In Veronica's Garden

"How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun." 

Vincent Van Gogh

I'm not usually a fan of yellow flowers, but lately I've been drawn to their sunny nature. When we visited Milner Gardens on Sunday, the yellow flowers seemed to say, "Here I am - notice me." 

I read the book about Veronica and her life shortly after we moved here. Pondside recommended it to me. I find that knowing more about the places I visit gives me a greater context and more enjoyment.

There's an area cordoned off for a vegetable and berry patch and in it is the Children's Garden. School children come and plant flowers and vegetables. Throughout the Children's Garden are tiny rubber boots filled with flowers. Utterly charming.

This loose arrangement of flowers, some wild, some planted, sat on the weathered, 17th century refectory table in the dining room. Most, if not all, of the furniture in that room is 17th Century English. The house is open to visitors, and tea is served in the living room and former library, the walls still lined with full bookshelves.

I think of the miles the furniture has traveled, and the many people who have sat at the table, laughing, crying, discussing, arguing, loving. 

I sat myself down in one of the chairs, this one carved with 1649, and let my mind wander, for a few seconds, over time and history, thinking of all this chair  might have experienced or heard, had it mind and ears.

Strolling through Veronica's Garden - a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

Just one more thing - this vine clings to a wall on the gardener's cottage. There was no tag to identify it, and I'm wondering if any of my readers might know its name.