Winged dragons by the pond

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May / June 2013

LandScape - Life at nature’s paceRhododendrons | W

isteria | Hanging baskets | Salm

on | Watercress | G

ooseberries | Canal boat art | W

ye Valley | Dragonflies | H

edgehogs | Trugs | Samphire

FIRST BREATH

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Life at nature’s pace

OF SUMMER

£3.90

Walking the cliffs of Devon

Lush green fields of watercress

May / June 2013

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Hunting for floral treasure

Scottish plant hunter Kenneth Cox is following in his ancestors’ footsteps by

tracking down rare species of rhododendron

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Rhododendron blooms offer colours that span almost

every colour in the rainbow

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The work of glass artist Neil Wilkin is inspired by nature and formed by an intense heat that matches his love for creating

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Fired by passionA LL AROUND ARTIST

Neil Wilkin’s Somerset garden glass forms sprout, or hang from thin steel stems in myriad forms

like flowers, seedpods, raindrops, and glittering space age triffids. The shapes echo the delicacy of nature among the real flowers and vegetables. They reflect the daylight and mirror the world in miniature in their shiny surfaces.

The original plain glass has been transformed by Neil into these sinuous, organic shapes, as if it were the softest, most malleable of substances. He understands his raw material very well.

“When you work with glass you’re working with the physical properties of the substance, with gravity, temperature and fluidity,” he says. “If you know how heat

and movement affect glass, it’s possible to get it to flow into shape in a beautiful, plant-like way.”

There’s certainly a touch of magic about glass making, an alchemy inherent in the transformation of three dull looking elements – silica sand, soda ash and limestone – into something so beautiful.

A characteristic of Neil’s glass has always been its clarity. “I like clean glass without air and stones in it. If it’s clean I can control it properly, and predict how it’s going to behave,” he says.

Neil has loved making things all his life. Memories of growing up include melting aluminium with a small blow torch in the garage, which he then poured into clay moulds.

“I can’t remember what we were

making,” says Neil. “It was the process that fascinated me. And, for a child, it was an acceptable way of playing with fire.”

By his teenage years he was making silver jewellery and throwing pots, and it was pottery that he eventually decided to choose as his career.

“Within three months, though, I had switched and taken up glass,” recalls Neil. He had again been seduced by fire, the intense heat involved in glass making.

Natural inspirationNeil began to make objects directly inspired by natural forms nearly 20 years ago. “I had always been interested in the shapes and movements of plants, especially trees,” he says. Some of the drinking glasses he made earlier in his career had

Right: Neil in his garden with his clear

Narelle sculpture in the foreground and

a Wildflower and Seedhead behind.

Clockwise from far left: a Raindrop;

a clear Narelle flower; Dewdrops;

and a Seedhead

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W ISTERIA IS A showstopper when its breathtaking display of fragrant, foot-long laburnum-like blooms hang in abundance from twining stems. Since the first plants arrived

from China 200 years ago, it has been a quintessential element of English garden style in early summer and usually a first choice for covering walls, be they on cottages or castles.

When plant enthusiasts Louisa and James Arbuthnott moved into Stone House Cottage in Worcestershire in 1974, it made sense that wisteria featured high on their list of climbers. They wanted it to clad and colour the walls and later the numerous follies built around their one-acre garden. Their plan was to create a showcase romantic garden in the walled kitchen garden for their on-site nursery.

As summer approaches, Louisa Arbuthnott’s garden features are draped with delicate wisteria blooms

Sweet perfumeWhile the blooms are spectacular and, in Louisa’s opinion, have the ‘wow factor’, it’s their delicious fragrance that stops her in her tracks and sends her down memory lane.

“Every year between April and June the branches are laden with the strings of blooms,” says Louisa. “My father also grew wisteria in our family garden and seeing it and smelling the blooms reminds me that summer is definitely well on its way.”

Similar reactions come from visitors to the Arbuthnott’s garden and nursery who, given the choice, often prefer to follow tradition and select the lilac-blue coloured Wisteria sinsensis to buy, and also pick out the variety ‘Caroline’.

