Corgyncombe Goat Kiddles Lucy and Louisa May

The Flying Lu-Lou's

Sarah and Lucy
The Corgyncombe Goat Kiddles Lucy and Louisa May are such a delight to watch as they jump and run and do side winding wheelies.

They can even fly!


Louisa May


Goat kiddles are so cute but they do require a lot of work, with milking, feeding, mucking their pen, hauling water, hoof trimming, and the gathering and the bringing in of the hay.

We oft' times fondly refer to the goat kiddles as our "goatie puppies" as they will follow along behind as a puppy would.






Diane and Sarah have enjoyed teas and elevenishes with their friend Tasha Tudor and discussed many of their common kindred interests. One can imagine it would be such fun to have a tea over by the garden of herbs whilst watching the goat kids play, with such kindred country ladies as Tasha Tudor, Beatrix Potter, Helen Allingham, Gertrude Jekyll, Louisa May Alcott, and Edith Holden, all together at the same tea.


When impatient for her bottle, Lucy can wail like The Queen of the Night in "The Magic Flute"! We think she learned from us humorously singing it in the barn in the months before she was born! We've never heard anything quite like it before from a goatie puppy!




Lucy and Louisa May are blended in motion as you can see Lucy the reddish brown goat with Louisa's white ears!











The other night as we were walking down to the barn to do the milking it was sprinkling, when all of a sudden the sun came out and a full arc rainbow appeared just as were to go into "The Ark", what we call our barn. It was the latest in the day rainbow I had ever seen. Whilst milking Corgyncombe Dairy Goat Carmella Lucille, I enjoyed the lovely sunset. When the milking and feeding were done and we came outside our barn called "The Ark", the fireflies were flickering out in the meadow and over by the garden of herbs.

Things such as these are a country woman's joy!

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At Garden Gate and Cottage Door

Helen Allingham's Lovely Paintings

The Robins have been at Corgyncombe for a couple of weeks now. One of the first mornings they were here, the north meadow was full of Robins in the snow along the water that runs down the hill.

In the Corgyncombe Library, a lovely print of a pair of Robins by Arthur Singer graces the old school desk. The Robin print, once a page in a book, was a delightful find at 75 cents.

In the book "Old West Surrey" Gertrude Jekyll speaks of Helen Allingham's paintings: "The simple and charming dress of young cottage girls of the older time, the cotton print frock, - the long pinafore and the plain sun-bonnet - is delightfully shown."

Helen Allingham would frequently portray her subjects at the cottage door or gate, often with gardens 'round. Her paintings remind us of some of the photographs I have taken of Sarah.

Sarah on the garden bench. Tasha Tudor did a painting of this photograph and it was made into the Sarah card.

Helen Allingham's paintings have an abundance of sweet red headed children and lovely frocks.

Tasha Tudor was delighted to see Sarah in her "charming" old fashioned frocks and also delighted with Sarah's preference for pretty music.

Photograph Added April 14th: From the book "Happy England", Helen Allingham's "The Robin", with the girl dressed in a pink frock with a sunbonnet standing by the stone wall, reminds us of Sarah. The daffodils are now in bloom this Spring at the Corgyncombe Cottage Gardens, putting on the most delightful display!


Sarah in the garden wearing an old sunbonnet.

Corgyncombe Sunbonnets.

Diane made the pressed tulip cookies using the Christmas Cookies receipt in "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook".

Springtime Tea. The bird on the teapot is a Robin from England.

Daffodils and tulips haven't bloomed yet this year in the Corgyncombe Gardens but seeing Helen Allingham's painting "The Children's Tea" reminded us so of my bouquets of daffodils that I had to include a couple of my photographs of daffodils from years past. Diane loves fresh flowers in bouquets about the cottage.


Photograph Added April 14th: Helen Allingham's "The Children's Tea" from the book "Happy England". Notice the bouquet of cheerful daffodils in the blue and white bowl on the left side of the painting. Daffodils are like rays of sunshine!


Daffodils alongside some old books by our cousin Louisa May Alcott.


Photograph Added April 14th: Helen Allingham's "The Young Customers" from the book "Happy England". The little girls are considering purchasing a toy flat iron. The old lady clerk reminds us of Tasha Tudor.

