The Ravilious Greenhouse

Friend Demus and I were joined at our table at the busy Ram Inn at Firle by a couple walking the South Downs. As we sipped our pints of Harveys Ale they asked "are you walking the Downs?" - "no, I replied. We are looking for a greenhouse". It was only then that I thought how ludicrous that may sound, but it was true and they totally understood what brought us to this corner of rural Sussex. You see, we were not looking for any greenhouse, but the greenhouses of Eric Ravilious. He painted the wonderful greenhouses belonging to the Gage family in 1935 and we have spoken of them often and viewed his paintings in the flesh, so as you can imagine this was an exciting jolly on a warm and sunny August day.

I have visited Firle before, I love it in fact. The Church, houses, Jim Piper's vegetable stall, Bloomsbury connections and also the pub with its excellent menu and beer - everything seems right with the world.

The most famous of ER's greenhouse paintings is the one directly below (Cyclamen and Tomatoes 1935). He also did The Cucumber House around the same period.

The Greenhouse: Cyclamen and Tomatoes - Eric Ravilious watercolour 1935

We finished lunch and as if by magic we bumped into Jim Piper. A lovely Sussex chap who maintains and grows vegetables in the very greenhouses that ER painted. Jim also understood by the way why we wanted to see them - he was that sort of chap, he just got it. Generous with his time and patient with two individuals resembling schoolboys who enjoyed the simple things of life. He also showed us the Victorian strawberry house.  

  

I loved the ironwork - what stories those drainage grills in the floor could tell. The nine or so gardeners from the estate who went to war and only three returned. Mr William Edwyn Humphreys was the head gardener when ER visited to paint in 1935. He was one of the three who returned. Jim showed us a lovely photograph of them all together in the garden. Mr Humphreys is buried under the Yew in Firle churchyard. Just over the wall from the gardens he managed. 

I purchased some tomatoes and a cucumber grown in the very ER greenhouse. They were out of this world. The tomatoes sliced on toast with salt and pepper - perfection! 

The Cucumber House - Eric Ravilious watercolour 1935 

The old straight track

Something very appealing about these old Purbeck stone quarries - mostly a one man band with suitably appropriate corrugated iron huts and sheds. True wildlife havens too. The soundtrack on this particular walk was a plethora of skylarks - truly magical.

Autumn bliss

It feels like autumn has come early this year – we had such a good spring after a mild and wet winter that it was not only the garden with its fruit and veg that got going. The wild harvest is also gearing up to be just as good. Berries and fruit for jamming, brewing and pickling with still enough for the wildlife.

I haven’t been shrooming, officially, yet this season, but that is just about to start. I have heard that all manner of wonderful specimens have already been found locally, which sort of makes me twitchy – In a “I need to get out now” sort of a way!

It’s also this time of year, well ordinarily in a few weeks, that I really get into Barbus barbus and I don’t just mean the delightful beer of the same name. The scent of autumn is a time that I associate with one of my favourite river fish species. Usually when it’s conker collecting time, not so soon after the August Bank Holiday.

I tend to start lighting the Kelly Kettle more at this time of year and it becomes even more of a companion on field trips and fishing jaunts. There were a few lovely old battered and much loved kettles being used at last weekend’s Stock Gaylard Oak Fair. I’m still on a bit of a high after this year’s 10^th Anniversary event. It was so enjoyable. All things associated with wood – bodgers, coppicers, charcoal burners, shepherd hut makers, peg makers, brush makers, wood fire camping gear, boats, whittling knife makers – you know the sort of stuff. I’ll try and post a few more pictures of the event in the coming days.

 One of the highlights was our lunch! Salt marsh lamb tagine with a couscous and bulger wheat salad and various accompaniments – absolutely amazing and probably the finest show food I have ever had. Cooked by the Thoroughly Wild Meat Company and washed down with a pint of Piddle ale – doesn’t get much better than that.

Finest purchase of the day has to be this wonderful new wallet hand made in the Purbecks by Embla Leather / Wood – I can’t begin to tell you how splendid it is. I wanted it as soon as I held it. I’ve never really used a wallet before but I cannot imagine one being as good as this. Not only in looks, but the way it feels and sits in the pocket. The time, effort and skill that Fiona de Wert put in to making it is something I can only marvel at. Handmade items such as this are the things to treasure as they have been created by such clever crafts people and have such a story to accompany them.   

Tent of the day had to go to the rather splendid one belonging to ORD Knives – I was lucky enough to treat myself, last year, to the most wonderful Yew handled knife from ORD Knives. I absolutely love a good knife, not in a macho posturing sort of a way, but in an appreciative way. I have them for all sorts of uses and at the moment cannot find a specific use for my Yew handled knife other than fondling it, admiring it and doing the odd bit of whittling with it. Early days yet and it will become an heirloom.

I'm the King of the World!

Was the cry that went up from middle nipper. I had to agree with him as I too had the very same feeling as a turbulent wind blew into our faces. I surveyed the coast from this highest of vantage points and he raced amongst the ramparts at Eggardon.

The simplest of pleasures can be the most rewarding and his cry came to mind a day or two later when drying out the contents of our beach shack after the storms.

After a perfect porcine lunch and a forage for findings on the beach (including a nice wave worn door wedge) the warmth of the afternoon sun got the better of me and dreams beckoned........I too felt like the King of the World.

Time and tide.....

I've sort of mostly lived near the sea, close but never this close. I get twitchy now if I don't see it, even a glimpse. When we first moved here I vowed and imagined I would walk the beach every day.

Of course there have been periods when it has been taken for granted and days do drift by without my fix. That is not the case now this minute or of late for I can't get enough of it. The recent storms also meant it was nearer - wind direction, wave height, land slips, beach cargo booty and flotsam have kept it news worthy and close to mind.

Rivers are my arena for quiet contemplation, but I find the beach has taken over. Taken over for the time being and certainly where I find myself more often than not for contemplative recreation. I am there like a piece of driftwood and over the last few weeks miss it like mad and when I do visit I return home with pockets full of items that are hard to leave on the foreshore. I think I bring them back to keep the connection live and they help on days that I cannot hear the crunch of shingle beneath my feet.

It won't be long now - change is afoot. I can hear it in the skylarks call as it rises and falls above the clifftop meadows. Won't be long until the first mackerel arrive and we can angle for our supper to be cooked over a driftwood fire.

For now though I am content with the quiet trundle of calmer waves with the sun on my face, but there is still just enough of a nip in the air to warrant another mug of beef tea and contemplate times past and those who won't be here when the mackerel arrive.

Who lives in a house like this?