Here’s a few photos taken over the past week or two.
A forbidding portal to another, darker place? Nah, just the Priory Drive descending through the wood …
… and down into a valley of mist and frost.
Overlooking neighbouring fields.
The tulip tree (right) and beech hedging on the autumnal turn.
The tulip tree again – to the left of the Priory roofs.
At this time of year, mowing is as much about picking up leaves as cutting grass.
Mahonia. Don’t you just love it? Nope – me neither but I do concede it puts on a zingy show.
Miscanthus transmorrisonensis in flower.
Yellowing oaks and oddly shaped larch up on the drive.
Nigella seeds and ivy on sedum.
White shapes in a frosted field.
One of many recent, satisfying bonfires.
Oops. Almost forgot autumnal leaves …. Cornus leaves hanging on, grimly, for another day or two.
Liquidamber leaves – rosy and frosted.
And finally, backlit by todays sun, the very last birch leaves at the Old Forge.
The Anxious Gardener 
Gorgeous post…love the atmosphere of so many of those shots…and I had to laugh about the Mahonia…I don’t get why people love them so much.
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Hi Scott, no me neither. Never planted one – never will. D
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But the mahonia does have a fantastic smell
and comes at a welcome time of the year
and is evergreen providing a garden framework plant
and does not get too big or be invasive
and is easy to grow
and I love it!
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All your arguments are perfectly valid, Roger. But I’m affraid I still don’t like mahonia. Sorry. (I’m sure there are plants that you simply don’t like – however hard someone else might try to convince you otherwise?) Dave
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Those first shots are downright spooky Dave! I love the contrast between the formality of the beech hedge with the wilder trees behind. As to mahonia, you are wrong, it is a lovely plant!! Well, when you don’t have to walk anywhere near it anyway, and for evergreen screening with winter interest, hard to beat, surely?! Though I have just discovered a red stemmed bamboo that I think may have stolen my heart…
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Hehe. I remember your fondness for mahonia from an earlier post, Janet. And I’m afraid you’re still mistaken! Few things in life are as irksome as weeding below mahonia. Dave
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Mahonia is also very useful in stopping Jack Russells and Springer Spaniels jumping over the wall – they only do it once!
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True enough but grown in borders (as they do in both the gardens I work in) I tend to think of their leaves impaling my fingers, more than their anti-dog properties! Dave
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Mysterious delight only u could capture!
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Hi Sharon and thanks.
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Beautiful shots!
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Thanks NHGS.
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Some beautifully evocative autumn scenes there. I do rather like the mists that roll across at this time of year – though it’s always a slight relief when the horizon comes back again.
Wow, you’ve had real frost. We’ve had a couple of low temperatures, but no visible signs yet…
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Hi Sara, the Priory is prone to fosts – hard ones too. It can be several degrees colder down in the valley than on the ridge above where the nearest houses are. Dave
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We notice a huge drop in temperature when we walk down into our village too, very grateful to be living on top of the hill then! S
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Very, very beautiful – thanks for reminding me that it isn’t always raining. Wouldn’t mind a bit of fog, not after seeing those shots….
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Hi Kate – yes my autumnal shots collection had a real boost when it stopped raining and the sun finally, finally shone. D
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Lovely photos Dave- would have been a bit scared of going up the drive! Amazing how different the temperature can be due to the Downs/Weald- I drove from Brighton to Haywards Heath the other day and it dropped from 5 to 0.5…
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Yeah well – one has to be a rufty tufty type to work in the Weald not like you coastal softie types!! Dx
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All of them would make a good desktop wallpaper (or a wall print for that matter). You do take awesome photos David 🙂
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Thanks Boys. Too kind as always. D
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Those misty shots are really spooky the garden is certainly winding down now almost time for you to put your feet up in the greenhouse.
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Still loads to do Elaine – all that wet has left me behind with getting the garden ready for winter. Still – I’m getting there. Dave
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Your first photos made me feel very cold! That looked a lot of frost on the road verge. Do you compost all the leaves you collect; a lot of American blog writers are advocating leaving the leaves on the lawn, but shredding them so they can be taken down into the soil more quickly. I love to have a Liquidamber in the garden, even here they have good autumn colour when many other trees don’t. Christina
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Hi Christina, yes I collect the leaves and make leaf mold – loads of it. I hadn’t heard of shredding and leaving on lawns though it makes sense. But there are so many at the Priory it would be difficult to spread them out properly and besides I worry about leaves (shredded or no) blowing into the ditches and ponds – the latter are already silted up quite enough. The liquidamber is a beauty but, as I said below to Pauline, terribly slow growing. Perhaps it’ll finally get under way next year? D
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A fog machine should be part of every gardener’s tool box, just for such beautiful, ghostly silhouettes. I especially love the photo of the mist just about burning off (the 2nd one of the tulip tree) with the autumn colors just showing in the background.
