Archive for November, 2017


Hobart…

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07/11/2017

“Have a nice walk back through the botanical gardens,” the woman said. “Find your own way over the domain,” the woman said. What she failed to tell us is how to get out of the botanical gardens. I had navigated us thus far so I wasn’t about to stop. We walked in and there were […]

via “Exploring Hobart…Tassie part 2…” — Emma & Nathan’s Travels

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Powys power…

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06/11/2017

Back over the border just half an hour away in Wales we return for part 3 of our visit to the gardens of Powys Castle. We have looked at its upper terraces and the beautiful late summer, early autumn flowering plants, so now we will wander down to the lower garden and have a look […]

via A Visit to the Wonderful Gardens of Powys Castle – Part3 — greenbenchramblings

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Boxed in at Amsterdam…

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05/11/2017

Everyone loves a box parterre (don’t they?). Back in June 2012, fellow blogger Veronica, from Through the garden gate, and I went to see the open gardens in Amsterdam. We had a super (if a tad exhausting) weekend looking at many hidden gems in the city. A recurrent theme was definitely box parterres. Not present in […]

via Box alternatives — Out of my shed

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Great Garden @ Hestercombe

Filed under: Great Gardens, Heritage Gardens & gardening, West Country Gardens — 2 Comments
04/11/2017

On our way home from a recent trip to Devon, we diverted to one of my all time favourite gardens; Hestercombe, just outside Taunton, Somerset.

I remember coming here many years ago, when the local Fire Service were headquatered in the house and the work to restore this classic Lutyen’s – Jekyll garden design was just getting underway. Even then the strong structural elements- though in a poor state of repair-  shone through. Since then, several decades later, the Charitable Trust that owns the place has done a marvellous job in restoring not only the gardens but much of the surrounding parkland too, so that you can wander through a very interesting ‘designed landscape’ reflecting earlier design styles harking back to the’ landscape garden’ school.

The main garden is what you come here for.  Sunken and surrounded by a series of strong pergolas and with two stone rills descending either side, it is a joy to behold. We were fortunate in arriving early in the day and had this wonderful place of quiet and reflection virtually to ourselves.

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The restoration story is a fascinating one, including a quest to find a series of plants that were in the original Jekyll planting plans but which were no longer readily available. This is most notable for a number of gladioli varieties, one of which was discovered by accident as one of the historians associated with the garden was giving a talk..only to be approached by someone who thought he had one of the missing gladdy’s! Since then this rare plant has been nurtured and propagated to get to the necessary scale for mass planting…and the display of gladioli is certainly impressive..

This is a real story of horticultural dedication; a trait seen in abundance all around the gardens. The house, though perhaps less of a priority, is gradually being brought into beneficial use, but it does require some renovation. We finished off our tour with a rather nice lunch in a very classy restaurant overlooking the gardens.

Old School Gardener

Frther information: Hestercombe Gardens website

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Top notch…

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03/11/2017

If you visit Beverley, you’ll likely go to see the Gothic minster – the finest parish church in the land – and its beautifully conserved town centre. It’s dubbed the Georgian Quarter now, a bit of tourist branding which in this case is fully justified. But there’s an alternative history – of a small industrial […]

via Council Housing in Beverley: ‘Top notch in them days’ — Municipal Dreams

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Perfumed and lulled in Portugal…

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02/11/2017

The granite walls of the Santa Maria do Bouro Pousada belong to a Cistercian monastery built in 1162 by the first king of Portugal. They aged perfumed by incense and lulled by religious chants. The monks enjoyed their meals sitting around an imposing stone table. The kitchen had two fountains that supplied water, several wood-fire stoves and […]

via Santa Maria do Bouro in the light of eternity — Salt of Portugal

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