Trip to Blenheim Palace and Rousham Gardens

Went to Blenheim Palace ( home of W. Churchills family) and Rousham Gardens today.
The first day without sun! Not so good for taking photographs ;-(

Blenheim Palace is seen as a masterpiece of English Baroque architecture and was a gift (!) by Queen Anne to the first Duke of Marlborough (must have been Winston Churchills grand grand grand ... father...).
The famous british garden designer 'Capability' Brown landscaped 2100 acres of parkland (850ha!!!) including beautiful lakes, different formal gardens and lawns lawns lawns.
I liked the gardens although they are VERY formal and I think it looks a lot nicer with the sun out. 

We finally bought a day ticket which gives us access for a whole year (bargain!) as we might come back in winter and spring. And guess what: Karl-Heinz got a adult ticket as well! He just looks a little fat on the picture...

Rousham Gardens have been one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen. They were designed by William Kent (1685-1748) with temples, pond, beautiful flower garden with lots of DAHLIAS ( I never liked them because they are a hussle to digg out in autum and put back in spring, but I changed my mind today) and of course a vegetable garden. If I talk about gardens here, I mean probably "park", even the vegetable garden is nothing sizewise I have seen before... its huge.
It was great, stunning and so amazing that even the sun decided to give us a glimpse. Great relaxing and inspiring day!

Pusteblume (blowball)

Pusteblume
Ursprünglich hochgeladen von Alex Lehne

German: Löwenzahn

English: dandelion

Latin: Taraxacum sect. Ruderalia 

Pusteblumen  (von Annegret Kronenberg)
Was gestern leuchtendgelb hier stand,
ich heute weiß und flockig fand.

Ein Meer von Pusteblumen steht da, zum Flug bereit,
und eine leichte Brise, trägt übers Land sie weit.

An jedes Schirmchen hänge ich meine Sehnsucht dann,
damit vielleicht auch eines dein Herz erreichen kann.

Autum plants and weed beds

DSC_0456
Ursprünglich hochgeladen von Alex Lehne

A lot of people think once summer is over everything dies...well, a lot does ;-)
But even autum weed beds can look very attractive if you take a close look...see more on my flickr autum album.

First Homework

Finished today part 1 of first weeks homework...made a relief à la Ben Nicholson ;-) well sort of...
Cutting cardboard- watch your fingers!!!
Finally got the glue off my hands, poor Tom put glue on the wrong side of the cut-out and had to cut it again- Scheisse! :-)))
He was NOT very happy.

Where to eat in Oxford

After walking a long way last Thursday without knowing where to go for dinner, here probably the best places to eat (please tell me if not so ;-) as I have not tried all of them yet (a former student suggested):

Noodle Nation - fastfood but nice Noodlebar
100-101 Gloucester Green, OX1 2DF, Tel: 01865 201400
Al-Shami - great Lebanese food - I like HUMMUS!!!
25 Walton Crescent, OX1 2JG, Tel: 01865 310066
Loch Fyne - Scottish, super fish restaurant
55 Walton Street, OX2 6AE, Tel: 01865 292510

I had to remove Jamie's Italian...nice attempt to cook italian but not even close! And BAD service!!!


Tootsies - finest burgers in town, yummieh!
Unit 2, B Wing, 41 Oxford Castle, OX1 1AY, Tel: 01865 791715
Turf Tavern - coolest historic pub outside Oxford city walls, Shakespeare thought so too!
between New College Lane and Holywell Street, not visible! Tel: 01865 243235
Head of the River - traditional pub, nice for lunch on sunny sundays- got a little bit sun burned;-)
1 Folly Bridge, OX1 4LB, Tel: 08721 077 077
Mamma Mia Pizzeria - Pizza for everybody!
7 South Parade, Summertown, OX2 7JL, Tel: 01865 514141
Bangkok House - Thai at its best!
42a Hythe Bridge Street, OX1 2EP, Tel: 01865 200705
Greek Taverna - authentic greek food, Have you seen the WOG-BOY yet?
272 Banbury Road, OX2 7DY, Tel: 01865 511472
Las Iguanas - delicious and authentic Latin American food
40-41 Park End Street, OX1 1JD, Tel: 01865 263150
La Tasca -  best tapas in town, hey Luis, let's have a go!
The Old Govenors Office, 5 Oxford Castle, City Centre,Tel: 01865 246464
Wagamama -nice Thai and Japanese!!!

some inspiration- the work of Ben Nicholson

Ben Nicholson
Ursprünglich hochgeladen von Wolfiewolf

found some of his beautiful work here:

Artnet
Tate online
Picsearch
Flickr

First week of Post-Graduate Diploma Course in Garden Design

I am currently studying Residential Landscape Design at the Oxford Brookes University - Oxford College of Garden Design, which is regarded as one of the top contemporary garden design courses in the world.

We worked so far on "Geometry of Shape". The best outcome of this first week is:

- nasty corners in paving create dead space and are the weakest point of any design
- wiggly lines do not look natural, nature (planting) can make it far better than we do

You don't have a wiggly carpet in your living room, do you? So why in the garden? ;-))
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Ich studiere derzeitig Landschaftsarchitektur und Garten Design an der Brookes Universität in Oxford- Oxford College of Garden Design.
Dieser Diplomstudiengang wird als einer der besten modernen Gartendesignkurse der Welt angesehen und ist aufgrund der Intensität, des hochqualifizierten Lehrpersonals und der geringen Studentenzahl sehr zu empfehlen.

Diese Woche haben wir am Thema " Geometrie der Formen" gearbeitet, hier die beiden wichtigsten Erkenntnisse:

- spitze Ecken von geflasterten Bereichen kreieren toten Raum und sind Grundlage für ein schwaches Design
- wacklige und kurvige Linien sehen nicht natürlich aus, die Natur (Bepflanzung) ist dazu viel besser in der Lage

Hast Du einen kurvigen Teppich im Wohnzimmer liegen? Nein? Warum dann im Garten? ;-))