Boat house

Posted on May 13, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Age, Boat house, Green, Lake, Life, life belt, old wood, Photograph, renewed, Rode hall, TimeLeave a comment

There it sits, down by the lake. How old is it? Are there boats still moored inside? A life belt is still attached to the back wall as the wood gently greens and rots… .

I’ve never been down the steep steps to the shore, it’s green and slippery and there is no handrail. If I was young I would explore. The reeds and rushes are starting to grow up, and no doubt moorhens or coots will be nesting there soon. Chicks still waiting to be laid in their eggs. There are Canada geese about. Life is renewing.

Sunday beauty

Posted on May 9, 2023 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Beauty, Felt pens, Life, narcissus, Nature, Prompt, Rode hall, Sketching4 Comments

I’ve just got round to drawing Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt beauty. This was a narcissus flower I think at Rode Hall on Sunday. I was thinking of drawing bluebells but my photos were a bit blurred.

Gunnera

Posted on May 7, 2023May 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Dorothy Clive garden, Garden, Gardening, Gunnera, Life, Nature, Plants, Rhododendrons, Rode hall2 Comments

One plant we tried to grow in the garden was Gunnera, seen here at Rode hall. It’s a large leafed plant with a spiky surface. It grows in wet conditions and the leaves can get to 2 or 3 feet across. This was by a large pond that has a waterfall at one end flowing down a stream to the lake. There are a large variety of plants at the hall but this is a favourite.

We also noticed there were rhododendrons in flower today, which means we must visit the Dorothy Clive garden to see how that is growing.

Rode hall bluebells

Posted on May 7, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beauty, Blue, Bluebells, Countryside, Day trip, Life, Nature, Rode hall, Staffordshire, Visit2 Comments

We finally got the weather for our walk around the grounds of Rode Hall. It was lovely, calming and peaceful. I know it’s strange, but I wondered where the musical backing track was….. But there was beautiful birdsong.

This was the last day of the actual bluebell walks, but they are obviously still there for a little while. There is a Rode Hall website and I’m sure there will be details available for visits there.

Rode hall today

Posted on May 5, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bluebells, Cold, Hail, Lightning, Rain, Rode hall, Soaked, Thunderstorm, Upset, Walk, Wet2 Comments

We went to see the bluebell walk at Rode hall today but stopped to talk to a lady that was very upset and distressed about something.

As we were chatting to her we all got caught in a thunderstorm with hail and heavy rain. We got soaked and decided to abandon the walk. Thankfully I had a discussion with someone from the hall and we can go back on Sunday. Above are pre bluebell walk photos with lowering dark clouds.

The hall is off the A34 between Scholar Green and Rode Heath:

Rode Hall, Church Ln, Scholar Green, Stoke-on-Trent ST7 3QP

Little pool

Posted on February 21, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged dam, Landscape, Pond, Pool, Rode hall, Snowdrops, Spring, View, Water, Weather, WinterLeave a comment

Snowdrops surround the dam at the end of the pond at Rode Hall on the snowdrop walk at the weekend. Some of the daffodils are already up and we saw cyclamen and Helibores too. Spring is just round the corner and unseasonably warm weather has reached us from the south. Tomorrow we are expecting colder, more normal temperatures with possible snow showers. It’s no wonder the birds and insects get confused at this time of year.

Rode Hall snowdrop walk

Posted on February 19, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beautiful, Day out, England, kitchen garden, Rode hall, Snowdrop walk, StaffordshireLeave a comment

Rode Hall snowdrop walk is lovely at this time of year. The snowdrops are in full bloom and other spring plants like Heli ores, Cyclamen and Daffodils are also in flower or coming into flower.

Rode Hall is off the A34 in Staffordshire, near Rode Heath village. They charge £6 per adult to walk round the grounds on the snowdrop walk. There is a lake and a wooded area. The hall sits in beautiful grounds with a walled kitchen garden next to it. They have a monthly market which is next due on the 4th of March 2023.

Old boathouse Rode Hall

Posted on May 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Boat house, Day out, Lake, Landscape, Moss, Rode hall, Staffordshire, View, VisitLeave a comment

Rode Hall View. Walking down from the hall to the lake. At the end of the pathway is this old boathouse. I didn’t get a look inside so I don’t know if there is a boat in there or not. There’s a lot of moss growing on the roof, so it might be quite damp in there. At least there is a life saver ring on the back of it, so if anyone fell in they could be rescued.

Daphne

Posted on February 27, 2022February 27, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bush, daphne, gardener, Gardening, Google, Growing, Life, Plant, Rode hall, StaffordshireLeave a comment

I didn’t know what this bush was but it has a lovely scent and was growing in places around the grounds of Rode Hall.

I has to ask one of the gardeners there what it was. She was very helpful in explaining what it was. When I got home I looked it up online: Daphne odora, winter daphne, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae, native to China, later spread to Japan and Korea. It is an evergreen shrub, grown for its very fragrant, fleshy, pale-pink, tubular flowers, each with four spreading lobes, and for its glossy foliage. Wikipedia

Please note. I’ve been told they are extremely poisonous.

Kitchen garden display

Posted on February 25, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged gourds, greenhouse, hothouse, Life, Plants, Rode hall, Staffordshire, Visit, walled kitchen garden2 Comments

In one of the hothouses in the walled kitchen garden at Rode Hall. Yes I have gone on about it but it was an interesting visit. Vegetables were displayed as if they were in a competition. Onions balanced on flower pots, old gourds piled up and drying. Bulbs were sprouting. It must be spring soon!

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Rode hall