Late spring/early summer is usually a good time to start exploring the English countryside and the gardens therein and it helps us get over the long dark winter just past.
When we moved to our new house we joined a couple of clubs to meet people and get involved with the local community. One of these was the garden club and it was through them we went out to visit the Ramster Gardens . This is a large and rambling informal garden of trees and exotic flowing bushes, specialising in Azaleas and Rhododendrons. It was a very pleasant garden and a lovely day to be out wandering about.
We have been spending a lot of time with my Aunt and Uncle and we have indulged our combined interest in gardens by visiting several private gardens in the National Gardens Scheme, including:
Bledlow Manor owned by Lord and Lady Carrington and a grand and graceful garden peppered with many interesting sculptures. The aging Lord himself was on hand to great people and talk to them and as an ex-politician he had a diplomatic and engaging manner about him.
On a separate occasion we went to the Old Thatch where Enid Blyton once stayed and possibly wrote some of her famous stories. This was a delightful garden that had many elements of a traditional Cottage Garden with some more modern interpretations that fitted together with the lovely old thatched cottage.
A visit to Cublington allowed us to visit two very different gardens, one was a smaller garden behind a modern detached house that was immaculately groomed and stylishly arranged, the other was a larger more rambling affair around an old vicarage.
Later on we visited an old favourite country garden of ours, Sissinghurst, with Sue’s Mum, Auntie Vera and Sarah. We had not been here for quite some time and the gardens was as spectacular as we remembered with individual ‘rooms’ cutting the large area into more manageably sizes and creating intimate views around each corner. After strolling around the grounds we were treated to a lovely meal at Vera and Sarah’s place rounding off a lovely day.
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