Bluebell

May has always been my favourite month: bluebells, wild garlic, the promise of sunshine and lush green grass from April's rain! Growing up in Ireland it had the added bonus of being the last month of school before the holidays (for real!! Irish summer holidays were 3 months long when I was a child!) Every year I feel so happy come the 1st of May; summer is on it's way. I love Mayday celebrations and always try to do something special to mark the day. 

In celebration of the start of this year's May I spent yesterday gallivanting around Enys Gardens, a country estate that lies about a mile away from my house. It's a beautiful sprawling estate with gorgeous wild flowers and a tea room that serves great cake (it's also outside which is very amusing; even in the rain it's packed with tea drinkers!) 

The 1st of May is the beginning of their week long bluebell festival. There was also an art fair in the house this weekend, so it was a double whammy of fun. The house is generally closed but they have a few open days across the year for craft and art sales. It's crumbly and falling apart in the most glorious way, they are currently restoring it all and doing a marvelous job - it is not a National Trust style renovation but instead a very sensitive affair with everything being done properly. I think it's fab when houses open in a slightly mangled state, I love being able to see the bare bones of a building! I actually hope they keep it like this as it's a lot more interesting than the trussed up houses you generally encounter.

For the excursion I wore this beautiful blue frock that my ma bought me for Christmas, it's been much too chilly thus far to take it on an outing, and although it drizzled all day it was actually not too chilly yesterday. I felt very lady of the manor trotting about in this ensemble. I spotted this breathtaking Rhododendron bush out of a window at the top of the house and knew it was a must as a backdrop. A sign with 'keep off the grass, naturalising bulbs' stopped me in my tracks so I had to hover on the edge politely rather than dash into the blooms as I had hoped!

One of my favourite areas of Enys' ground's is the crystal grotto. It's a wonderfully mystical place, and one I feel I'll be revisiting in a future post, it's far too good not to have a post all of it's own. Crystal grotto's were a favourite of 19th century gardeners, they work best at night lit by candlelight, the rocks sparkle and shine creating an altogether magical feeling. I really hope that Enys will do a nighttime opening at some point, I'd love to see the grotto sparkling!  

I hope you are all feeling excited for May - I've just looked out of the window and the rain has stopped and miraculously the sun has popped out, hurrah! I'm off to make wild garlic pesto, I collected lots yesterday morning from Glasney Valley, yummm! Have a very happy bank holiday, see you soon.

Linking to Visible Monday

Outfit Details

1930s blue velvet dress - Christmas present (from a chazza!)

Blue velvet boots - H&M sale

Necklace - nabbed from my mum's wardrobe 

Matte blue nail varnish - Mariachi from Topshop

Ex-theatre hire floral silk coat - Angels costume sale

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