Picking Figs and Damsons

Ross Kidner returned to the Walled Garden to pick figs and damsons to make into his wonderful jams and chutneys.  It was quite a hectic day as we had a wedding clearing up around us and they had to carry the ladder over the wedding bell tent

Ross made last year's crop into chutney and it was really successful.  To buy or catch him at one of the markets he sells from go to - 

https://en-gb.facebook.com/moonrakerpreserves/ or http://www.moonrakerpreserves.co.uk/  

If you wanted to give some of our Shillingstone Fig Chutney as your favours please let us know and we can ask Ross to pot them up in little jars for you. He can design a label for you.

Ross made a donation as thanks and we gave this to Home Start North Dorset - 

https://home-start-northdorset.co.uk/

Art Society visit

For the second year running the garden filled with members of PEDAS, the Poole and East Dorset Art Society. ( www.pedas.org.uk ) The sun shone,  so many of the members chose the shade but several hardier soles sat out with their easels.  They produced some wonderful paintings and sketches as you can see from the pictures below.  To see more of their work go to the website above. 

In thanks for the visit each member donated £3 and we were able to donate £36 to the North Dorset branch of Home Start which was wonderful.

We now have a supplier for showers!

Rob Beale Ltd who has produced loos in the past now has a very smart two stall shower.  I know that some of our 2017 brides were keen to have this information.  They brought them to show me the other day and they are pristine and well equipped.  Fully recommended.  They can plug into our electricity and water by the camping site.  wwwrobbeale.co.uk

New Bell Tent interior - Indian Style

We have just put the Bell Tent up in the Walled Garden and have tried out our new interior.  Take a look at the photographs below!

Another new photographer!

Very late in writing this post!  We had another great new photographer visiting last month.  He has enormous experience and has worked in London and abroad until moving to Chettle, just outside Blandford.  He brought a marvellous selection of photographs of past weddings, each one adapted to the style of the wedding - some formal and some very much not - I think he would be great fun to work with and very easy to get on with.

Have a look at his website - http://oligreen.net/ or send an email - tiger@oligreenphotography.com

Visit from a new photographer!

We had a visit this week from Mark Cornwall who has recently moved to Dorset from Hampshire.  He took some photographs of the grounds which are looking stunning at the moment with all the white daffodils, primroses and bluebells in flower, and is going to put some on his blog.

We have not used him here before so cannot personally recommend him but he seemed very easy to get on with as well as being very professional  and was very enamoured of all our old doors - perfect for shots I am told!

I have put a photograph from his website below to give you an idea of his work and you can look at more at https://www.morethanaphotograph.com

New Mobile Pizza kitchen!

I went on training for work and found a new mobile Pizza Kitchen!  The Portland Pizza Company is based on Portland but will travel - Tel: 07936-518871 or find them on Facebook.  I have not tasted their pizzas but Natasha who works was really lovely.

Daffodils and Camelias

The drive is now yellow with daffodils and there are great drifts of them in the garden.  Clashing wonderfully are the camellias which are now out in full bloom.  We just have to pray we do not have a frost for a week or two.  Primroses are flowering all round the garden and the iris by the drawing room door are almost all out.

flowers

perfect flowers along side road

flowers

daffodil flower meadows

flowers

daffodil flower meadows

flowers

daffodil flower meadows next to field

flowers

daffodil flower meadows next to field

flowers

pink flowers

flowers

white flower bunch

flowers

purple flower bunch

Classic Car photoshoot for Classic and Sports Car magazine

July 2014 brought a photoshoot to Shillingstone House.  We feared that all the hard work put in by the journalist Andy Roberts and the photographer Tony Baker had been in vain but last week two copies of Classic and Sports Car magazine - www.classicandsportscar.com - popped through the letter box!  Many thanks to Andy and to Tony who sent a disk of photographs.

It was a wonderful sunny day and the chrome on the two cars sparkled.  The Ford Consul Cortina had been considered amazing value in 1963 when it went on sale - £683 for the standard version and for an extra £102 14s 6d you could buy the Super!  The Singer Vogue was a more expensive option selling at £200 more than the Consul.  Both cars were put through their paces in the afternoon when Michael took them to Holwell which boasts a long straight piece of road with verges wide enough to allow the set up the cameras. Some beautiful action shots appear in the article.

We have very fond memories of the day.

New suppliers

Yesterday saw a visit from a couple who are getting married here in August.  They brought with them two new suppliers.  They were both lovely and we are much looking forward to seeing their teams in the summer

The Tickled Pig have an amazing looking restaurant in Wimborne but they also do outside catering http://www.tickledpigevents.co.uk/

New Forest Bell Tents are bringing twenty tents in August so we will have a wonderful camping city! They are also working with another couple in July.   http://www.newforestbelltents.co.uk/

The garden is bursting into flower after the long wet winter.

At last the flowers in the garden are starting to bloom and with the sun yesterday I really feel that Spring may be on it's way.  Our first wedding in May does not seem so far away now.

flowers

flowers blooming

flowers

flower petal blooming

flowers

garden meadow

Work in the walled garden has begun.

Planting seeds has begun, carefully helped by our granddaughter!  The pots of broad beans are now being eagerly watched for signs of life.

gardening

child gardening

gardening

child gardening

Snowdrops are stunning this year!

The snowdrops are better than they have been for years!  This may be partly because the daffodils are not so advanced so they are not dwarfed - but they also seem longer stemmed more prolific.

We just wish we could hold winter weddings!

Wonderful pictures of a 2016 wedding at Shillingstone House in Rock My Wedding

I have just been sent a link to a write up about a wedding last year at Shillingstone House.  Here is the link to Rock My Wedding!  They are a stunning couple and they are stunning photographs!

You need to go to "real weddings" and then to Grace and Alex.

http://www.rockmywedding.co.uk/ 

Starry Night

I have just found this wonderful picture on the internet!  Taken by local photographer Stefan Osnowski, it shows the Milky Way with the Shillingstone House in silhouette.  Stefan is also available for wedding photographs.  He took the photographs for one of our weddings in 2015.   www.stefanosnowskiphotography.com

X marks the spot!

An amazing pattern of airplane trails appeared in the sky yesterday, drawing a huge cross in the sky - X marks the spot for the best wedding venue in Dorset!

First snowdrops

The first snow drops are pushing their way above ground.  Hopefully, soon, the sides of the drive will be white with them - however, crossing fingers that the snow does not come and cover them!

Artist on site!!

Our wonderful gardener George is also a fantastic artist and we commissioned him to paint a view of the garden for David, who left sadly to take up full time photography last year. He chose to paint the big border as this was the view David had as he ate his lunch under the Chestnut Tree.

The result was amazing!!  Thank you George.

Happy New Year!!

With best wishes to all our clients both old and new for a wonderful, happy 2017

A really frost start to the New Year but a very beautiful one.

Happy Happy Christmas!

Christmas does not really start at Shillingstone until a couple of days before Christmas when Michael brings in the holly and ivy to decorate the house.  Willow stars are wound in ivy to hang from the kitchen ceiling, ivy and holly are wrapped round the banisters, dried alliums and leaves decorate the table and the Christmas tree.  The garden truly comes inside.

The Christmas tree is covered with baubles old and new, with the bottom layer being unbreakable, as they are carefully hung by our granddaughter.