Garden Playhouses, The Vialii Way!
If you are an avid follower of our blogs (and why wouldn’t you be?!) then you will be aware that we love a wee upcycling project at Vialii. And these projects are my VERY favourites that we have ever tackled. Welcome to the Vialii Garden Playhouse Makeover!
I LOVE my new playhouse!
M&D are designing a garden for friends at the moment and tucked away in a corner of their garden, no longer used, was a playhouse which these (very lovely!) friends said we could have. As this saved Daddy the job of making our own playhouse, he now had the time and energy to help me and Mummy give it a bit of a makeover.
Before: the playhouse needed a bit of Lulufication (yes, that IS a word!)
Here I am busy painting my playhouse
We tucked the playhouse in one of our borders so that it doesn’t take up too much space. We just needed to move a few plants.
The new playhouse is tucked in the border between two apple trees
The view from inside is lovely, across the garden the fields and up to the Ochil Hills.
The view from inside my playhouse
My clever mummy made curtains for the windows and door and some bunting for inside and out. I hung a beautiful painting I made at nursery inside and Daddy laid some artificial grass inside which looks like a green furry rug!
The inside all painted, my furry rug, artwork and curtains!
My new sign: Lulu & Tilda’s House, No Boys Allowed!
While we have been very busy at Vialii Towers, my BFF Euan has also been flying the flag for upcycled Vialii playhouses. His clever Daddy has made his from upcycled pallets. Here he is loving his wee house:
Peek-a-boo
Euan in his wonderful, upcycled playhouse
I’d love to see pics of your playhouses so feel free to share…
Lulu xx
Funny Pets in the Garden – Part 1
Hi, Lulu here. You all know that I love gardening but did you know that I love animals too? And best of all I love animals in gardens! Especially when they are doing funny things. Here are a few of my favourite pictures taken when we have been out in clients’ and friends’ gardens of their funny pets making us laugh in the garden.
This is our friend Hazel’s auntie’s cat, Bouffy disguised as a pot, waiting on some birds to come!
Bouffy The Bird Slayer!
This photograph is also from Hazel and is a photo of her lovely dogs Gabi and Zara. They are at the park and have found a “stick” to play fetch with!:
Gabi & Zara show good team work bringing their “stick” home
This is one of Angi and Alex’s dogs – Alfie. Alfie is watching whilst they are packing the car ready to go on holiday. I think he is desperate to go on holiday too, don’t you? Remember your bucket and spade Alfie!:
Hurry up Mummy, Alfie says, I
can’t wait to go on holiday!
Here we have our next door neighbour Auntie Muriel’s cat (1) Leo. He loves chilling in the garden in his makeshift hammock, aka the fruit cage netting! We took this photo while we were busy helping Auntie Muriel pick her plums.
Leo finds a comfy “hammock” in the sun
If you have funny photos of animals in your garden please get in touch, I would love to see them and share them on my blog.
To read Part 2 of “Funny Pets in the Garden” click here.
Lulu
1. I am very lucky and have 3 cats. They are:
Fudgey-doo-dee!
Jingles – our latest cat who gives good cuddles!
Bungle – he is a scaredy cat (he hides behind the sofa a lot) and is a “Munchkin” but is very, very cute!
Castle Kennedy Garden Visit
We are always looking for lovely new gardens to visit. Earlier this week, we spent a lovely day in Castle Kennedy Garden just outside Stranraer. The weather in Scotland hasn’t been of the highest quality of late but thankfully we arranged for some good weather to be delivered for our visit!
The ruins of Castle Kennedy
The garden is impressive although as is commonly the case we found ourselves there at the wrong time of the year. There are magnificent rhododendrons to behold but in September they are nothing but large green masses. To see this garden in late spring would be wonderful.
Cotinus catching the autumn sun…
One of our favourite spots was the large circular pond, positively packed to the gunnels with water lilies. It was captivating. Every now and then the lilies would offer up a silent ripple of applause when a breeze passed and you find yourself staring for ages in the hope of seeing a frog hopping off a leaf back into the water or a dragonfly hovering. We loved it.
Masses of water lilies…
The walled garden was lovely, if a bit untidy. We’re perhaps being a tad unfair here as we’re to understand that all 75 acres of this estate is maintained by just two gardeners?! It shows unfortunately. There are signs all around of how things could be in better shape. The rhododendrons are both massive in size and in numbers and are in the process of swamping out everything else. The monkey puzzle trees are being crowded by their indigenous neighbours and some bold choices have to be made to return this garden to it’s former intended glory. Even the plant sale area is in need of some care and attention with plants for sale either passed their best or just leggy and unkempt. Really not appealing to potential plant purchasers.
The walled garden
You can’t help feeling that, with this garden, if all the small details were addressed then it would potentially attract increased visitors numbers which would generate more sales which in turn could be invested back into the gardens. They might be able to stretch to a third gardener too. All in all, if you are in the area we think Castle Kennedy is worth a visit. But if you only have limited time then definitely choose Logan Botanic Gardens or Glenwhan Gardens.
Click here to read our review of Glenwhan Gardens.
Click here to read our review of Logan Botanic Gardens.
Thanks for reading
All at Vialii