Willowbrook Winter...

Sorry about the silence, but I have been back home in NZ enjoying time with Peter and looking over the changes at WBP. It definitely was a change in clime going from Dubbo, wear I am still wearing shorts and a T-shirt to Hamilton, where I was rugged up with multiple shirts, vests, jerseys and coats! Winter had arrived well ahead of me, and with it some glorious frosty photos...

 Above: A weeping birch on the banks of the lake

Below: A frosted hillock behind the lake

These were taken at 10am, and the frost still had not melted!

Below: The Dietes grandiflora waiting to be planted alongside the well overgrown brook. You can't even see the water for the long grass...

Below: The orchard, still with some morning frost.

  Which cleared over the course of the morning...

Below: Looking towards the hedge we planted two years ago.

The first half of the vineyard...

The last rose of Summer on a background of Winter Hornbeam...

Below: The Bluebell Walk down towards the lake. The Silver Birch have grown from three feet high three years ago to almost twelve feet. The bluebells and hyacinths have yet to come up through the mulch. Something to look forward to in October/September.

 
The view from the carriage house site (where they have already put the power on ready start construction in the next week or two)...

The gate with signage to the farm, where the leiland hedge is doing well. We are not going to let it grow any taller than it is at present. There is a clump of daffodils which comes up around the base of the sign each spring.

So, all poised to finally begin. I will believe it once the first sod has been turned as we have had so many set backs over the past two years with red tape, professional exams, and weather. However, it has turned out for the best, as we have had time to tweak plans, find the best builders and craftsmen, and let the gardens become established so as not to have a large house on a bare plot of land. I now wait with baited breath for the diggers to roll on in.