Happy New Year – and what a wonderful start to 2025 it is with the completion of our new bridge. It really is quite something. What superb craftsmanship has gone into building it. It has been fascinating and so exciting to watch and now we can’t imagine Columbine without it.
The builders finished it by putting the gravel down which has been left so beautifully raked, at first we hardly dare walk on it! Hew hasn’t been able to resist driving the car backwards and forwards over it from pure excitement. And yes – of course – I’ve played pooh sticks. To think that this beautiful bridge will now be part of Columbine for the next few hundred years is truly wonderful.
We long to row underneath it in our little green rowing boat but for now the weather has either been too wet or too cold. So we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
January comes bringing little bursts of joy. The first snowdrops are starting to poke their heads through the soil, the dawn birdsong is getting louder as things start to move away from winter and towards spring. Ok – there’ll probably be storms, snow, ice and that greyness of winter but there is light on the horizon. There is hope. A new year is upon us and as the days lengthen – albeit minute by minute at first – everything suddenly seems possible.
Kate Elliott came to Columbine Hall in 1997 when she was sixteen. She is now head gardener but also helps with managing the property generally and in conducting guided tours.