With Martin being off work for three weeks we had kind of decided that we should be able to manage at least one day out a week, amidst the other necessary catching up with chores and appointments.
The plan was that week 1 we would have a big day out on our own, week 2 we would have a day out with mum and dad and week 3 we would finally get to have our day out with Jackie and Phil, to celebrate the boys birthdays from back in March and April. All of course were weather dependent.
We were due to have our big day out on the Thursday of Martin's first week off, following a day at the hospital on Wednesday. We were in a real quandary on where to go ... I really fancied the coast, but we are just so far away and with it being school holidays and due to be about 30° we neither fancied the crowds, nor the traffic.
As it happened we were just about to set off for the hospital on the Wednesday when we had a call confirming that Martin's appointment had been cancelled. Well we were up and about so decided that we would head out on the Wednesday instead. It was due to be just a little bit cooler so thought it might be nicer for wandering around. In the end we opted for visiting a couple of gardens that are included in the Gardeners' World two for one scheme.
We started off at Felley Priory in Nottinghamshire,which is about 45 minutes away. The plan was to spend the morning there and then head over to Melbourne Hall, near Derby, for the afternoon.
We had absolutely no idea what to expect at Felley Priory, but it is literally half a mile from Junction 27 of the M1, via a very unassuming driveway, with no real indication of what was to come. It really is one of Nottinghamshire's best kept secrets.
We parked up on a fairly small car park and, with no real signage, headed further along the driveway ...
It certainly all looked very intriguing and we couldn't wait to find out what there was to be seen. We carried on along the driveway, passing the house on the right. There is plenty of history to read about the house and its transformation from a small hermitage back in 1156. It is now a beautiful family home and it is just the gardens that are open to the public ...
... leading to the tea room. If we had been surprised by nursery, we were pretty much in total shock by what we found through that little gate. The tea room was far bigger than we would have expected and there was lots of outside seating ...
... before having a look inside, which was lovely ... and the cake looked amazing, but 10.30 in the morning was too early for cake ... yes, even for me. We found a table outside, under the shelter of a marquee and Martin opted for a toasted sandwich and I went for a sausage roll ...
The first thing that really caught our eye were these rose arches ...
We carried on a little further and got our first glimpse of the herbaceous borders, which were some of the finest that either of us have ever come across ...
Round the far end of the house we found this ...
Labelled as Romneya Coulteri, it was absolutely stunning and something we'd never come across before.
From here we headed into the White Garden ...
... and the agapanthus were just amazing ...
We loved this garden and will most definitely visit again ... I can see us becoming regular visitors ... it's not too far away, it has good opening times and the tea room is a real treat.
For now though, it was time to head off to Melbourne Hall for our second visit of the day ... we couldn't imagine it could be as lovely as here though, but I'll tell you all about that in another post 😀
*********************************************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for taking time to comment on my blog. I love to hear what people think about what Martin and I have been up to.