The little girl in the painting is trying the iron out on her cape.

Here are some links to some of our favorite Helen Allingham paintings.
We hope you have a cup of tea and enjoy looking at them!

"The Children's Tea" with a lovely bouquet of daffodils at tea.

"The Robin"

"The Young Customers"
purchasing a toy flat iron. The old lady clerk reminds us of Tasha Tudor.

"Off Marketing"

"At Charlton Kings, Glos."

"Valewood Farm"

"Her Majesty's Post Office"

"Lessons"

"Spring in the Oakwood"

"Tig Bridge"

"When the Grass is Full of Flowers and the Hedge is Full of Bowers"

"From Sandhills Common, Witley, Surrey"

"Hollyhocks"

"Bubbles"

"The Stile"

Helen Allingham, a delightful kindred spirit!

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Bundles and Baskets, Old Ways to Carry Things!

Beatrix Potter, Tasha Tudor, and Gertrude Jekyll: Kindred Spirits!

When Diane worked at the museum she carried baskets and bundles with her down to the farmhouse. She carried her lunch and a cup in an old basket covered with a cloth. Many other things could be carried bundled up in handwoven scarfs and handkerchiefs, such as knitting, wool, some sewing, and books. Many times a bouquet of flowers would be added to the load, as Diane liked fresh flowers in the parlour and would stop and pick some whilst on her way to work. It was a bit of a walk to the farmhouse, so an umbrella was usually included. Diane still uses baskets and bundles to carry things. Within the bundles are a frock and an apron, books, and skeins of yarn.

Some of Diane's collection of handkerchiefs and woven cloths. Besides being used for bundling, they can also be worn on the head or around the neck.

In Gertrude Jekyll's "Old West Surrey" she writes: "Sometimes, though always more rarely, one sees at a railway station a good old body with her light load of luggage done up in the nice old way in clean cotton handkerchiefs.

These large blue and white handkerchiefs may still be bought at the ready-made clothing shops in country towns. Fifty years ago, when paper was much less cheap and plentiful, they were more used for carrying purposes. Country women shopping, were always provided with them, as well as with a capacious basket.

Labouring men had the bread and meat they carried for their dinner, in a clean handkerchief, inside the rush dinner-basket. Now it is taken, for the most part, in a piece of newspaper, and the paper is thrown away by the side of the road."


Gertrude Jekyll's "Old West Surrey"
Gertrude Jekyll describes some of the old cotton handkerchiefs: "They are still to be had, and are commonly used as pocket-handkerchiefs by labourers, but their old use for wrapping and carrying is now but little seen." Diane feels such a kinship with Gertrude Jekyll and enjoys all the old fashioned things and old time ways in "Old West Surrey"! Gertrude Jekyll was oft' times not shy in speaking her mind!


Material from an old blue apron.


An old scrapbook Diane found in an antique shop has material samples for aprons. It also has many old receipts (recipes) cut out from magazines and newspapers, "The Schedule for Seasonal Housekeeping", "The Housekeeper's Daily Routine Schedule", "A Weekly-Schedule Outline for the Housekeeper", and "Simple Weekly Schedule With Day Labor".


Aprons were also used to bundle. Many is the time when in the garden Diane's basket was full and her apron was drawn up in a bundle and filled with more of the good Corgyncombe harvest.


Material from Diane's antique frock.


A warm antique flannel bonnet.


Beatrix Potter's Mrs. Rabbit, Peter Rabbit's Mum, is carrying an umbrella and a basket.


As Diane always says, "When the trees start getting shorter you know it has been snowing!"


A rabbit and chickadee last year, below the Corgyncombe bird feeder.


Corgyncombe Cottage has had several days of Nor'easters and winter storms. Most all of February has been days of fresh, new snowfalls.

In Susan Denyer's "At Home with Beatrix Potter", on page 19, a rabbit couple can be seen walking in the snow under an umbrella, the lady rabbit carrying a basket.


Diane's old umbrella.


