Jackdaw in the cafe gardens

Dear Readers, we had a post-exam celebratory walk around Kenwood today, following a tip-off from my friend L that the foxgloves were really something this year. As indeed they were, but first of all, let’s have a quick look at the rhododendrons – they’re past their best, but there were still some splendid examples. Although this can be an extremely invasive plant, it still looks magnificent in an ornamental garden.

Then we headed off to say hello to one of my favourite trees, this magnificent Sweet Chestnut. I’ve mentioned it before, but yet again, I’ve missed the chance to see if the flowers do indeed smell of fried mushrooms.  I always value its shade, and that magnificent twisted trunk.

And then it’s off for the traditional flat white in amongst all the dogs that congregate with their owners outside the Brewhouse café. This is a great place for dog and people watching, but also for bird watching. There’s a very lusty feral pigeon, for example, who wasn’t giving up regardless of how uninterested his prospective mate was.

And indeed, at one point he perched on the wire a few feet away from this jackdaw, and seemed to be giving it an appraising look. The jackdaw was having none of it.

I love these roses growing up the outside of the Kenwood shop, though I do note that for tall people the inside of the building is a positive death trap, with folk over six feet tall regularly braining themselves on the low lintel, in spite of the plentiful ‘mind your head’ signa.  Not that I speak from experience, Readers. Suffice it to say that I nearly had to take my beloved to accident and emergency following one skull/stone incident.

Then we walked through the gardens, past this rather fine dogwood (Cornus kousa if I’m not mistaken)….

…and past some rather fine pink campion and foxgloves.

But my tip-off was for the area around the Kenwood Dairy. Back in the 18th century, it was considered fashionable for ladies to run a dairy, following the example of Marie Antoinette (the little farm not the losing of the head), and so in 1794 Lord Mansfield’s architect, George Saunders, was asked to build one for the Earl’s wife, Louisa. Three buildings were created – a tea room where Louisa would entertain her friends, the dairy itself and a small house for the dairy maid. It was actually a working dairy, providing the estate with milk, cream and butter.

One of the dairy buildings

These days the dairy is a starting point for a variety of activities, but what intrigued me was the gorgeous array of wildflowers, especially the foxgloves. They’re a little further along than when my friend photographed them, but they are still very fine.

Interestingly, the bumblebees were more interested in the vigorous patch of comfrey growing just alongside the foxgloves. It was lovely to see so many, and I counted at least three species. It’s such a treat to see them in decent numbers. What a great way to start my post-exam summer!