Roundabout

We had such a lovely day in Oxford on Wednesday. We specifically went to see the Anglo-Saxon Alfred jewel, which Jamie’s wanted to see for a couple of years. Made in the 9th century with the inscription ‘Alfred ordered for me to be made’ it’s a very special item with amazingly intricate gold work surrounding enamel work and a rock crystal. It was ploughed up in the 17th century - imagine finding that!

We enjoyed wandering through the galleries seeing some incredible works of art and historic artefacts. Here are a few which I particularly liked (and I got a half decent photo of). Where possible I’ve added a link where you’ll be able to see better images than I managed, but even better, why not go and visit the Ashmolean- it really is worth visiting more than once.

I love the little satyr on the right who meets your eye.

Domenico Fetti (1588 - 1623)

Look at this beautiful night-scene, the clouds are so perfect.

Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-1789)

The lighting in this painting is so stunning - just incredible what a few well-placed brush strokes can produce. Unbelievable to think it was painted over 350 years ago. I was raving about this to my sister and she said “Haven’t you ever seen a painting before?!” 😂 

Matthias Stom ~1640

I love the flowers in this, with the blossom showing the arrival of Spring. Such skill in making the material look so real, beautiful.

Frederick Sandys (1829-1904)

Another lovely creation full of flowers. I’d enjoy sitting there!

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912)

I particularly like the reflection in the lily pond in this one, though the style is not my preferred as it looks almost too modern.

Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873)

I could have spent hours staring at some of the art whereas a glimpse at others was enough to know it wasn’t my cup of tea. The still life works are amazing but are a bit samey - and there are a lot of them, this is just a small portion.

Apart from the Alfred Jewel this article caught Jamie’s eye. Not the most beautiful in the building 😊 but, you know, we all have our preferences.

The Martin Brothers 1898

This interesting tapestry of Oxfordshire and surrounding counties from 1660 fills a whole wall - it’s undergone quite a lot of restoration unsurprisingly.

Oxfordshire tapestry 1660

As you’d expect, Hungerford is there and Littlecote, that I posted about last week, but I’m surprised to see ‘Charnham Street’, which is our main road into the town, listed as a separate settlement. I’m hoping someone local can shed some light on that.

Anyway this fella with a garlic on his head 🤭 reminds me that this used to be an allotment blog..!

We’ve visited each day to water and check on progress. I was disappointed that something has tucked into our lettuce and emerging row of turnips so I’ve resorted to slug pellets and netted over the top of them. I’ve planted a few of the perennials around the plots to provide a bit of lasting colour, hopefully and tidied up one of the messy areas. I’ve sowed these beans in various locations:

Borlotti Lamon climbing

Greek Gigantes climbing

Jacob’s Cattle dwarf

We should have seen the last of the cold nights now and we’re moving into a mini-heatwave (hooray!). It’s lovely to see a few more flowers emerging and the valerian scent is on the air - beautiful!

The song title has been chosen as a few of us plotholders have been helping Hungerford/Britain in Bloom by weeding/digging and planting up one of the roundabouts as you enter Hungerford - we hope it’ll soon be a lovely mix of colours, rather than just the yellow and green of buttercups! It includes lupin, astilbe, verbena boreansis, golden rod, geranium, cow daisy and borage to name a few.

So here’s the song by Yes - oh dear, it’s the 8-plus minute version! Go and make a cup of tea.