“This species flowers on bare wood so the magnificent

Purple veils

Vigorous climber wisteria ‘Caroline’

Louisa at home in her Worcestershire garden

blooms are easier to see than those of the later flowering, Wisteria floribunda, which bears its leaves and flowers both at the same time,” says Louisa.

However, she loves to share her enthusiasm for her vast collection of plants and steers visitors to take a closer look at others that are growing in the garden. This includes the more manageable W. floribunda ‘Alba’, which produces magnificent fragrant blooms up to 60cm long. There’s also the pink-coloured ‘Rosea’, which has 45cm long blooms of rose flowers tipped purple, as well as the unusual species Wisteria venusta, which is known as the silk cloud wisteria because of its short white flowers and silky leaves.

Beyond the bloomsWisteria has exotic looking dark green pinnate leaves, tapered at the tip. The wavy edges demand attention, especially in autumn when they turn buttery yellow, providing a backdrop for the long, hairy bean-like pods. These seedpods, which remain after the blooms drop off, are lovely to stroke but contain poisonous seeds, so care must be taken if handling.

“Curiously, Wisteria sinensis has stems that twine

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Louisa has turned wisterias in her garden into trees with regular pruning and staking

Chargrilled spicy salmon with chilli mashServes 4

4 salmon steaks or cutlets

Rapeseed oil

1 tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp crushed dried chilli peppers

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Chilli mash• 700g Maris Piper potatoes • 1 red chilli • 1 clove garlic

• 25g butter • 125g crème fraîche • 3 tbsp snipped chives

Bring potatoes to the boil and simmer until tender. Seed and chop the chilli and garlic. Melt butter in a

pan, add chilli and garlic and cook for 2min. Stir the chives into the crème fraîche and add half

to the pan. When the potatoes are cooked drain and add the chilli

mixture. Mash well.

Wipe the salmon fillets with dampened kitchen paper and brush with oil. Place the fennel seeds and chilli flakes in a pestle and mortar with the salt and ground pepper. Crush well and sprinkle a little over each side of the salmon steaks.

Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Place the salmon steaks on the griddle pan and cook for 2min then rotate the salmon 90 degrees to give a criss-cross effect and cook for another minute. Keep warm. Turn over and repeat. Alternatively, cook under a very hot grill for 3min each side.

Serve the salmon steaks on a bed of chilli mash and top with a spoonful of the crème fraîche and chive mixture left over from the chilli mash recipe.

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Poached salmon with parsley sauce

Serves 4

2 shallots

Parsley, stalks and leaves

4 salmon cutlets

100ml dry white wine

6 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

Salt

Slice the shallots and place in a shallow pan with the parsley. Place the salmon cutlets in the pan and pour in the white wine. Add enough cold water to just cover the salmon cutlets. Add the

peppercorns, bay leaf and a pinch salt. Heat slowly until just below boiling, then simmer for 4min until the salmon is just cooked. Transfer the salmon cutlets to serving plates and keep warm.

Strain the cooking liquor and reserve 100ml for the parsley sauce to pour over the salmon.

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Parsley sauce• Handful of parsley

• 40g butter • 25g plain flour • 300ml milk • 2 tbsp single cream

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper • 100ml of reserved cooking liquor

Chop the parsley. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour. Remove from heat and stir in milk.

Return to a low heat and stir until sauce thickens. Stir in the single cream and parsley. Add the cooking liquor from

the poached salmon.

Salmon mousseServes 10

300g full fat cream cheese

200g natural yoghurt

450g cooked salmon

2 sticks celery

4 spring onions

3 tbsp chopped dill

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp gelatine powder

100ml fish stock

Tabasco sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 small cucumber

Melba toast or brown bread to serve

Place the cream cheese in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon to soften. Beat in the natural yoghurt. Flake the salmon into the bowl, discarding any skin and bones. Chop the celery and slice the spring onions. Add to the bowl with the chopped dill and lemon juice, beat until well combined. Sprinkle the gelatine over 2 tbsp of cold water in a bowl and allow to stand for a few minutes until spongy. Place the bowl in a pan of hot water and heat, stirring until the gelatine dissolves. Add in the fish stock and then stir into the salmon mixture. Add a dash of tabasco sauce and season to taste.