I almost stepped on a sheep once in dense fog in Newfoundland. Not that that’s particularly interesting. It’s just true.
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I do NOT have access to a fog machine actually, Stacy. Actually. What do you think I am some kinda charlatan!?! Though now you suggest it … a fog machine would come in mighty handy. I shall buy one forthwith. May is probably my favourite month but the Priory never looks better than under bright autumn sun, I think. D. p.s. Speaking of not particularly interesting sheep stories (no offence): I found one of Margaret’s the other day. It was on its back and couldn’t right it self. I literally saved its life single-handed and am now a Sheep-hero. Official. Literally. (Damn – that could’ve been a whole sheep post).
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No, no, Dave, I’m not accusing you of anything! There’s something really…genuine about fog in the UK. Just thinking that it would be nice to create those effects at will.
An official Sheep Hero — wow. That should come with a cape. Glad you were able to come to the rescue, poor sheep. (A much more interesting story — definitely worth a post!)
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Hi Dave! Yes it’s been a long time, please don’t ask. I liked your cold and misty pics, here I haven’t seen frost yet and temperatures are rather mild for November indeed but soon winter will come. Miscanthus transmorrisoniensis is one of my fave, I love its habit. I agree with you about mahonias but you have a considerable specimen there! I’ve recently seen an entire hedge (about 25 metre long) of mahonia and it impressed me, I almost liked it.
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Hey Alberto, a long time indeed. I’m sorry – I’ve taken a bit of a back seat with blogging too recently so I can sympathize (though no, I won’t ask). I would almost like a 25m mahonia hedge in flower too. Almost. The one in the pic above is actually at the Old Stable – the only specimen at the Priory is a little pathetic and shaming. Actually it would really benefit from being dug up and burnt. D
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Great pics, especially the fog wreathed sheep.
I feel the same way about mahonia. Nasty spiky smelly stuff BUT…
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I was sneaking up on the sheep Libby, but they got a glimpse of my mug (or a sniff of something unpleasant) and were off before I could get the shot I really wanted. And, yep too true … it ought be called Mahonia But. D
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Super atmospheric photos, love the Liquidamber leaves with their rim of frost.
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Hi Pauline, that liquidamber is frustrating (beautiful as its leaves are). I planted it almost four years ago and it has grown about ooh, three inches. Bah! Be taking an axe to it if it doesn’t buck up its ideas. (Not really). Dave
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Liquidamber grows no faster with me. It’s just something you have to live with. I made the mistake of planting mine behind a rhododendron, thinking the autumn colour hanging above the evergreen shrub would look great. Needless to say, the rhodie has grown much faster than the liquidamber, and totally hides it!
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Chortle. Sorry to hear that Mr K. Reassuring to hear that liquidambers are such slow growers though – I thought there something seriously wrong with mine. D
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Awesome pictures! I love finding inspiration for photos in nature and the garden. These will be great to come back to when everything is dead and gone or covered in snow.
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Hi Joe, indeed though I’m pretty fond of winter and snow too. As long as there is something worth photographing, eh? Thanks for visiting and commenting. Dave
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I really don’t know why you bother with being a gardener when you could be a great photographer……
My favourite is the liquidamber leaf, followed by the sheep.
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My brother-in-law is a successful (and very talented) professional photographer, Mr K. Believe me when I tell you he earns no more than I do. With phone technology developing as it is and the vast number of photos posted on-line, I suspect it will only prove more and more difficult for prof photographers in the years to come; for which reason I’ll happily remain a gardener Having said all that – thank you for your kind observation (he added simperingly). D
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so good to see you back again!
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Thanks Wendy – though I’ve never really been away. Just lurking. D
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Lovely photos Dave, I especially like the frosty misty lane.
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Thanks Ronnie – means something coming from you! D
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Hi Dave,
these shots give me a better idea of the size you have to work with. It’s vast! But it’s also its own world. It must be satisfying to be able to look around you and know all you can see is your own ‘territory’.
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Hi Faisal, the Priory does sit well into its landscape I think and its beauty and peace is accentuated by how very long the drive is; the house is nicely removed from the road and the ‘real’ world. Dave
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Gorgeous photos! I especially loved the gloves on the mower. Thanks for brightening up my (snowy) day!
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Only too happy to oblige! Dx
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