Tag Archive | Bristol

Rings that remind me of things: Part 18

Jan16

Part 18 of an occasional series about rings in my Etsy shop that remind me of things.

Ring:

1970 amethyst modernist sterling silver ring, hallmarked in London. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Thing:

1:60 scale wooden model of a screw propeller of the SS ‘Great Britain’, the magnificent and innovative ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built in 1843. The ship is now a museum exhibit at Bristol; this model is in the Science Museum in London.

So far I have had rings that remind me of an Iron Age hillfort, an alien spaceship, a cream horn, a radio telescope, Noah’s Ark, an octopus tentacle, spider eyes, Pluto and its moon Charon, the rings of Saturn, The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, some lichen, the stepped Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara in Egypt, the Quality Street lady, a herb knife, a sea anemone, an Iron Age miniature votive shield and the Mayan Temple of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá, Mexico.

A touch of the Tropics

Sep5

What a lovely surprise to see this BBC video feature about Tim Wilmot’s garden in Yate, near Bristol. I interviewed Tim for a piece I wrote for The English Garden back in 2005, and spent a happy afternoon looking round his amazing subtropical paradise. It was such a surprise to walk through his house in suburban Gloucestershire and out into this:

Tim Wilmot in his garden in Yate, Bristol. Photo from The Bristol Post.

Tim Wilmot in his garden in Yate, near Bristol. Photo from The Bristol Post.

I was immensely impressed by his vision and his dedication and his flair. It isn’t a very big garden at all, and yet he has packed so many interesting and special and in some cases huge plants in: a little taste of the West Indies in the West Country, and most definitely NOT an English country garden! I absolutely adored it.