Beatrix Potter's Mrs. Rabbit

In Beatrix Potter's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", Peter's Mum can be seen carrying an umbrella and a basket as she sets off to the baker's. Peter's Mum had a red with white dots handkerchief and Peter wore it about himself in "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny" as he and Benjamin went on an adventure to retrieve Peter's clothes that he had lost in Mr. McGregor's garden and that Mr. McGregor had put to use on his garden scarecrow. After Peter had reclaimed his coat and shoes, he and Benjamin used the handkerchief for bundling up the gathered onions.

Mrs. Rabbit's same red with white dots handkerchief can be seen again in "The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle" by Beatrix Potter. Lucie came across Mrs. Tiggy-winkle whilst looking for her own lost pinny and three pocket-handkins. Mrs. Tiggy-winkle has laundered and ironed Mrs. Rabbit's handkerchief and she and Lucie delivered the bundled laundry to their owners.

In Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Pigling Bland" Mother Pig sent Pigling Bland and his brother Alexander off on their journey with bundles that held their dinner.

Pig Robinson from Piggery Porcombe was sent by his Aunt Dorcas and Aunt Porcas to market with a basket in Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Little Pig Robinson". Beatrix Potter writes: "In the basket were two dozen eggs, a bunch of daffodils, two spring cauliflowers; also Robinson's dinner of bread-and-jam sandwiches."

In "The Tale of The Pie and The Patty-Pan" by Beatrix Potter, Duchess the Dog has been invited to tea by Ribby the Cat. Before the party, they passed each other whilst walking, each carrying a cloth covered basket.

Ribby the Cat came to Tabitha Twitchit's door with a basket and umbrella in hand, in "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers" by Beatrix Potter. Ribby then used her umbrella for searching under the beds for Tabitha's missing son Tom Kitten.

Baskets used for carrying things can be seen in many of Tasha Tudor's books. Oft' times girls and women in Tasha Tudor's illustrations wear kerchiefs about their head.

In "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame, Tasha Tudor illustrated the Sea Rat resting on the roadside with his bundle. As Kenneth Grahame put it: "his small belongings that he carried were tied up in a blue cotton handkerchief".

Beatrix Potter, Tasha Tudor, and Gertrude Jekyll are Kindred Spirits to Diane and Sarah!

From "The Bundle Handkerchief" by Elisabeth Merritt Gosse: "The bundle handkerchief, like other things interwoven in Salem's history, has disappeared. Paper and string, prosaic, rustling, tearable, and to be quickly thrown aside, have taken its place. But in the minds of Salem children of a generation ago will always linger a respectful memory of the neat, sweet, fresh, handsome and always useful bundle handkerchief, with its dainty whiteness or its brilliant hues. The fashion of this world passeth away; but there are often revived more inconvenient and less picturesque fashions than that of the bundle handkerchief."

Here is a link to "The Bundle Handkerchief" by Elisabeth Merritt Gosse, which starts on the second half of page 62 (scroll down): "The Bundle Handkerchief"

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Loveliness Afloat

Corgyncombe Library NotesIn the book "Wall and Water Gardens" by Gertrude Jekyll, she begins the chapter "Water-Lilies" by writing: "It would be impossible to over-estimate the value of the cultivated Nymphaeas to our water-gardens. These grand plants enable us to compose a whole series of new pictures of plant beauty of the very highest order."

The book on the chair at water's edge is "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" by Edith Holden. It is open to one of the July pages featuring water lilies and a dragonfly. This is a delightful nature diary from 1906 with many lovely paintings of birds and plants.

Fossils in stone collected from the stones that will be made into a stone wall at Corgyncombe Cottage.

In "The Springs of Joy" by Tasha Tudor, there is a sweet illustration of Tasha as a young girl and her corgi delighting in the water lilies. The cover illustration of Tasha Tudor's "1 is One" contains many small creatures that you would find near or in a pond amongst the cattails, such as a duck, a red-winged blackbird, a dragonfly, a spider, a turtle, and a frog sitting on a lily pad. Water lilies are in the border surrounding the water scene.

If Tasha Tudor were to think of past mistakes or unpleasantness in her life, all that was required for her to regain her cheerfulness was to turn her mind to water lilies. They are lovely indeed!

Tasha also noted that goslings could have the same cheering affect.

This afternoon no goslings could be found but this darling little duckling crossed our path. Here it is swimming at Corgyncombe. He was having the best time swimming and scooting under water and finding food from his natural habitat.

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