Too Hot for Banter

Good gracious! What a hot week! The grassland at Betley Court Gardens is well and truly scorched. We’ve had record-breaking temperatures across the UK, and a first Met Office ‘RED’ warning for extreme heat in the Potteries region of the UK, meaning a risk to life. I’ve been doing my best to keep plants watered around the formal areas of the gardens, but the rest have been left to fend for themselves. I need Nigel to perform a rain dance to keep everything alive.

Weather map of the UK. At 11 o'clock this morning, the temperature had reached 35 degrees Celcius at the southern side of Betley Court (image: Met Office)

Open Garden Events......

We had our fourth open garden events of the year at the weekend, an open garden/picnic in the grounds on Saturday, followed by a garden history walk on the Sunday. We’d like to thank everyone who braved the heat to attend, including Amber, one of the late Professor Brown’s carers, who returned to Betley Court to introduce us to her little family. I’m in the doghouse for forgetting to take photos, but even at the weekend, the weather was sufficiently hot to melt the brain cells! 

William Barron's Cedar of Lebanon, pictured before the fire 2019

 
Nigel’s talk on the garden history focused on some of the stories of trees in the grounds, how they came to be there and what their specific value in the garden is. Of course, our famous Cedar of Lebanon (Cedris libani) got a mention. It was moved to the gardens (we do not know from where) or possibly from another part of the gardens as a semi-mature tree, using one of William Barron’s tree-moving machines in 1865. 

Mature sycamore bark takes on a chiselled appearance. One of Nigel's favourite character trees in the gardens

Nigel also included his favourite tree, an ancient sycamore (Acer psuedoplatanus). Often considered a ‘weed tree’ species, because of their colonising habit, this particular tree is treasured because of its great age, and its distinctive chiselled bark. Much of the talk centred around why we fell some trees and keep others. It’s a case of refereeing between the species to create the habitats we want, and to promote the visual look of the gardens.

Over in the House.....

View from the formal flowerbeds

The baking weather has been a challenge for our contractors, and the temperature underneath the temporary roof is horribly oppressive. It has been too hot even for the usual banter that I can usually hear as I garden below on the formal flowerbeds. What I can discern though is the sound of hundreds of Vermont green slates being hammered to roofing batons, and power tools shaping new timbers around the roof. I have to say, progress is astounding, and the new tiles are bringing Betley Court back to life. The roof looks handsome and orderly. I’m sure Anastasia Fenton, who commissioned the original green tiled roof back in 1783 would approve.

The handsome new Vermont green tiling. A testament to the skills of all the craftspeople on site!

Elsewhere, work has been going for some time on the manufacture of new windows for the house. Philip Bailey, based next door at Betley Court Farm, is working his way through the windows that need refurbishing. Some need new sills, others partial repairs, and he has both the skills and tools to recreate any parts required. Where windows were completely destroyed in the fire, we have a specialist window manufacturer making them from scratch. The company, High Performance Windows LTD, has released a short video clip showing one of the curved window units. To anyone who has ever experienced draughty winters at Betley Court, or sweltered in the high summer heat because of jammed windows, the vision of these beautifully made windows will be a welcome sight to behold.

One of the curved window frames for the southern elevation (still from High Performance Windows Ltd)

The curved frames for the southern elevation of the house look really good, and will restore the ‘eyes’ of the house once the scaffolding is off. You can view the video HERE.

Keep your fingers crossed for a shower or two of rain, to keep the gardens happy!

All best wishes

Ladybird Su