On a recent trip to Devon, we stopped off en route to visit this Neo Gothic ‘pile’ in Somerset, former home of the Gibbs family, who made a ‘pile’ of their own, trading in a rather large ‘pile’ of Guano, or South American bird excrement, favoured for its value as a fertiliser in 19th century Britain.
Making our way from the impressively equipped visitor reception and restaurant we passed by a delightful formal parterre garden set some way away from the house, and then toured this amazing mansion, with its glorious colourful decor and richly carved woodwork. Much of the house is in need of renovation, but the National Trust has made great progress in restoring some of the most important rooms.
‘… An ordinary man with an extraordinary fortune, a man of vast riches but simple pleasures. Antony was the second generation of the Gibbs family to live at Tyntesfield. He epitomised the Victorian age, fascinated by art, technology and travel….After buying Tyntes Place for his growing family in 1843, William Gibbs went about making it his own. He remodelled the exterior of the simple regency house into the Gothic extravaganza we see today….Four generations of family life, a love of beautiful things and the accumulation of useful bits and bobs made Tyntesfield a treasure trove of objects. Almost 60,000 objects have been catalogued including everything from priceless paintings and ornate furnishings to ice skates and picnic sets. It is the largest recorded collection owned by the National Trust and tells the story of a wealthy family’s life over four generations….’
From here we made our way through some lovely formal gardens near to the house and then to the Walled Garden, where some gardener must have been a little the worst for wear when he/she planted the lettuces…
Seriously, this series of wobbly lines was done as a bit of light relief in what might otherwise be the normal regimented lines of fruit and veg; I loved it.
And the rest of the garden was interesting, too, though I thought it lacked some variations in height to give it structure.nearby was a rather nice play area with lots of carved and country-themed play features; I especially liked the large slug (which doubles as a nice seat).
There was also a stall selling fresh veg and bulbs so I spent a little on buying some orange Tulips for next year…now where have I put them?
Further information: National Trust website
Old School Gardener
Apologies…my latest session at Blickling and I forgot my camera…so the pics here are a few from other visits (and the one above borrowed from the Trust’s latest newsletter).
Alternative titles for today’s post were ‘Herding Frogs’, ‘Reframing’ or ‘Shuffling the Pack’…A rather shower affected day (I was in with the Wednesday crew this week), saw me and fellow volunteer Peter (another one!) weeding over two sections of cold frame (including removing large sections of worn out weed membrane) and putting down a new covering of landscape fabric, before tidying over the stored plants and rearranging these (hence shufling…). It looked a lot tidier and as a bonus I gained soem ratherr splendid (if a bit leggy) Ricinus communis plants. These will fit rather well in my front circular border at Old School Garden…with its rather exotic feel. I was also allowed to remove some runners from a clutch of Achillea nobilis susbsp. nealreichii, with its lovely creamy plate flowers and silvery foliage.
With half an hour left at the end of the day I went round hoeing the currants..using one of a new set of two-way hoes (made by Wolf, and one of which I have at home). These are really a lot more effective than conventional dutch hoes.
The Walled Garden is really moving into overdrive and looks fantastic. My latest session- a short one- at Blickling was another warm day.
My fellow volunteers were also involved in weeding and one or two were harvesting- there’s plenty of stuff for use in the restaurant and some will be packed up for offering to visitors, in return for a donation. My ‘pea tunnel’ created last week seems to have survived, though the peas themselves are not looking so good.
Further Information:
Following the recent turmoil caused by the Brexit vote and so many upsetting world events, we need cheering up. And Blickling volunteer gardeners don’t disappoint. Sitting down to a well-earned lunch break, Tressa announced she’d brought in a ‘Reconcilation Cake’…..we didn’t need to be asked twice.
An important day …Gardener Rob celebrates 15 years at Blickling, the new Bothy is brought into commission and the Walled Garden is declared fully open too!
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Another week at Blickling and it was good to get back to the Walled Garden to see the progress and to get stuck in. I see Mike has bought some of those bird scarers that imitate birds of prey. I’ve had mixed results with bird scarers of various kinds- including old cd’s hung out on a washing line and a plastic owl with rotating head! All seem to work only if you keep moving them around. 
A short session at Blickling this week, as I needed to get home to cut the grass before we head off for Scotland. I mentioned how the Tulips were looking great in the Double Borders last week. Well, I can say that as I turned into them again this week, I was truly ‘stunned’- a word I tend to resist because it has been over-used and devalued somewhat (rather like ‘awesome’ and ‘epic’!).
Old School Garden 