Sunshine & Flowers at Felley Priory & Calke Abbey

Hi there everyone 😀

As you probably know we love a garden visit and, for us, visiting in June really is the best. With blue skies and sunshine, borders bursting into bloom, plenty of time and the best of friends for company … it really does make for the most perfect and laid back kind of days.

Last Friday was one of those days. We’d had the date in the calendar for an age and Jackie and I had been watching the weather forecast with everything crossed hoping for sunshine … and we seriously got lucky …

First Stop: Felley Priory
We started the day at Felley Priory, tucked away in the rolling Nottinghamshire countryside. It is just off the motorway, but you wouldn’t know it … it’s such a peaceful place, and from the moment you step through the gate, you can’t help but feel a little more relaxed.

Martin and I have visited several times. The last time being in June 2020 … when the Covid lockdown was being slightly relaxed and the garden was open for private booked visits … now that really was a treat.

This time we arrived we arrived not long after opening and, for a while, we did pretty much have the garden to ourselves …

We were a little late for the peonies and the allium but everywhere looked stunning … beautifully structured but still soft and inviting, full of roses, delphiniums, and plenty of tucked-away corners to explore …

We took our time, wandering slowly. Enjoying the sunshine and admiring the mix of formal planting and cottage garden charm, with the lush green landscape beyond the garden as the perfect backdrop …

The topiary was looking smart, the herbaceous borders were just full of colour and the promise of so much more to come meant that we would definitely have to visit again …

Lunch in the Sunshine
After our wander, we headed to the tearoom for lunch — and that was a real treat. We found a shady spot outside and enjoyed a very leisurely bite to eat. It was so nice to be able to eat outdoors … it’s something we don’t get to do that often so we really made the most of it. We could have sat there all afternoon.

Of course, we couldn’t leave without a little mooch around the plant nursery — it would have been rude not to — and one or two plants may have just made their way into the boot of the car.

Onto Calke Abbey
As we’d started out reasonably early and the weather was so good we decided to move on from Felley and make our way to Calke Abbey — with a view to taking in the walled garden for another fix of floral inspiration.

It was looking glorious, full of early summer colour …

… and a wonderful jumble of planting …

It’s the kind of garden that has you leaving full of ideas and itching to get home and get planting.

We wandered, we chatted, we took it all in … before finishing our visit with ice creams.

It really had been the loveliest of days and we are already thinking of where to for next time.

For now it’s back into our own garden for a bit of planting and a little project for Martin using us a few bits and pieces we had lying around…

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