Chantale Rivar Deditions

Chippenham (Saxon for 'River Meadow') is the biggest town in North Wiltshire. It is an interesting town with old coaching inns and half timbered houses and it is great for cycling or walking along the River Avon. Relax in the attractive park or explore what the town has to offer.The town's museum has displays of Chippenham from its corn and cloth industry and is worth a visit if you are interested in the history of areas you visit. If you are more interested in your own history, you can visit the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre to use their archives for exploring your ancestry.The Western Arches are an interesting remnant of the industrial age. They were designed by Isembard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Railway. If industrial history is your thing, see also the oldest condensed milk facory in the world - Avonbridge House, and the Francis Holland tobacco factory.Street markets are held on Fridays and Saturdays in The Shambles and the Farmers Market is on the second Tuesday of every month. Look out for bargains and local produce and crafts.Near the market is the old Butter Cross and 16th century Yelde Hall (now the tourist information office) where [more..]

According to dictionary.com terraria is "a small enclosure or closed container in which selected living plants and sometimes small land animals, such as turtles and lizards, are kept and observed."If you are a busy or lazy plant lover, terrarium is a perfect way of keeping some live plants in your home. Miniature garden in glass container or bowl looks very decorative and requires no fuss the regular plants in potting soil do. Just remember to water every once in a while and take care of flowers that grow too big or die.The lowest maintenance kinds of mini garden are the tall, lidless ones. Plant growth is slower in them. Another choice is the glass container with a lid which makes a stylish centerpiece on your coffee table. Just remember to clean the algae buildup from the glass when it appears.The most decorous terrariums are the ones designed on a certain theme: bottom of the ocean, ancient civilization, mini landscape etc. If you decide to create one by yourself, don't forget to put some pebbles or aquarium charcoal on the bottom first or your plants might start rotting in standing water. Small orchids, begonias and air plants are excellent choice of [more..]

South Africa's large areas of semi-desert scrub and grassland might suggest a certain poverty of plant life. Aside from the fact that a tract of pristine grassland can hold up to 60 grass species, nothing could be further from the truth.There are five major habitat types in South Africa: fynbos, forest, Karoo, grassland, and savannah. The country can also be divided into seven biomes, or ecological life zones, with distinct environmental conditions and related sets of plant and animal life: Nama Karoo, succulent Karoo, fynbos, forest, thicket, savanna, and grassland.Whichever classification is used, some 10% of the world's flowering species are found in South Africa, the only country in the world with an entire plant kingdom inside its borders: the Cape Floristic Kingdom, which contains 8 600 species, 68% of them endemic. The Cape Peninsula alone boasts more plant species than the whole of Great Britain.Fynbos:This southwestern area of South Africa is the home of the fynbos, which is composed of ericas (heathers), proteas and the grass-like restios. Most spectacular in flower are the proteas, which include the king protea - the national flower - and others of broadly similar shape, the pincushion leucospermum types and spiky leucadendrons. The colour [more..]