I'm sure you will all be aware that over the last 12 months Martin and I have put a lot of time and effort into improving our garden. Well, this year we both wanted to be able to make the most of it, enjoy spending time in it and keep it at its best over the summer, so we decided that it would be a year for spending the best part of the summer months at home.
That’s not to say there wouldn’t be a few trips out and about ... and I’ve tried to arrange some kind of day out for each of the weeks that Martin isn’t working. You may remember that at the beginning of May we visited Coughton Court (NT) with our good friends Jackie and Phil.
We'd been intending to make a return visit to try and catch the walled gardens at their best as there hadn’t been much to see on our first visit, as we were just a few weeks too early in the season for the herbaceous borders to have really got going. One of the gardeners had told us that late June was the best time to see see them looking their best, but for one reason or another we didn’t manage to get back until the first week in July.
As the gates don't open until 11.00am and we were a bit early we decided to head up the lane at the side of the estate and through the ford again. On our last visit we had been hunting for a Geocache but hadn’t been able to find it and we wanted to give it another go.
This time we were with mum and dad and, after a bit of persistence and widening of the search area for the access we needed, we managed to find what we were looking for, which was a great start to the day.
By the time we had finished our hunt the gates were open and our first stop, as ever, was the cafe for a bit of a pit stop. We very rarely have breakfast when heading out for the day, much preferring to avail ourselves of the local facilities for a bit of a treat.
It was another scorcher of a day and we decided it was too hot to explore the woodland so we wandered down past the chickens to the river ...
From there we had a good walk round the gardens, taking in the changes since our previous visit.
The goslings are definitely growing up and were having a good old splash about ...
The views across the lake, as we headed towards the bog garden, were just lovely ...
I think it would be fair to say that the bog garden had filled out somewhat ... There was barely any sign of water and if we hadn't been before we wouldn't have known there were statues to be seen.
And the gunnera ... well that was as high as an elephant's eye ...
Back across the other side and we were really pleased to find the vegetable garden open for visitors, as this has been closed on our previous visit.
It was a lovely little garden, with a real mixture of planting, with clematis climbing through the fruit canes ...
The apple blossom had long gone but there were little green apples started to swell on pretty much all of the trees ...
There were plenty of ripe and juicy raspberries and fat pods of the sweetest garden peas, all growing under the watchful eye of this wise fellow ...
Finally we were at the walled garden and it was absolutely scorching hot. Martin and dad decided to stop for a breather and sat admiring the daisies and listening to the sound of the fountain ...
... whilst mum and I headed in to the left side of the walled garden, excited to see what we would find ...
We could see, straight away, that we were really just a couple of weeks too late to see the borders at their absolute best, though there was far more to see than there was when we'd visited back in May. It was definitely looking like we would have to be back in June 2019.
Saying that there were some real displays of hot summer colour going on. More of the red/orange palette than my preferred purple and blues, but pretty impressive just the same ...
Walking back past the fountain and the daisies and picking up Martin and dad on the way we headed into the right hand side of the garden. We were so pleased to see that we hadn't missed all of the wisteria ...
Whilst the rest of the garden still held plenty of colour, again, we were just that couple of weeks too late to see it at its most glorious ...
We came out of the walled garden at the front of the house where, on our last visit, we had been blown away by the tulip display ...
If I'm totally honest today's display was a bit of a disappointment, though that is more of a result of our timing, rather than from the planting. I'm sure at its best the display of white shrub roses and lavender would have looked just as spectacular as the tulips ...
We found a spot in the shade for a quick breather before heading inside ...
It was so hot that Martin couldn’t face another walk round the house so mum, dad and I had made the quickest visit ever. We did make it right to the top but neither of us had the energy to spend long in any of the rooms and couldn’t face reading any of the information boards, so again a return visit us definitely on the cards.
We just about managed a quick ice cream before we headed off.
Have I said it was hot! Well it was 31 degrees in the car and I just mentioned how I would love to dip my feet in the ford as they were absolutely roasting. Whilst dad and Martin weren’t keen on the idea, mum was well up for it, so that’s exactly what we did.
I can not tell you how wonderful it was to dip our feet into the cool, clear water and wade across the ford. It was crystal clear and we watched the little fish swimming about as we had a really good cool down. It was definitely the highlight of the day for me.
