Having a day to myself, I had just settled myself down to a day watching chick-flicks with mugs of tea . Think again; since when did a mum, grandma, business owner have a day to herself. :) This diversion though was welcome. My daughter in law phoned and said her little family were going to the Bluebell Walks at Rode Hall, South Cheshire about 45 minutes away and would I like to go with them. WOULD I ! ? Yes indeed.
Rode Hall, is a large country house and privately owned by a long established Cheshire gentry family. The hall is an elegant 18th C house standing on a little mound.
Although the house is privately owned, the gardens are open to the public from April to September. There is a farmers' market once a month where farmers sell their own produce.
Photos are all my own and taken by me.
Blarney Castle and Gardens, County Corkon 06/01/2023
An Cóbh, Corcaigh, Eireon 05/29/2023
Dublin ; The Book of Kellson 04/04/2023
The Bee Tree Community CIC;- an online support communityon 08/24/2022
Comments
Oh Derdriu
That is interesting . Care to share a description of Virginia bluebells. I had never heard of these.
As far as I am aware all these noble families were intermarried and inbred ncluding our royal family. The gene pool from which they drew was very small. The chance are they were related.
Veronica, Thank you for including us on your tour and for the explanation about native versus Spanish bluebells since all I have here is Virginia's.
Is the Rode family for which the Hall is named related to the Jocelyn family that holds the earldom of Roden?
It's interesting to me when hyphenated names are used and when they are not since the Wilbraham relatives of the Rode family appear to have owned the property now far longer than the beneficiaries of Edward II's original gifts for service and support.
Thank you. Of course we all have much to contribute and that makes an interesting jigsaw of experience and expertise. Frank and I are both teachers so we do like to impart knowledge. :)
The inclusion of child friendly activities and searches is a great idea, as a four year old boy will only look at flowers for so long!
Wizzley is an amazing source of knowledge, for I have never heard of a canoe house. And, the idea of having something for children to do when they tire of nature is amazing. Well done. You and Frank are among a handful of those adding content other than chef and movie reviews. Nothing against them, I just prefer reading content othrr than reviews. Yjanks for writing.
I have done a bit of research and found that pink and white varieties are found in both British and Spanish bluebells. So without genetic investigation under a microscope we cannot know whether the plant that you saw is a hybrid or not.
By the way, plant genetics are more complex than animal genetics are, so odd things can happen.
The only way to find out is to place one under the microscope and study its cells.
Yes I was surprised but as the Spanish bluebells have crossed with the English ones it may be a result of that indeed.
in fact my 4 year old grandson spotted the pink and blue on the same stem;- but then... his observation skills are outstanding.
That is unusual. It might be a hybrid, or it might be what is known as a bud sport, which is when a mutation occurs by faulty chromosome replication in only on stem on an otherwise normal plant.
There was a flower which must have been a hybrid as it had dark blue and a single pink bell on the same stem . It was a very interesting place and only about 40 mins down the A34 from my house.