovely place to walk. I've never tried pea and spinahc soup.... I don't know anything about toothwort either, sorry
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.
I love that dragon statue!!!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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