Lake Garda

I spent a lovely week at Val di Sogno/Malcesine on the shores of Lake Garda in Italy at the beginning of May.  The weather was mixed but 10 degrees or more warmer than the UK!  It was beautiful...

View from my balcony :-)

Malcesine town

View of Limone across the lake

Malcesine Castello

View up the lake from the castle

View down the lake from the castle.

On the cable car up/down Monte Baldo.

Not only was it significantly cooler at the top of 

Monte Baldo, but it was very windy too!

View to the south of the lake.

A para-glider's paradise.

View to the north of the lake- Riva del Garda 
and Monte Brione.

Beautiful wild cowslips.

And wild crocus.

Verona - we went for the day but as I had a 

very nasty fall we had to leave as I could 

hardly walk.

The Arena di Verona - opera are held 
here in summer.

I just managed to hobble enough 
to see Juliet.  
The positive is that I will HAVE to go back again ;-)

We passed lots of vineyards on the way 
to/from Verona.

Sunset from our favourite restaurant in 
Val di Sogno

Some of the quaint streets of Malcesine.

Most houses had a vine growing 
somewhere!

The lovely orange tree at our hotel!

There were lots of lovely gardens around.

A road side chapel (can't think of a name for them)

I adore the cypress trees!

Bouganvilea

The castello from a view point between
the olive trees.

The town from the lake path.

A view of the lake as I flew home.

My First GM Shawl

Now I blame my friends on TPF 100% for this purchase - I don't know what it is, but TPF does get you whipped up into a frenzy sometimes about "having" to have something and late to the party - as ever - I realised I should have this particular design as a GM.  I was in luck on a trip to Harrods - just one was there - not my first choice of colour at all but I tried it on and it "worked":-

The wrong box - it did get replaced!

What lies within - TPFers already know!

The top half

The bottom half

Ex Libris en Kimonos cw 05 - quite a
neutral cw but it looks great with red -
lucky I had a red coat on when I
bought it!!  This cw really worked with my
colouring I was so surprised and it has
lots of colours in it when you start looking...

Lovely purple contrast hem..

Blues, browns, pinks, reds, white....

The fabulous crane.

A casual drape shows off the colours.

The same drape but then knotted.

Basic fold and just draped.

Here I folded the square down to a smaller 

square so that I could get the bits I 

wanted to show showing - I think I used a 

scarf ring at the back to secure!  I am 

not sure how bulky this would be in practice, 

but the GM is pretty thin.

A square fold (rather than bias basic) 

simply wound around - looks OK too.

So there you have my first foray into the world of GMs I don't think I will be getting any more GMs, as they are incredibly expensive and very delicate and would I get the use out of it? Simple answer - No!!

Hampton Court Palace Gardens

We were lucky with the weather for the visit to Hampton Court Palace recently and the glorious sunshine made the gardens look even more spectacular - I was thrilled to see these lovely gardens.

A beautiful golden pear tree adorned 

this entrance.

Close up detail of a pear (left) and blossom (right)

A beautiful Magnolia Soulangiana.

The whole Magnolia tree.

A lovely robin was singing away in the sunshine!

The Bishops Courtyard garden 
(as per previous post).

One of the formal laid gardens.

A lovely fountain.

A charming little statue of a child holding a bird.

The Palace is home to a very old grape vine

of the Black Hamburg variety.

The vine inside the vine house.....

...and part of the vine system outside 
the vine house.

The King's Orchard complete with daffodils.

On the garden tour we were shown the 

greenhouses where this years bedding 

plants are being cultivated.

In the tropical greenhouse.

Misseltoe was growing in the trees.

A coot nesting on the lake.

The long canal/lake with fountains at the end.

The Three Graces statue.

The main lawns to the rear of the Palace 
the yew trees are kept in this cone shape.

Some lovely Mute Swans graced the ponds - 
here we are having a major preening session!

The sun caught the water spray off this 
fountain making a lovely rainbow.

The formal gardens - these were returned to 
their original style only recently as they had 
become very overgrown.

A lovely long view of the Palace from the 
end of the gardens.

One of the fabulous ornate gates backing 
onto the River Thames - here you can 
make out the thistle of Scotland.  The 
gates were painted grey and gold but upon 
Prince Albert's death Queen Victoria had 
the gates painted black and gold.  
Most are grey these days now.

Another view of the Palace.

The lawns and topiary of the garden.

You can take a tour by horse drawn carriage 
around the gardens.

One of the many lovely statues in the gardens.

The lovely central fountain.  

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Palace gardens!  
My feet were killing by the end of the day at the 
Palace but it was worth it, as it was such a 
truly beautiful place to visit.  You can find out about
the Palace at www.hrp.org.uk