Wednesday 17th June
Today we visited a garden in Cholesbury near Chesham. Montana is a large woodland garden, planted by the owner with rare and unusual flowering trees, shrubs and perennials. There is a kitchen garden, a meadow with an apiary and a gate leading to a 3 acre woodland with a fernary planted in a clay pit. The woodland was developed from what was once a brickyard.
We enjoyed tea and cake in the barn tea house and the weather was perfect, making for a delightful visit. Sixty seven members of the gardening group enjoyed the day, split between the morning and afternoon sessions. Yet another successful outing.
(thanks to Nigel Conradi and Bob Rendle for the photos)
Wednesday 20th May
Our first Coach Outing this summer was a "double header", Two great places on the same day.
Our first location was the National Trust property in Gloucestershire, Hidcote Manor House and Gardens. The Garden was created by horticulturalist and plant collector, Major Lawrence Johnston. We arrived at about 11.00 and we had around two and a half hours to wander round and enjoy the beauty of the gardnens. There was plenty to see as the layout divided the garden into "rooms", each one with a different planting style. There was time enough for a bite to eat before boarding the coach to travel 400 metres down the road to Kiftsgate Court Gardens. This is a privately owned family run garden set out on a hillside, overlooking the Gloucestershire countryside. It features many rare plants and shrubs including the famous Kiftsgate Rose, which unfortunately was not in flower at this time. Those of us who were able, managed the steep path down to the pond on a level section of ground, from where the view across the countryside was outstanding. Understandably, there were many photos taken of the house, the garden and the views, some of which we have included in the rolling picture section below. We left there at 4.30 and were back in the village by 6.00. Another fantastic day out which was thoroughly enjoyable as all those who went, can testify.
Hidcote Manor and Gardens
Kiftsgate Court Gardens
Wednesday 15th April
We began our series of Summer garden visits with a trip to "Lime Close", a lovely and very large country cottage in Drayton, just the other side of Abingdon. The garden site covered approximately 5 acres and was sub-divided into smaller plots, each with their own character and charm. The owner led us round all the different sections, giving us a detailed commentary of all the plants, their names and where in the world they came from. The history of the house and grounds was fascinating and the morning group were fortunate in that the rain held off for them. Not so for the afternoon group who braved the downpours, only to be expected in the month of April.
The garden tours ended with tea, coffee and cake, served by two local ladies. At that point, we were invited to visit two more sections not covered in the main tour. The "Cottage Garden" and the "Mary Poppins Garden". These were delightful and made a fitting finale to our first outing of the year.
