I don’t usually do “what I’ve been up to” posts during the week, but Jeff and I had such a busy and fun weekend with lots of events that I wanted to share it with you.
Bedrock Gardens
On Saturday, my garden club, North Shore Horticultural Society, held its annual field trip. Jeff, my friend Kim and I drove up to Lee NH and joined several other members of the group at Bedrock Gardens, 39 acres of gardens created by a husband and wife team who have owned the property for about 10 years. They designed the land and gardens themselves, and they did most of the work on the gardens themselves along with a few friends and volunteers. I believe the husband and wife are a psychologist and psychiatrist. This is what they do to chill out – design and work the land.
The wife also became a sculptor, creating sculptures made from industrial materials, old tools and other odds and ends that she comes across.
Everything about Bedford Gardens has the personal touch. In the middle of the property, they built a little sleeping house that’s basically a tiny room with a queen size bed and a little porch. The sleeping house is screened to allow them to see the view of the lake from the bed yet be protected from bugs. It even has electricity in case they want to read in bed after dark. So cute! Here it is in the photo below:
We spent two hours walking the property with a guide who explained how each part of the garden was designed and constructed. I had a lot of photos so I put together an Animoto video so you could see them all quickly.
https://animoto.com/play/D5eSWeCLp5zPGZVK29pbvQ
After we got back from New Hampshire, we showered, changed clothes and drove an hour to a town outside of Boston to meet friends for a vegetarian dinner. Fun times!
Sail Boston: Tall Ships
On Sunday, Jeff and I took the subway into Boston to see the tall ships (large sailing vessels) that came to Boston to participate in Sail Boston at the Boston seaport area and the fish piers. It was so crowded with people, and it was very hot, but the ships were an amazing sight!
You could stand in line to view the ships from the dock or you could stand in longer lines to get a chance to board the ships and check them out for yourself. Jeff and I went on three ships. Because of the heat, when we went below deck, it was like a sauna. But it was worth it. We really inspected all aspects of the Dutch freighter, Oosterschelde, a ship built in 1918. I was blown away at the beautiful craftsmanship – the woodwork was stunning both on deck and below. The kitchen complete with black and white tiled floor was beautiful and completely fitted out to turn out amazing meals. Even the lighting fixtures and the identification on the ladies’ and gents’ bathrooms were works of art. Here’s a photo of the shipping rigging. After taking the photo, I noticed that it looks like there’s a body up in the lines on the upper left – is that a real person? a caryatid? or is it just the wooden spool that appears to have a “head” from this angle?
From a distance, we saw a galleon that looked like the ships that ruled the seas during the 15th-17th centuries. In fact, we had seen galleons in the 17th century marine paintings in exhibits at the Peabody Essex Museum over the past couple of years. We weren’t sure when the ship we saw at the dock was actually built. It was huge, painted with black paint, and it looked like a pirate ship! You can see it in the background in the middle of the photo below.
Again, I put together an Animoto video to give you a quick look at the sailing ships!
https://animoto.com/play/YLRwuw1NQMcB4B1PumqE7w
So these were the highlights of our busy weekend. I was so lucky to get to go to these terrific places, and so lucky that the weather cooperated. I hope you had a fun or relaxing weekend too!
What a fun weekend!
I think the dark one is done like a pirate ship….I feel like I’ve seen it before. We hit up the Tall Ships event in Bay City every few years. I bet we can find a roundup online of the Boston weekend and figure out who they are and where they’re from. 🙂
Rach, I checked the Sail Boston app, and the galleon is El Galeon that sails under the Spanish flag but it docks in either St. Augustine FL or Galveston TX. It’s a replica of a freighter from the period. It was built in 2011. I am sure you probably did see it in Bay City because it definitely makes the rounds. I’m glad that you’ve been to see the tall ships too. Fun!!
Allison, I enjoy posts like these because you give me ideas on places to visit in the future. Plus, we sure have lives outside beauty and stuff. You had a great weekend. Incidentally, I shared how my weekend went via vlog. So for 2 days now, we’ve been reading each other’s minds!
How true! I love that <3
How adorable is that sleeping house in the middle of the gardens, so serene! Sounds like you had a great weekend!
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Serene is definitely the right word to describe the entire garden. I’d like to go on vacation there!
What a fun weekend, the gardens are beautiful!
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It was a wonderful weekend! Hopefully more to come 🙂
Looks like an interesting adventure.
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The gardens look like such a nice spot to visit. Glad to hear you had a great weekend!
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I love being busy with a million things to do so it was a great weekend! Hope you had a good one too 🙂
What an amazing weekend you had! Their gardens are stunning! I love the sleeping house!
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I’d love to spend the night in that sleeping house. So peaceful!
Looks like you had an amazing weekend! Seriously though, when are you gonna take me with you?! 😄
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LOL, I want to visit where you are!!!
Hi Allison:
Just found your blog thru NSHS. Thank you for writing about the Bedrock Gardens tour and sharing those pix. I discovered my memory card was full 🙁 so I couldn’t document the gardens as we toured. It was a really neat place! Good luck with the blog!–Traci
Thank you, Traci, for visiting and taking the time to comment! Did you find the photos and Animoto video on the NSHS page on Facebook? I posted them there, or is that how you found my blog? Either way, it’s all good. I hope you and your friend enjoyed Bedrock Gardens – we did perhaps even more so this visit because the weather was better for walking around and we enjoyed the guide. Glad we got to do it! See you on Tuesday
I really reAlly want to see those big ships sometime. It’s our heritage!
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