October – The Landscape at Compton Verney

Mid-autumn and we’re treated to a steady display of foliage in all the colours imaginable. The Limes of the west lawn are speckled all over with buttery yellow foliage; a few more drifting gradually to earth with every slight breeze. The stately London Plane, in contrast needs a stronger wind but nevertheless drops its huge leaves in shades of lime green through to russet brown. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

As if the summer flowers weren’t reward enough, roses throughout the Ice House Coppice treat us to another blast of colour along with their fading foliage. Elsewhere berries adorn the more established shrubs adding colour shots where you’d least expect them. More ‘Georgian’ style planting will be added over the coming seasons to further enhance the coppice. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

October saw sheep return to the East Park, to nibble down the re-growth since the earlier summer cut. There’s always a few who don’t want to stay inside the fence! © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

Den building is just so popular, and with so many branches stored near to the woodland play area who could deny this activity?! Some amazing structures appear, seemingly out of nothing and they all sit beautifully in woodland setting. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

Angling continues quietly down at the lakeside all year except for a spring break. A small but well practiced group of anglers know how to get the best out of this watercourse, which moves gradually by before turning, eventually into the River Dene and joining the Avon down at Charlecote Park. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

Grounds assistant Adam proudly displays the grass snake that moments before was rescued from the sewage treatment plant. Spotted swimming across its surface, things weren’t looking good until we rigged up a device to ‘fish’ the snake out, before releasing down near the lakeside. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

October of course was the key month for preparation work to the West Lawn. The images here show harrowing and seeding activity to incorporate wild flower seed into the surface, which will become the canvas on which Dan Pearson will design his William Morris inspired parterre in 2015 – all in time for The Arts and Crafts House exhibition. © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

The top two images show more wild flower seeding work happening alongside the main drive from the car park. We were incorporating seed to make these lawn areas more interesting to insects – and visitors! The lower image shows tidying work around the edge of the freshly seeded West Lawn. It certainly was a busy raking month, thanks to our volunteers for all the help! © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014

And one final image for October, a rain soaked West Lawn. Whilst the temperatures remained mild enough to complete our seeding activity, the weather also brought a good few heavy showers to keep things challenging! We overcame… © Compton Verney / Gary Webb 2014