Ne’er Cast a Clout…

Just as I think spring is well and truly on its way at Betley Court Gardens, a blast of winter weather reminds us, “Ne’er cast a clout till May Be out”, as the olde English proverb goes. At the weekend, it was t-shirt weather, tonight a frost is forecast. Nevertheless, the gardens are awash with golden daffodils. During the week, Nigel has been kept amused by the antics of a group of pheasants that have taken shelter in the area around the visitors’ hub (Perhaps they don’t realise pheasant shooting season finished on February 1st?) Their behaviour, coupled with their screechy alarm call (a sort of truncated cock-crow) is bring some welcome interest to the woodland. One brightly feathered male is keeping a close eye on four cleverly camouflaged females, and they spend a good deal of time patrolling the grassed area outside the hub, which is serving as an excellent hide from which to observe them. We wonder if we will soon be joined by little pheasant chicks?

Pheasant patrol around the picnic bench (Nigel Brown)

Spot the female pheasant! (Nigel Brown)

In the house:

Elsewhere, the roof rebuild continues to take shape, as work starts on the second conical roof section over Anastasia Fenton’s bow windows. Our specialist contractors, Midland Conservation Ltd have started attaching wood to the steel roof frame. It won’t be long before laths start being installed to carry the new tiles. We’re quite excited to see these going on as they are the Vermont green slate specified by the building conservation experts. It’ll be interesting to see the roof as it was when it was first constructed, when Anastasia first commissioned it. For one thing, the green slates on the ‘posh’ bits of the house will contrast more noticeably with the Ffestiniog blue slates covering the parts of the house built for servants. It’s a piece of Georgian conspicuous spending we have to emulate, due to the listed status of the house, and I for one am intrigued to see what people make of it.

The start of work on the second conical roof section (photo: Nigel Brown)

Tours:

One of our recent resto tours (Su Hurrell)

If you would like to join our next restoration tour next month, you can witness progress for yourself. We’ll supply you with hi-viz jackets and hard hats, and guide you up to the top of the scaffolding to view work on the rebuild. We are getting toward the end of our tours of the roof, as we expect to have the scaffolding removed in the autumn. It is a fairly unusual opportunity to see a Georgian country house from above, and see a restoration in progress, so do join us if you can.

BOOK TICKETS HERE

Finally, I’m sharing some photos of the garden by SarahPeart. Sarah, along with her creative partner Darren Washington came to photograph Betley Court during its rebuild a few weeks ago. She asked if she could take some pictures of the gardens while she was there one day. It is amazing how a professional can take a picture of something we’ve photographed a million times, and bring out something brand new. Thank you, Sarah.

Tete-a-tete daffodils (Sarah Peart)

Rhododendron flowers (Sarah Peart)

Cherry blossom (Sarah Peart)

Statue (Sarah Peart)

All best wishes

Ladybird Su