Line a 900g loaf pan with cling film. Spoon in the salmon mixture then chill for at least 6 hours or until the mousse is completely set. Carefully turn out onto a serving plate. Cover with a layer thinly sliced cucumber halves. Serve with melba toast or thinly sliced brown bread.

Cheesy watercress and mushroom omeletteMakes 1 omelette

25g watercress

75g chestnut mushrooms

3 free range eggs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 tbsp single cream, optional

20g butter

1 tsp rapeseed oil

25g Caerphilly cheese or other crumbly British cheese

Coarsely chop the watercress, then chop or slice the mushrooms. Place the eggs in a mixing bowl with a little salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the cream and beat with a fork to break up the eggs, do not over beat.

Melt half the butter in a small frying pan and sauté the mushrooms for about 3min, until just tender. Remove from the pan and keep warm. Add the remaining butter and oil and heat over a high heat until the butter is foaming. Quickly add the chopped watercress to the egg mixture then pour into the pan and swirl to coat the base. Reduce the heat and use a spoon or the side of a fork to draw in the egg mixture to the centre of the pan and tilt the pan so that the uncooked egg flows into the gap. Repeat a few times until most of the liquid egg has set.

Next crumble the cheese over the surface of the omelette and allow to cook gently for another minute or so until the egg has almost completely set and the cheese is beginning to melt. Loosen the edges of the omelette with a spatula or palette knife. Spread the sautéed mushrooms over the omelette then carefully fold the omelette in half. Slide out onto a warm plate and serve immediately.

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Watercress and shredded chicken saladServes 4

2 free range chicken breasts

Oil for brushing

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

1 avocado

Lemon juice

1 green apple

150g watercress

50g coarsely chopped walnuts

For the yogurt salad dressing

150g pot natural yogurt

2 tsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic

Place the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of cling film and bash with a rolling pin to flatten slightly. Brush the chicken with oil and season with salt, pepper and a little paprika. Heat a ridged griddle or heavy based frying pan until very hot and add the chicken. Cook for about 3min each side or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

Cut the avocado in half and remove the stone. Peel, slice and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice and toss to coat. Core and slice the apple and add to the bowl, tossing in a little more lemon juice. Add the watercress and toss to combine.

For the dressing, beat the yogurt, lemon juice and crushed garlic clove together in a small bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle some of the yogurt dressing over the salad. Using 2 forks pull the chicken apart into shreds and scatter over the salad. Sprinkle with walnuts and serve with the remaining dressing on the side. Any unused dressing will keep for 2 to 3 days in the fridge.

Watercress potato cakesServes 4

1 small onion, chopped

1 tbsp rapeseed oil plus extra for oiling

400g waxy potatoes

40g watercress

2 tbsp plain flour

1 small free range egg

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Poached eggs, to serve

Chop the onion, heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion for 5 to 8min until the onion is softened and beginning to colour. Allow to cool.

Peel and coarsely grate the potato and place in a sieve. Place a saucer or small plate on top and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Coarsely chop the watercress and add to the grated potatoes along with the sautéed onion. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture then add the egg, lightly beaten. Season and mix well.

Heat a large heavy based pan or flat griddle and lightly oil the surface. Divide the potato mixture into 4 and spoon 1 or 2 portions into the pan. Flatten to form a circle about 1cm thick. Cook until the underside is golden and crisp, about 4min. Flip over and cook the other side. Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while cooking the remainder.

Serve the potato cakes topped with a poached egg. They are also delicious served with smoked salmon and crème fraîche.

