March, traditionally, enters like a meek lamb and leaves as a roaring lion. The weather traditions may need some re-think. March this year rattled in bright but cold, turned dull and ended with a glorious attempt to fool us all it might have been June after all.
Clearance work and restoration continues in the Parkland. Menagerie Wood now has great open vistas over the clearly defined ha-ha. When the leaves fill out the winter gaps, the area will be a cool and inviting space. Clearance has now opened up Lady Lucy's Pond and revealed a stump worthy of re-location to the Garden. The Parkland, however, remains very dry. Lambs are now here, their exquisitely charming appearance marred by necessary but garish application of sprayed die to identify them. Their mothers have quite a more natural way, however, of
identifying their charges.
Early in the month the skies were big, blue and clean and allowed the whole Parkland to be seen in a true scale of man against nature. It's the kind of thing I like; a sense of scale and position.
Though not on my watch, adopting a cliche, the house is now awaiting the restoration of the conservatory. This fragile structure has now been stripped of its modesty, revealing a new view of the rear of the house. All is now clear for the various teams of workmen to approach and begin the balanced programme of demolition and restoration of this true hidden gem.
In order to sort out some confusion in my mind regarding the names of ponds and former ponds in the eastern Parkland, I have found some evidence from an OS map of 1892-98.
