I am Janey & along with Lovely Bill we live here, completely absorbed by the enduring pull that Compton has on us!
The clocks have changed & the Winter Solstice is fast approaching us here, the weather has been particularly beastly & wet this Autumn after a really dry Summer.
The journey into the last quarter of 2022 is one that a few weeks ago felt gradual & I was relishing that gentle transition.
Sort of meandering about, collecting apples & blackberries, making jam & chutney, thinking about gathering & storing the Autumn produce, pots of yummy things bubbling away on the Aga. Feeling as though I had all the time in the world to do this fulfilling task, drawing pretty labels for kilner jars, embracing the creative side in me…
Then suddenly… Wham!
Storms, winds, flooding & full blown winter arrived. It was time to forget the ideals of basking in a serene slide into Autumn, I had to rescue plant pots now airborne, geraniums at risk of perishing from being immersed in water & rotting, before they froze solid.
It was a full on fight to salvage so much & so quickly. I was on super charge, every time I went to do something I thought of several other things I could do en-route, the mental list growing furiously in my head & then going straight out equally as fast, due to the menopausal fog that exists within me, my heart rate is racing as I write this down, just as it was on these days!
As well as the Castle gardens we have the gardens in all five of the Cottages & Castle Lodges. They are all mature & I love them, each in different ways. I will try to talk about them in detail in future posts. The outdoor spaces they all offer are just as important as the indoor spaces. At Windsor Lodge there is a beautiful original outdoor veranda that runs along the back of the Lodge looking into the Lodge gardens & beyond into the Castle Parkland. We have put an antique Gustavian bench seat underneath the veranda… add a few cushions & a blanket, steaming hot cuppa…then the wind & rain isn’t so bad, especially when you have your dog curled up next to you.
Now all of the dozens of geraniums are tucked up in the glasshouses, where unheated & kept relatively dry through the winter they will be fine until next Spring, when they all have nice feed from some foul smelling homemade nettle soup that we make & then away they go flowering in all sorts of pots around the doorways.
I love using different pots, the Cottages all have colour themes inside & this obsession of mine extends to terrace painting outside. So….. Windsor Lodge has bright red geraniums all painted in old zinc containers, buckets, mop buckets, watering cans, anything vintage & zinc, Lovely Bill drills drainage holes in things & off we go!
At Compton we also have a wonderful team of helpers, who may have seemed normal when they arrived on the scene… they are now completely immersed in the Compton magic & are just as in love with the place as we are! Susan is our hard working and long suffering House Manager, she oversees all of the cottages & the lovely team who care for each home. Each property is looked after by the same wonderful house angel, who cares for the property as though it is their very own home, that way nothing gets missed, everything is fixed & looked after. Meaning our fabulous guests have a truly great stay & relax whilst with us. Susan helps me with the garden arrangements in each house too, she is on Autumn foraging duties as I write, making everything look truly special & seasonally gorgeous. The toasting forks are brassoed & ready to toast crumpets in the open fire after that bracing walk… we’ve got this!