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Cups of colour

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• Photography: Richard Faulks • Styling: Emma Kendell

Colourful tulips and ranunculus are held in an assortment of coloured glasses. Their stems are encouraged to droop and spread outwards for effect

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Whether single, double, feathered, fringed or twisted,

the petals of the cup-shaped tulip radiate the glow

of the summer sun. These bright and bold flowers

can be used both for decorating and eating

Above: a tulip leaf can be wrapped around a napkin for a simple table setting. Rolling the leaf around a finger first will ensure it holds its shape

Right: a garland of dried petals can be made by laying them on a lined baking tray in an airing cupboard,

or by a sunny windowsill, until they have shrunk and turn hard.

A needle and thread can be used to hold them together. Tulip petals are

also edible and delicious in salads

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Lazy days in the garden• Photography: Richard Faulks • Designed by: Nigel Allsopp

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A hammock like this is easy to make from brush stales,

wooden balls and rope

Hedgerow healing

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Marigold infused oil and beeswax on a bed of dried marigold flowers

Above: Rowan’s wild garden. Right: pulling up dandelion roots

to make liver tonic

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T HERE’S A SPICY, aromatic smell coming from the kitchen range where Rowan McOnegal is placing handfuls of freshly snipped green bay leaves into the top tier of a bain-marie. Adding several generous

glugs of organic sunflower oil, Rowan stirs the mixture and leaves it to heat gently for two hours. Once she has strained it and repeated the process, she will have made an infused oil. This can be massaged gently into arthritic joints or aching muscles, or turned into a soothing ointment with the addition of some melted beeswax.

Rowan is a believer in the power of herbs to create treatments for simple ailments. She views her garden and the countryside as a vast store cupboard of ingredients.

“You’d be surprised how many common plants have healing properties,” she says. “Things that many of us dismiss as weeds, such as nettles, dandelions, chickweed and cleavers, that sticky grass that invades the garden. They all have beneficial properties. With herbal medicine it’s often just a case of empowering people with the confidence to use them.”

The importance of natureNature and plants have fascinated Rowan since childhood. An allergic reaction to penicillin as a young girl was one of the things that made her realise that modern drugs are not always a cure for everyone.

Another illness when she was in her twenties convinced her of the importance of complementary medicine as a back-up to conventional treatments. She went on to qualify as a medical herbalist and gleaned precious plant knowledge from travels to Europe and the Far East.

“Many of the preparations I make now are for straightforward ailments and first aid,” says Rowan. “A sage gargle, taken at the first signs of a sore throat for example, can nip infection in the bud. Nettle tea, which tastes nicer than it sounds, provides an easily absorbed form of iron, so it’s helpful if you are anaemic.”

Above: the root of the elecampane can make

a cough syrup. Right: preparing bay leaves for

an infused oil. Below: Rowan in her kitchen

Rowan McOnegal makes natural medicines and tonics from everyday plants which she gathers from her rambling Herefordshire garden and the surrounding countryside

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Wild, beautiful and untouched, the Hartland Peninsula is something of

a paradise for walkers wanting to be touched by the majesty of nature

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T HE RUGGED COASTLINE of the Hartland Peninsula in North Devon is both beautiful and dramatic, with the Atlantic Ocean in charge in even the calmest weather. Inland, patchwork fields stretch

to the horizon, while hidden wooded valleys have their own secret charms. An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, it is the sort of place where the forces of nature thrust everyday concerns aside and instil a sense of wonder.

Starting the walkThe starting point for a five and a half mile walk is Hartland Quay, for which there is a small parking charge during the tourist season. Even the approach gives a foretaste of the day to come, as it looks out over ominous dark rocks reaching out like gnarled fingers into the ocean. This stretch of coastline is infamous for shipwrecks. The Shipwreck Museum here, situated in a couple of upstairs rooms of former cottages, uses photographs and other exhibits to press home the stories of those who came to grief. A lookout post over the ocean serves as a reminder of the conditions endured, as well overlooking the final resting place of the SS Rosalia, which was

A sense of wonder

A section of the south west coast path on the Devon Cornwall border near Hartland Quay, looking towards Gull RockBelow: the 1982 wreck of the Johanna

unfortunately wrecked just outside the window in 1913.Some wrecks are surprisingly recent. In 1962, for

example, the men of the Green Roger were saved by the local lifeboat crew. A few miles up the coast, at Hartland Point, the remains can be seen of the Johanna, which came aground in 1982, less than 400m from the lighthouse.

