On the 18th of May we made a quick viisit to nearby Falkland Palace, I had wanted to see what the orchard looked like as the apple blossom in my garden was looking pretty, I thought the palace orchard would look fab, but their apple trees bloom far earlier than the ones in my garden. After realising that I vaguely remebered that I had discovered that the last time I tried to see the blossom! I must remember to visit earlier next year! Anyway, I enjoyed mooching around the other parts of the gardens, taking these photos.
In the distance below you can see one of the Lomond hills, I’m never sure whether it’s the east or west Lomond.
Back at the orchard there’s a huge sculpted wicker woman, she’s wearing well as she has been there for a number of years now.
I think possibly she’s meant to be Mary, Queen of Scots as she was very fond of Falkland Palace, she did a lot of hunting around the area and would have flown birds of prey.
But the birds that I was interested in were the swallows, or maybe they’re swifts, I’m never quite sure. I wanted to see if there were many nesting in their usual place at the palace Real/Royal Tennis court. There were just a few to be seen, usually all of the nests are occupied. There are none to be seen around where we live, so that’s two bad years in a row they’ve had here. If you look carefully at the photo below you should just be able to see a teeny wee bird perched on the left of the roof support.
The lilacs were looking particularly pretty and fresh.
As you can see it was a lovely sunny day. The garden was very busy and at the beginning we were having a hard time dodging other people, we’re still being very cautious which I think is sensible given that the Covid numbers are rising again in Scotland. That’s surprising given that it’s summer (supposedly) and people are outside more. It seems to be coming in three monthly waves now and just about everybody I know has had it.
Anyway, I hope to have photos on here of our Orkney trip soonish, amazingly we had great weather again, well great for Scotland, it wasn’t exactly warm but at least it wasn’t wet.
You may have missed the apple blossoms, but it still looks like it was a very nice day. Love the wicker woman! Wish I were talented enough to build a small version in my garden and then grow pole beans on her đŸ™‚
Stefanie,
You should have a go at it, there’s bound to be a You Tube video showing how to do it!
Katrina,
How I enjoyed touring with you in these beautiful gardens. I simply loved the photos. They made me feel I was there with you. Yes, it’s interesting how royals, and even royal women in this period were so taken with falconry of one sort or another. And I imagine it was not only falcons that were used as birds of prey, but other birds as well??? I’m out of my depth here, but thought you might know.
Judith,
I believe that women usually used smaller birds of prey, something like a merlin or a hobby which is a small kestrel which wouldn’t be so heavy to handle. I’m glad that you enjoyed the photos.