Skip to main content

Along the Brunstane Burn

My little grandson and I took a walk along the Brunstane Burn this morning.  It is a fast moving stream which skirts the very outskirts of Edinburgh and runs out into the sea near Musselburgh.  It also runs along the back of the house so is very easy to access.  We walked along to the grounds of Newhailes House, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.  Good stuff for a wee boy with chickenpox!!
The flower of the hogweed.  Such an unattractive name for one of my favourite summer flowers and seedheads.
 Bramble flowers, looking lovely before morphing into a juicy blackberry later in the summer.
 Under the main railway line bridge, which echoes when you call 'cuckoo'.
Along the bank of the burn there were the huge umbrella leaves of butterbur, Petasites hybridus.  It has a rather unexciting stumpy pink flower in early spring and then produces enormous rhubarb-like leaves, which create a cool green world along the banks of rivers and streams during the summer. 
Newhailes House is owned by the National Trust for Scotland (https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/newhailes) and is undergoing a massive refurbishment of house and gardens, especially the walled garden.  It is a very elegant house, and always reminds me of a French chateau.
My grandson and I walked along in the sunshine, in front of the ha-ha, across the grass from the house.  The little chap was trying to work out who the other little boy was, accompanying us on our walk.  His shadow skipped just ahead of him!

Comments

  1. sally evers24 June 2018 at 04:45

    Such a great adventure to go on. Lucky C that you are able to take him along and have such fun. The house is stunning and very much stuck in a field, how very french!
    Enjoy the lazy hazy summer days. xxxxx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In a vase on Monday - colour

The intense colours in my vase this week come from nasturtiums, sweetpeas and a single glorious zinnia! Their beauty and love of life speak for themselves and need no further words from me! Enjoy!
8 comments
Read more

Found items IAVOM

I am on holiday on the Inner Hebridean island of Colonsay. It is my happy place. Thoughts of Colonsay rattle around in my head each and every day I am not here! I haven't got a vase to share this week but some lovely things I have found over the past few days, which are just as beautiful as a vase of flowers! I hope you agree! Here are some leaves of giant rhododendrons, growing in the outer gardens of Colonsay House. Some skeleton leaves of magnolia. The dried stem of a kelp seaweed. A couple of conkers (can never resist those!), and a branch heavily populated by a number of lichens. The air on Colonsay is so clean that lichens flourish here!
9 comments
Read more

Colonsay postcards - on arrival

The first thing I do, once we have unpacked our car, which has been groaning with all the stuff we need for a week's stay in the holiday cottage, is head for the outer gardens of Colonsay House. It is a place of wonder for me! I particularly love the leaves of the giant rhododendrons. There are many different varieties, all planted in the early 1930s. The outer gardens are generally overgrown, having had little tending over the decades. That makes them even more magical! The old woodmill falls apart a little more every year, but that's fine by me because I love corrugated iron and especially if it's rusted! And of course the bees. Colonsay's beekeeper, Andrew Abrahams, has one of his apiaries on the edge of the pine wood. So lovely - the hum of busy bees and the heady smell of the pines. We are here - finally! Delayed by four months by the wretched virus, but now I am on holiday! Hooray!
Post a Comment
Read more