This wall beside the steps is certainly
rather damp, for the moisture from the garden above soaks down to it. In
my own garden, however, the ivy-leaved Toadflax grows on some very dry
old walls, and I have found it in flower in the middle of December.
Neither the Toadflax nor the Red Valerian are really natives of England.
They were brought to our country many hundreds of years ago. They have
spread so much that they have now become wildflowers. In the same way
many others of our wild flowers were once unknown in England.
Now that we have come down the steps into the foldyard we see that it
lies a good deal below the house and garden. Built round the foldyard
are the stables for the cart-horses, the cowhouses, and the great barn.
Behind the stables is the rickyard. That, like the garden, is above the
foldyard; from it there are only two or three steps to the door of the
loft or "tallet" above the stables. It is there that we will go now.
The wall of the tallet is of stone and is very old; the roof is tiled.
There is a little hole cut in the bottom of the door, and you will see
one like it in the door of the granary.
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