Flutterby Patch

Michaelmas Day

It is September 29th today and it is Michaelmas, the Christian feast of St Michael the Archangel. Nights are drawing in, leaves are changing colour and there is a definite autumnal chill in the air but the lovely Michaelmas daisy is flowering its heart out. Officially it is known as a late flowering aster but I much prefer the name Michaelmas daisy as for me it brings back happy memories of Harvest Festivals and children carrying billowing bunches of the flowers to school and church.

   
When I was a child Michaelmas daisies grew like weeds in many gardens and were usually pale mauve in colour. These days they are seen less often as they have to compete with so many other varieties of flower. They have been carefully bred over the years and as a result are available in many shades of purple, pale pink and magenta but if I had to choose just one colour it would be the old fashioned mauve. The pictures below were taken this morning and what a cheery sight they made between rain showers.

Michaelmas is traditionally the last day of the harvest season which began at Lammas on 1st August. Lammas means 'loaf Mass' and in the past farmers would make loaves of bread from their new wheat crops to take to church. Loaves are still made for Harvest Festivals today though much of our wheat is now imported.

 Michaelmas used to be known as 'Goose Day' and Goose Fairs were held in towns all around England.

 In centuries gone by, when times were hard, a special meal of goose would be served on this day and there was an old saying associated with the custom. 

'He who eats goose on Michaelmas Day shan't money lack or debts to pay.'

In view of the current economic climate perhaps we should pay heed to this saying and celebrate today with a meal of goose.

 
This is one of my favourite books, Frances Mountford's 'A Commoner's Cottage'. In it she traces the history of her 400 year old cottage in Surrey and all the people who have lived in it over the centuries. She creates a moving story of life in England though feast and famine, good times and bad. The text is hand written and is accompanied by hundreds of hand drawn and painted illustrations.

Above is a second book by Frances Mountford from which I took the illustration of harvest time. This book depicts life on a Staffordshire farm during the first half of the 20th century and the changes that took place in agriculture during that time. The text is again accompanied by many of the author's hand painted illustrations. (Both books are available from Amazon).

The wonderful paintings below are taken from books I have that were illustrated by the late artist Gordon Beningfield. For me they epitomise the words 'Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness' which is the much quoted first line from the poem 'To Autumn' by John Keats.

   
1). A red admiral butterfly enjoying a meal of sweet ripe plums 
2). A goldfinch feeding on seeds from a thistle
3). A plump dormouse finding berries in the hedgerow
4). Two goldcrests feeding on sloes

Cottage gardens, fairies and rushy glens

Can you believe it? The sun is shining today and I have been able to get outside and do some of those little jobs around the garden that should have been completed (had the weather been kinder) several weeks ago. Sadly many of the apples in our little orchard have succumbed to the constant wind and rain but I was able to gather a basket of windfalls that I can cook and freeze for use later in the year.

This morning's apple picking episode brought to mind this little water-colour by Helen Allingham, the much loved painter of cottages and cottage gardens in the late Victorian era. The picture above was taken from an old book that I have about the artist that was published in 1903. It contains 80 coloured prints with information about each subject. This book is still available from sellers of antiquarian books.

The book below 'Victorian Flower Gardens' is a more recent publication and readily available. It contains a wealth of coloured pictures and information about many Victorian 'cottage artists'.

Helen Allingham was born Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson in Derbyshire in 1848. At the age of 17 she became a pupil at the Birmingham School of Design and just a year later was accepted into London's prestigious Royal Academy School. On completing her course she became a much sought after commercial artist and came into contact with many well known artists and writers. One of her greatest friends was Kate Greenaway. In 1874 she married renowned Irish poet William Allingham.

When the Allinghams moved to Sandhill near Whitley in Surrey, Helen began painting the old cottages she found in the area and her portrayals of country life and cottage gardens became much sought after by the Victorians.

 

An abundance of flowers in a summer garden was always a popular subject but so too were such subjects as cutting cabbages from a kitchen garden.

The 'cabbage cutting' picture above is by Helen Allingham, the one below was painted by Myles Birket Foster. He was not only Helen's close neighbour but had been her college tutor in London. Between them these two artists popularised country cottage life and Whitley quickly became a centre for the many artists who were inspired by the cottage theme.

Helen Allingham's husband William was born in Ballyshannon in Co. Donegal, Ireland. Her portrayal of a typical cottage in this remote area can be seen below.

William Allingham's home of Ballyshannon is close to the wild Atlantic on Ireland's west coast. It is a landscape of distant blue mountains, wild windy pastures that are scattered with boulders and tree-hidden glens that contain bubbling brooks. The picture below depicts the nearby coast where a series of arches have been carved in the rock by Atlantic breakers. These arches are known locally as 'The Fairy Bridges' and it is this feature and the surrounding wild countryside that inspired William to write his most famous poem 'The Fairies' which begins, 'Up the airy mountain, down the rushy glen...' The full version can be found in my 'Poems and Wise Words' section, meanwhile the first two verses can be found below.

'The Fairy Bridges' near Ballyshannon inspired William Allingham to write his famous poem

 The Fairies 
William Allingham (1824-1889)

Up the airy mountain,
        Down the rushy glen,
    We daren't go a-hunting
        For fear of little men;
    Wee folk, good folk,
        Trooping all together;
    Green jacket, red cap,
        And a white owl's feather!

    Down along the rocky shore
        Some make their home,
    They live on crispy pancakes
        Of yellow tide-foam;
    Some in the reeds
        Of the black mountain lake,
    With frogs for their watch-dogs,
        All night awake.

I confess, I love Helen Allingham's work and that of other artists of that period who painted English country cottages and the peolpe who lived in them over a century ago. Their romantic images do not of course depict the widespread poverty that was found in rural areas at that time but today they are lovely to look at and allow us to fill our heads with dreams of our own rural idyll.

More information about Helen Allingham and illustrations of her many paintings can be found here

Happy Nutting Day

Traditionally, on this day years ago children would comb the woods and hedgerows looking for hazel nuts. At the moment the nuts are plump but not yet fully ripe and I'm wondering if the wise children gathered them before squirrels stripped the trees bare. The poet William Worsdworth lived in this area 200 years ago and he writes about the fun of nutting.

Nutting, from 'The Prelude' by William Wordsworth

– It seems a day
(I speak of one from many singled out)
One of those heavenly days that cannot die;
When, in the eagerness of boyish hope,
I left our cottage-threshold, sallying forth
With a huge wallet o'er my shoulder slung,
A nutting-crook in hand; and turned my steps
Tow'rd some far-distant wood