Summer

May 202015 Tagged with 0 Responses

Villa Melzi, Lake Como

We took the passenger ferry over from Varenna (10 mins) to see Villa Melzi despite the threatening rain and were so pleased we did.  The garden is stunning, even on a rainy day.  Wonderful huge, magnificent trees set in broad sweeping lawns with banks of Rhododendron and Azaleas.  Very lush woodland plantings and incredible views over to the other side of the Lake.  There’s quite a wide range of plants here with a lovely gully full of tree ferns, huge plantings of Hosta etc.

Villa Melzi is just a few hundred yards by foot out of the village of Bellagio, so very easy access from the ferry.

The Villa itself is not open.

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May 102015 0 Responses

Vegetable patch Croatian style

We had our first rainy day today so decided to drive the short distance from where we’re staying in the National Park at Lokve to Krk Island where it was fine.

Over the the causeway by 7am and down to the bottom of the island for an early coffee at 8.  On top of the beautiful little village of St Baska we saw this gorgeous vege patch with an incredible view – straight out to sea, over the islands and back to the coast of Croatia.

Every possible space in the villages is used – mainly for vegetables and at this time of the year many are edged with flowering tulips.  The tulips are so strong over here, and the colourings beautiful.  Everyone who can grows potatoes, if they can grown nothing else, they always have potatoes.

In the countryside the larger patches have 3-4m poles around them. I initially thought these were for beans – but there weren’t any cross supports.  I’ve since seen a little painting in one of our b&bs of sunflowers surrounding a vege patch – so that must be what they’re for.  It’s too early yet for the sunflowers to have germinated, or be planted.  They must look wonderful late summer when in flower.  Drat, we will be well home and in the cold by then.

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May 052015 0 Responses

Fritillarias in Paklenica National Park

Before we left NZ the Mother had been looking up Fritillarias on her IPad and had found that there were 76,000 of them growing in a park just 10 minutes from where the Nephew has just moved to in Oxford.  He was despatched to capture them on film.  Which he obliging did as the lucky blighter only has to walk 40 mins down the tow path of the canal to get there.

That started us wondering if they were to be found in Croatia….  seemingly Mr Wikipedia told us we were MORE likely to see them in Slovenia… Read More…

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