A busy harbourFor more than 400 years Hartland Quay was a thriving harbour. Today only ruins remain of the 16th century quay itself. Relentless damage from the sea took its toll in the 1890s, after the advent of the railway at Bideford devastated trade and made repairs uneconomic. The former village still attracts visitors, however, both for the spectacular cliffs and the beach with its expanse of smooth sand and rock pools at low tide. Surfers taking on the waves are a regular sight. Warren Cliff, towering above, makes walkers on the beach appear the size of insects.

The route follows the South West Coast Path towards Spekes Mill Mouth, about 20 minutes away. Exposed to the elements, the narrow cliff path climbs above Screda Point

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›Spekes Mill Mouth, which is also home to the most famous waterfall in the area

The stretch of coast near Hartland Quay became notorious for shipwrecks

By just four weeks old, hoglets accompany their mother on foraging trips

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T HE PEACE CAN be broken in a moonlight garden at this time of year by a snuffling among the shrubbery and a hedgehog’s

distinctive dumpy shape scuttling across the lawn. It’s a moment wildlife watchers treasure and one which Fay Vass, who runs the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, will never forget from her childhood.

“My brother and I were allowed to stay up late to see if the hedgehog my parents had seen the night before came back,” she remembers. “They are creatures of habit, especially females. We put out food and it did return. We watched as it uncurled and ate – it was a special occasion for me.”

For Fay, hedgehogs have been an

Prickly foragers

important part of her life since that night. Hedgehogs roam throughout Britain,

excepting some of the Scottish Islands. Elsewhere, they are found as far afield as South Africa and China. They have inhabited the earth for 15 million years, existed before sabre-toothed tigers and mammoths. Yet, although they come into our gardens, people often know little about them.

Hedgehogs tend to shy away from wet areas, pine forests and mountainsides, due to a lack of suitable food and places to nest. Their natural diet includes beetles, slugs, earthworms and caterpillars. They construct their dens among piles of wood or under felled trees and hedgerows.

Hedgehogs are familiar visitors to the garden, especially now when they’re selecting a mate and raising the next generation of hoglets

Rearing hogletsHedgehogs hibernate through winter but the first blooms of spring herald the end of this hibernation period and the hogs’ focus turns to mating. Hedgehogs don’t pair for life and males, or boars, may mate with a host of females, known as sows.

The warm nights of May and June see the most amorous activity. When a boar and sow decide to mate, it’s the start of a noisy and lengthy affair. It begins with the creatures circling each other for up to an hour, snorting loudly while they do. Eventually, they come together with the sow adopting a flattish position to help the boar avoid hurting himself on her spines.

The litter of hoglets, usually five in

Fay Vass with one of the residents at the British Hedgehog Preservation Society

number, are born four to five weeks later. “Baby hedgehogs are born with spines,”

says author Hugh Warwick, who works with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species. “But nature cleverly inflates the foetus’s skin with fluid – making it oedemic – so that the mother isn’t injured at birth.”

The spines emerge very quickly after birth as the fluid is reabsorbed. They are made of keratin, the same material as human hair, but much sharper. After adult spines replace the baby ones – a process called quilling – the hedgehog retains its spiky appearance for the rest of its life, although illness can cause spine loss.

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The name hedgehog comes from the Middle English Heyghoge, meaning hedge (heyg) and hog (hoge) because of its pig-like snoutA hedgehog’s spines are hollow and air-filled. They are

graduated in colour from dark brown to almost white at the tips

Hedgehogs have their young in early summer, usually about five hoglets per litter

Hugh Warwick, author of a book all about hedgehogs entitled A Prickly Affair, has a close encounter with his favourite subject