Watch Out for Summer

**Another week, and it's a week that is filled with menu planning for the new spring season. A visit to a local food show always gives a great opportunity to meet new suppliers and find new ideas. As winter is still upon us a great and versatile (if a little bit ugly) vegetable is the celeriac, fantastic as a soup and also great as mash or puree to accompany...

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE To support the day-to-day running of either the Junior or Senior Summer School through providing administrative and pastoral support. To work with the Summer School team to deliver an exceptional experience for international students attending the summer School showcasing what Taunton School has to offer. HOURS OF WORK Working hours...

The School are seeking a student-focused individual with relevant commercial expertise to organise, market and manage our international Summer School for a period of maternity cover.As Summer School Director, you will be responsible for liaising with relevant internal and external stakeholders to co-ordinate and implement an innovative and attractive...

**JOB OPPORTUNITY ** Looking for a Landscape Gardener to undertake hard and soft landscaping projects. Must be registered self employed. Good rate of pay depending on skill and references. Plenty of overtime available especially through spring/summer period. Must have - own transport /clean license preferred for use of work vans. - Experience in general...

Today's been a bit cold with the changing seasons but plans are afoot for the HESTERTOMB and Hallowe'en is just around the corner. Mark's been decorating the courtyard in a very ghostly guise... Next time you visit Hestercombe's Stables Restaurant you're in for a big surprise! - Spooky tours - daytime and night, will be running throughout the holidays, and...

To my worldly blog followers, sorry for my absence over the last few weeks, it’s been a busy time in the kitchens. A little belated I know but I wish Liz our old pastry chef good luck in her new venture. The weeks that passed after Liz left were busy ones but (would you believe I was making cakes?!) but were made easier by the support of a great team in...

**Get outside this season, breathe in the fresh air and watch Hestercombe gardens come alive with the rich colours of autumn.**: - Autumn at HestercombeSeptember and October sees Hestercombe transformed by the rich shades of autumn; the cold-loving flowers and shrubs begin to bloom, bringing new colours and points of interest to the gardens. On your next...

**In addition to the beautiful landscape and varied plant life, Hestercombe is also a little patch of paradise for native wildlife.**: Exploring the gardens it’s not unusual to catch a glimpse of a roe deer bound away at your approach. You may also hear the rustle of leaves as common lizards busily go about their daily business of bug hunting. Hestercombe...

If you wander up to the far reaches of the Landscape Garden here at Hestercombe, you’ll stumble upon our kiln. It’s not for firing clay and it’s not for heating glassit’s for the hot, dirty, smoky work of making charcoal. Tucked between the trees, close to the Cascades, stands the Charcoal Burner’s Camp, in an area once used for quarrying. For the...

Researchers have discovered that bats have special structures in their brains that allow for sound information to get processed incredibly quickly. That means the bats that visit our roost above the Visitor Centre each year have extremely acute spatial awareness - far superior to us or any other mammals for that matter! The research, led by Dr Melville...

Why not make this summer one to remember!! Start a new job and make people smile everyday! Our home in Taunton supports six wonderful people who enjoy getting the best out of life, and we're looking for friendly, caring and creative Support Workers to help us to achieve our goals. We support people with a variety of disabilities including Autism, Down's...

Did you see Hestercombe on the BBC? Inside Out South West did a special feature about thedevelopments of Hestercombe House. We are all thrilled to hit such a wide audience and loved watching some of our staff on the telly! The programme was excellent so a big thank you to all involved. If you missed the programme catch up on the BBC iplayer and let us know...

Apple pruning confuses a lot of people and it doesn't matter how many times you look at that diagram in the book, your tree just looks nothing like it! Here is my simple version of how to prune your apple tree. First you need to be aware of the reasons for pruning. - To maintain the health of the plant/tree - To control the shape or size - To encourage...

In the Great Plat, as a carpet under the Glads and Cannas, we normally use pink and red varieties of Dianthus. However on Jekyll's original plan it states that we should use Phlox drummondii. In the past we have found it extremely hard to find this type of phlox available in single colours. It is much more common to buy the seed in a mixed colour packet - I...

Sadly the beautiful bluebells that have graced the slopes of the landscape garden and the shady spots in the trees are now giving their final flourish. Ben our landscape supervisor will be closing the walks for this year this afternoon (Monday 2nd June) and so it will be another year until the blue beauties return. But fear not this is a real sign of summer...

Thank god this summer is so far so amazing compared to last! All our events so far have been such fun and all ran really well with no major hiccups and therefore we are already scheming how to tweak for next year! Last week's Family Dog Day brought out many of our trusty members plus several new faces, all who were keen to get involved and let their dogs do...

COME AND PICK UP AN ABSOLUTE BARGAIN!!!! We are digging out all of the gladioli that have flowered this summer within the plat. Fill a bag from the shop and give a donation to the charity. We have Gladioli 'Ibadan' (salmon) and Gladioli 'Traderhorn' (red)

Another wet and dreary day! Where on earth IS the Summer? I was everso pleased to see lots of waterproof visitors walking the gardens, regardless and enjoying cups of tea and hot teacakes dripping with butter in the restaurant. A warm welcome to tiny wee 'Teddy' the Jack Russell puppy on his first outing!

If the idea of volunteering full time in the garden in all weathers seems a bit daunting, why not help us out with a bit of deadheading over the summer? It doesn't require as much bending and heavy lifting but will help top up your vitamin D levels! Full training and a trug provided, but if possible bring your own secateurs. Many thanks Claire Reid

**On a balmy summer's evening - yes we have had a few of them - Folksy Theatre burst on to their makeshift stage in front of the Orangery in the heart of Hestercombe's formal gardens with their adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'. It's my favorite Shakespeare and I was not disappointed. The Folksy group was full of energy, colour and skill...