Celia Hart's blog about what's going on in and around her studio.
Art, printmaking, inspirations, gardening, vegetables, hens, landscapes, wild flowers, East Anglia, adventure, travel.

Friday 9 May 2014

Not the only way to Essex

Some of you may have tripped over me on Twitter, there may be corners of Twitter that are bitchy and nasty or rude and sweary – but there are other corners that are on the whole good natured and polite; where people who like making things and growing things, generously share their knowledge.


It was on Twitter early one morning (early mornings is a good time to stumble on Tweets from gardeners, before they put on their boots and head off to their plots) that I discovered @ultingwick aka Philippa, she lives in Essex and likes gardening, art, books, travel and horse racing. I gradually began to realise that Philappa's garden was a bit special!

As often happens on Twitter, virtual acquaintances become real life ones and today Cliff and I drove down to Essex to look around Philippa's garden at Ulting Wick – although officially it wasn't open to the public for the NGS until 2pm, we were allowed to look around in the morning . . . the only other visitors were another Twitter acquaintance @HarietRycroft and her husband – Harriet is head gardener and plant potter-upper extraordinary for Whichford Pottery.


Philippa is a self-confessed tidy gardener – you can see how beautiful the box hedging and lawns and paths are maintained in my top photo. There is a view that wildlife gardens need to be an untidy mess but Ulting Wick dispels that myth, it is a garden full of birds and insects as well as native wildflowers and trees –  while we looked around we heard a Cuckoo and saw Wagtails, Great tits, Blue tits and Swallows flitting to and fro . . . there are Kingfishers too but we didn't spot them.

The Spring highlights of Ulting Wick – tulips – have faded, so the next planned open days will be in late summer to show off the Dahlias. But I'm sure the gardens are beautiful all year, I particulary liked the large wildflower meadow which will be in full bloom in late May/early June – my tip is to follow @ultingwick on Twitter so you don't miss out.



After exploring the garden at Ulting Wick, we took Philippa's advice and headed for the quayside, or Hythe, in Maldon – yes, where the  sea salt comes from.


The town's long High Street flows downhill to the Blackwater Estuary and along the Hythe opposite old cottages, pubs and boatyards, are moored half a dozen old Thames barges – a forest of masts, rigging and furled sails against the blustery sky. The linen sails' traditional red-brown colour was from a waterproofing made from red-ochre earth, cod fish oil and sea water.



Thames barges were once the haulage trucks of the river estuaries and coast of South-East England, today the restored barges take on different roles.


We walked alongside the Blackwater estuary, the tide was at its lowest leaving boats high and dry on the mud. Rain clouds were blowing over fast as we looked back at Maldon Hythe from a distance – but luckily we didn't get wet. 


At the end of the path loomed a huge bronze statue of a Saxon warrior . . . this is Byrhtnoth, the Earldorman of Essex. Byrhtnoth (or Brithnoth, as it is sometimes written) was the leading military figure of Saxon England at the end of the 10th century. He rejected King Ethelred's policy of appeasement to Viking raiders, and at the age of 68 he led an army that confronted the Vikings as they made their way up the Blackwater and came ashore near Maldon on 10th August 991 AD.



What happened on that day would probably have been lost in the mists of time, like many other battles and skirmishes between Saxon militia and Viking raiders – what is different is that The Battle of Maldon was described in detail in an Anglo-Saxon poem, you can read the translation here.

The inscription near the statue tells us that Byrhtnoth "surrendered his life in defence of the people, religion and way of life".

After the battle Byrhtnoth's body was taken to Ely in Cambridgeshire and was buried in the abbey, his widow Aethelflaed, presented the abbey with "a curtain woven and depicted with the deeds of her husband as a memorial of his virtue" – which sounds very much like something that was made to commemorate a later more famous battle


We ended our visited by enjoying a 99 from the park cafe (and very nice ice-cream it was too). I hope you've enjoyed learning a little bit about the Essex that isn't 'the only way'.

Celia
xx


27 comments:

  1. What a fantastic day! One day I will get to visit Ulting Wick, it is on my list of must see soon gardens. I agree, there are some lovely and generous gardeners on twitter.

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    1. Hope you manage to visit soon - I'm sure you will love it.

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  2. Sounds like a wonderful day out. Love how your artists eye picked up the colour on the linen sails.
    Twitter has connected so many lovely people & beautiful gardens :-)

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    1. Is that unusual? I'm very tuned to colours... suppose it's the years of training ;-)

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  3. Well, that rolled back almost 50 years.Thank you, Celia.

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  4. What a glorious garden and house - I love the steep pitched roof with its terracotta pantiles.

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    1. The 'house' is actually a little cottage in the garden - Ulting Wick farmhouse is much larger. And yes, the tiles are a lovely texture.

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  5. What an interesting post. I agree with your comments about the generosity of tweeter and bloggers and can cite Christine Walkenden, Green Lane Allotments and Patsy Collins as examples.

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    1. I'm glad you too enjoy the company of gardeners on Twitter - a kind and friendly bunch.

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  6. Very interesting post, my friend! We've been watching "The Vikings" on the History channel and my goodness, they were not nice people!

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    1. A turbulant and scary time at the end of the 10th century. 'The Battle of Maldon' tells a bloody story.

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  7. Ahh, what a lovely and thoughtful post. My homeland of Essex, its history and beauty, plus gardens and

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  8. ...and Tweeters! (unintentional pause for effect there - technical error)

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    1. Loved the pause for effect Deborah ;-)

      MAybe it's good that not too many people know about the beautiful laid back corners of Essex.

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  9. Oh wow, that is indeed a gorgeous garden, I must go and visit it in September. Lovely to see the Thames barges too. I haven't been to Maldon since I lived in Chelmsford over 30 years ago and I don't remember the Viking being there, although it was a long time ago so it may well have been.
    I agree totally about twitter, lots of lovely generous people on there :-)

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    1. You must visit Ulting Wick - I found some absolutely must-have plants among Philippa's borders!

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  10. Celia, having seen your photographs and the link to Ulting Wick, I completely agree that this is a very special garden.

    One of these days I will have to actually visit Essex. And perhaps one of these days I'll also connect with Twitter...the good side of Twitter, of course.

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    1. The Essex border is just a stone's throw from my studio but it's a long way across to the coastal estuaries - most people think of towns and new housing estates when they think of Essex - but so much of the county is rural and steeped in interesting in history.
      We look forward to you joining Twitter xx

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  11. That sounds like a wonderful day out. I still can't really get my head around Twitter... I engage now with it now and then but then I forget all about it!

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    1. That's how I feel about facebook, I really can't be bothered as it all seems so complicated.

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  12. Ulting Wick is on my list - how lovely to get in early, before the hordes, of gardeners, not Vikings... I've heard about the Battle of Maldon so enjoyed reading about it. That's also now on my 'list'.

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  13. What a delightful house and garden - it looks like it was a lovely sunny day. Hythe looks pretty good too - I have not been down to Essex for a long time - it is obvious there is more to it than meets the eye.

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  14. What bliss to visit home via your post.
    As an ex-pat in NY, I miss Essex where I grew up. Such a super historical county much maligned. And what a splendid garden!

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  15. What a gorgeous garden - and house too.
    I've never been to Maldon, but I love small coastal towns on breezy days.
    Those restored barges look interesting too - can you g on board them?
    Carole

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  16. Rather remiss of me but a belated huge thank you to you Celia for your blog about Ulting Wick and Maldon. Looking forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

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  17. What a lovely post...and nice pictures!
    Best wishes for a beautiful weekend,
    Titti

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