Feet dried off, I just happened to have taken a towel with us, and we headed over to the Throckmorton Arms for doorstop sandwiches and pints of ice cold lime and lemonade, which went down an absolute treat.
We’d had a lovely day and we shouldn’t complain about the weather but it was really too hot for wandering about, though perhaps if it hadn’t been that hot we wouldn’t have got to have dipped our feet it the ford.
That’s not to say there wouldn’t be a few trips out and about ... and I’ve tried to arrange some kind of day out for each of the weeks that Martin isn’t working. You may remember that at the beginning of May we visited Coughton Court (NT) with our good friends Jackie and Phil.
We'd been intending to make a return visit to try and catch the walled gardens at their best as there hadn’t been much to see on our first visit, as we were just a few weeks too early in the season for the herbaceous borders to have really got going. One of the gardeners had told us that late June was the best time to see see them looking their best, but for one reason or another we didn’t manage to get back until the first week in July.As the gates don't open until 11.00am and we were a bit early we decided to head up the lane at the side of the estate and through the ford again. On our last visit we had been hunting for a Geocache but hadn’t been able to find it and we wanted to give it another go.
This time we were with mum and dad and, after a bit of persistence and widening of the search area for the access we needed, we managed to find what we were looking for, which was a great start to the day.
It was another scorcher of a day and we decided it was too hot to explore the woodland so we wandered down past the chickens to the river ...
The goslings are definitely growing up and were having a good old splash about ...
The views across the lake, as we headed towards the bog garden, were just lovely ...I think it would be fair to say that the bog garden had filled out somewhat ... There was barely any sign of water and if we hadn't been before we wouldn't have known there were statues to be seen.
It was a lovely little garden, with a real mixture of planting, with clematis climbing through the fruit canes ...
The apple blossom had long gone but there were little green apples started to swell on pretty much all of the trees ...There were plenty of ripe and juicy raspberries and fat pods of the sweetest garden peas, all growing under the watchful eye of this wise fellow ...
We could see, straight away, that we were really just a couple of weeks too late to see the borders at their absolute best, though there was far more to see than there was when we'd visited back in May. It was definitely looking like we would have to be back in June 2019.Saying that there were some real displays of hot summer colour going on. More of the red/orange palette than my preferred purple and blues, but pretty impressive just the same ...
Walking back past the fountain and the daisies and picking up Martin and dad on the way we headed into the right hand side of the garden. We were so pleased to see that we hadn't missed all of the wisteria ...
Whilst the rest of the garden still held plenty of colour, again, we were just that couple of weeks too late to see it at its most glorious ...
We came out of the walled garden at the front of the house where, on our last visit, we had been blown away by the tulip display ...If I'm totally honest today's display was a bit of a disappointment, though that is more of a result of our timing, rather than from the planting. I'm sure at its best the display of white shrub roses and lavender would have looked just as spectacular as the tulips ...We found a spot in the shade for a quick breather before heading inside ...It was so hot that Martin couldn’t face another walk round the house so mum, dad and I had made the quickest visit ever. We did make it right to the top but neither of us had the energy to spend long in any of the rooms and couldn’t face reading any of the information boards, so again a return visit us definitely on the cards.We just about managed a quick ice cream before we headed off.Have I said it was hot! Well it was 31 degrees in the car and I just mentioned how I would love to dip my feet in the ford as they were absolutely roasting. Whilst dad and Martin weren’t keen on the idea, mum was well up for it, so that’s exactly what we did.
I can not tell you how wonderful it was to dip our feet into the cool, clear water and wade across the ford. It was crystal clear and we watched the little fish swimming about as we had a really good cool down. It was definitely the highlight of the day for me.
Feet dried off, I just happened to have taken a towel with us, and we headed over to the Throckmorton Arms for doorstop sandwiches and pints of ice cold lime and lemonade, which went down an absolute treat.We’d had a lovely day and we shouldn’t complain about the weather but it was really too hot for wandering about, though perhaps if it hadn’t been that hot we wouldn’t have got to have dipped our feet it the ford.
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Big thanks again to Coughton Court for another lovely day out ...
we will see you again in June 2019 😀
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your mama and you look great
ReplyDeleteThanks Elena 😃 The water was amazing, cool and crystal clear, a lovely way to cool down 😃
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