TINY TUESDAY - ROSE HIPS

After we had done some shopping, Mr. HCB went home to put it away whilst I went into the bank and did one or two other things in town.  

I decided to walk through Queen’s Park, opened in 1953  to mark the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, so I read on the inscription on a wall near the entrance, by Sir Noel Arkell, a prominent businessman in the town, and one of the sons of the founder of Arkell’s, a local brewery (born on Christmas Day, hence the name) - something I learned today - amazing how much we don’t know about our own town!  

I wandered round the park taking photographs, and then walked up into The Secret Garden, once a beautiful rose garden, but now a community garden where local people can grow their own fruit, flowers and vegetables and learn more about gardening - what a great idea and although there wasn’t much colour there was still beauty in the beautiful shrubs, the seedheads and and in these rose hips.

Rose hips are the seed pods of roses, but not often seen these days because we tend to prune our roses to encourage more blooms, forgetting that rose hips are edible not only by humans, but are enjoyed by many birds.  I can remember giving our two sons Rose Hip Syrup when they were very young, as they are a great source of vitamin C, but that’s probably “old hat” nowadays.

"There is no spot of ground, 
     however arid, bare or ugly, 
          that cannot be tamed 
into such a state 
     as may give an impression 
          of beauty and delight."

Gertrude Jekyll : 1843-1932