Pelargonium House

Sorry - what was that? You think it's a little excessive, me having a glass house just for my pelargoniums? I hope you're not telling me that you don't...? No wonder your pelargoniums are sulking.

OK - enough of that. This is the Pelargonium House at NT Stourhead, where I spent a very enjoyable day today in the company of Judith, Emma and a lady called Helena from AYWMC - we were a small group, but very beautifully formed. I'd never been to Stourhead before, but the park and gardens really are lovely - well worth a visit at any time of year, I would think.

The kitchen gardens contain a number of Victorian glass houses, but this is the most accessible. I made a comment to Judith about the tilting windows, and she pointed out this painted iron winding mechanism which I hadn't spotted - and I wondered if I could manage to frame a single shot with the 90mm lens I was using which included some pelargonium, the winder and a sense of the size of the glass house. I'm inclined to become grumpy when a composition that works in my head doesn't turn out so well in practice, but when I uploaded my shots this evening I went straight to this one and was pretty pleased with it. I was even happier when I saw that the twist BikerBear has given to Flower Friday this week is "glass" - so with no further ado, this is my offering. The others can be found here.

Bonus fact of the week: did you know that there is a hamlet in South Gloucestershire called Pennsylvania? Well, neither did I until today - but luckily for you I've been there, so you don't have to. It's where the road between Bristol and Chippenham crosses the main A46 from Bath up to the Midlands, at a roundabout which cost me a 20-minute delay on the way home this afternoon, and I therefore heartily don't recommend it. And if you're thinking that there must be more to say about it than that, you are, technically, correct: its Wiki states "Pennsylvania is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is situated on the A46 near the historic cities of Bristol (to the west) and Bath (to the south).The village has a petrol station and at least one Bed and Breakfast. It was named after the US state by Quakers." And that's it.

And to finish on a brighter note: today's Happy Driving Music from my iPod comes from Harry Connick Jr. Have a nice weekend!