The first magnolia of the year, for me, seen in Knightshayes Court, (North Devon) woodland garden last Sunday, 13 March.
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The first magnolia of the year, for me, seen in Knightshayes Court, (North Devon) woodland garden last Sunday, 13 March.
Earth laughs in flowers 
Wow. That’s really striking.
Am sure I’ve been to Knightshayes with my family years ago – we used to holiday in North Devon near Bampton and Tiverton. Beautiful photos – the sky looks lovely and blue too! 🙂
It is very close to Tiverton so you may well have visited, I am in the process of writing a post about it so you’ll know as soon as you see the house as it is quite striking. The sky was beautiful that day, spring arrived! Colder and greyer today though, but it is still only mid-March so to be expected.
I’m sure that’s where we went – I certainly remember the signs in the area and we went through Tiverton quite a few times. Will look forward to your post! Will be over in just over 3 weeks time so hope that the blue skies return or it will be quite a culture shock – still Indian summer here no sign of autumn yet apart from the occasional chilly night!
3 weeks? Well April has been a good month for several years so hope you will be lucky. You will at least experience the beginning of spring, which is the best time to be here IMO.
Yes we’re coming over early April going to London to see our daughter then I’m off to Yorkshire whilst Monsieur goes to the West Country (juts not enough time to see each other’s families on this visit). A few days in Italy and Berlin then off home again! North Italy should be warming up but not sure about the rest – April is so changeable! I do agree with you though about early spring – I find UK summers too humid for my liking though the long days are lovely 🙂
You are like my son. He ‘pops’ over for a couple of weeks but we only see him for one or two days as he crams everything and everyone in, including days in Scotland, Italy or France!
Have tried to see as much as possible of the family whilst having a break ourselves! We see Mlle in London for 4 days there, 3 in Lake Como and 1 again in London just before we fly back. I’ll stay with my dad for 11 nights in Yorkshire but he’s kindly coming up to London to see Monsieur LC for a day as we haven’t time to see each other’s respective families on this visit. From experience we’ve found going across country from the north to west is quite time consuming! We ended up quite exhausted last year and got the flu badly so are trying to plan it better this time!!
Cross country is dire. For a small country it does seem to take a very long time to get anyway without a motorway. Here in Ludlow it takes me a minimum of 1 hour to reach a motorway and that’s only about 40 miles! But the roads are very winding and overtaking almost impossible.
Yes I remember visiting my uncle and aunt in mid Wales years ago and I remember the journey seemed endless!! It’s much better going from London to Yorkshire the trains are so quick down that side of the country! Ludlow is a beautiful part of the world to live though!
What amazing photos. Such rich flower-flesh. Such clarity and such blur. A stunning portrait of a definitely non-crocus!
Had to use my (new) phone camera as I didn’t have a camera on me so I was pleasantly surprised that the photos came out reasonably OK. I think this magnolia must have flowered early and got caught by frost as it was an unusual colour, sort of browny-blush pink, but maybe that is the normal colour. One reason I focused on the centre which was exposed due to most of the petals falling off.
I thought this had to be absolute mastery of the new camera.
Well, it is a new phone! I think I could have done a lot better with the camera – might see if I can sneak a visit to the local(ish) garden before we leave if it is open.
But my new phone wouldn’t archive this sharpness and clarity.
I wondered about the sharpness as you have to tap the phone (no shutter to press) and that must make it move. Surprised how reasonable these are. I must take a closer look at the settings as it appears to have a range of lenses!
What phone is it? Not an iPhone I’m presuming, if I recollect aright your attitude to Apple.
Haha.. no, I am not a fan of Apple products. Eye-watering prices for one thing and I don’t use a mobile phone enough to warrant the expense. No it is a low level Windows phone. As I use Windows and have a Surface for travelling it made sense (though do not get me started on Windows 8 or 10). Has come in useful for phone calls whilst away 🙂
Fabulous!
Ah, Knightshayes… Love the magnolia, I miss mine
I have never had one, but the garden of the flats we lived in did and it was at the height of our flat (2nd floor) so we had fab views of the flowers in spring. I missed that when I moved here. But there are squillions in Cornwall 😀
You have obviously visited Knightshayes then Sue? My first visit!
I am considering planting one in the garden here, I think I can get permission!
As for Knightshayes, went a few times with my parents, I have to confess I don’t remember a lot!
Such a gorgeous sight when magnolias are in bloom! Great shot!
Hope to get a LOT more once we move down to Cornwall.
When is your move?
Soon Lynn, soon… Next month we’ll be there 🙂
Oo, yer lucky duck! 🙂 🙂 I love them! We have tried growing a couple but without success so they obviously don’t love us.
Never tried Jo, and I won’t need to living in Cornwall (now how smug does THAT sound?) but I do have a lovely white camellia, in bud now, goodness knows how that is going to fare with the trip down there.
Serves me right- tit for tat! I was just being smug with Sue S over Rafa’s victory tonight. Who has time to blog? 🙂
Not me! But I couldn’t resist the lighthouse. And I must get the garden written up.
No slacking! Jump to it 🙂 🙂
Now tell me were you on your knees for this extraordinary perspective? You are the master of creative angles dear Jude.
On tiptoes Sue! But I have been known to get down on the knees, getting up is much more of a problem these days 😉
You simply can’t beat the Magnolia for drama and grace. Beautiful
Spring is on the way!
You wouldn’t think so today! Cold!
It’s the opposite here, still in the 30s every day. Just how I like it.
That’s still too hot for me. I’m happy with 20 – 25 degrees.