| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Mark |
Posted - 10 Jul 2008 : 14:15:54
Hi Muddywellies and all,
well I've been back a couple days now and most photos are now on the computer. We spent a wonderful four nights here at the Walled Garden. By far, the nicest and largest bedroom we stayed in during our two and a half weeks in England was the one we had here. I am disappointed that I never took a photo inside, especially since we had two large windows facing out from our bedroom on choice garden views, one private and one of the larger garden. But we spent more time in the conservatory having tea or coffee with Mike and Aileen, or in the spatious living room. I wish I could say we ate healthily at breakfast but usually we pigged out on the full English breakfast (which should come with a cardio-vascular warning.) Living as I do in a big crackerbox of a warehouse with practically no windows, it was the views out into the garden from every room which made the greatest impression.
We got in late on a Sunday night after a 'short cut' through Dartmoor National Park on a minor road resulted in a blown tire. For those of you who haven't driven in England, driving on the left side will be the least of your worries if you stray off the major roads. The road through Dartmoor narrowed down to one lane often and was tightly surrounded by a hedge so high that I felt like a rat in a maze. Just before we would've emerged onto the very drivable A30, we entered a narrow curve to find a big truck coming the other way. To be fair, the truck could not have passed through this section without taking up a couple feet of 'my side' of the road. Given the alternative, I squeezed tight into the hedge. Too tight given that there was a rocky curb at that point which ripped out the sidewall on my front driver's side tire. Free advice: when renting a car from Hertz and they ask you what sort of car you would like be sure to specify the kind with a spare tire. It was after dark by the time we were towed to into the Walled Garden. The next morning, Mike practically had the tire off by the time I woke up. While we ate breakfast he called around to find our tire and right after breakfast he had us and our bad tire at the shop. Thanks to Mike, we were road worthy again well before lunch!
During our stay here, we made trips to see Rosemoor Garden just North of us as well as to Saint Ives in Cornwall to see the Barbara Hepworth studio/garden and a branch of the Tate Gallery. In Cornwall we also saw Glendurgan and Trebah gardens.
No one would believe that Muddywellies' garden is only eight years old. Only one conifer, visible on the right edge of my first photo, in this two acre garden was here before he started and all the green houses and other structures as well as the house were fallen into ruin. Below are some of the photos I took.
If you get right up between the conifers near the Entryway to the garden you see this scene where the path curves the first time. I saw a fleged baby bird being fed by a parent on this bench my first morning out in the garden.
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As you round the bend and head South again this is your view.
I accidently pressed post instead of preview so I will have to load the photos here.
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Can you tell I like Columbines, probably all the more since they don't like growing where I live.
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This was the view out one of the windows in the room we stayed in.
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I really liked seeing the walls around the gates on either side of the house which divide this enormous garden in two.
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Isn't that yellow flower a knockout? The smaller orange beauty below also has an interesting shape.
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This shows the breadth of the back garden in the area behind the house. (You can still see those enormous yellow flower heads in the upper, left corner near the gate we just passed through.)
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Beyond these borders, behind the camera, is a very large bamboo and Gunnera glade as well as the many greenhouses, cold frames and alpine house. The succulent bed below, set into one of the cold frames, was one of my favorite scenes in the garden.
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First photo: I photographed the bud of this incredible flower early one morning. Later the same day I went through this greenhouse again with MIke and the flower was fully open. The vine and hibiscus below were photographed in the same greenhouse.
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Between the nearest greenhouse and the Eastern Gate lies the bog garden. I really like how sculptural the pitcher plants are. Their flowers, not captured here, are equally complex in shape.
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This is my wife Lia at the Eastern gate, with the conservatory behind her. The second photo is the best one I took showing the surface of the wall which so nicely shows its age. Below are photos of the conservatory where we had so many cups of tea along with the borders with their 'stonehenge-esque' sculpture along the East side of the house. Finally there is a detail of a stunning Begonia in one of the large hanging pots on the Eastern wall.
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Thank you Mike and Aileen for a wonderful stay and a chance to live "behind the walls", if only for a few days.
Mark
Mark |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Mark |
Posted - 23 Jul 2008 : 19:00:24
It was incredibly hot and dry there, well over 100 F. However, unlike on the West coast where I garden, these guys -like you- get regular summer rain. The bog garden was in a low area, across from large ponds. It wasn't obvious to me how they were watered but there may have been a stream or perhaps they just buried a liner to maintain moisture?
Mark |
| Muddywellies |
Posted - 23 Jul 2008 : 10:16:42
I recognise my own carnivorous plants there, Mark. But those stone steps reaching out to the distance are what drew me to comment. Super view and I bet it looks even better when you can take in the landscape. You need space to do that! It also looks very hot and dry there, so I'm wondering how the water-hungry 'carnivors' do - must be fed by stream or some such nearby??
Muddywellies
I've got green fingers, but I'm all thumbs using a keyboard!  |
| Mark |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 21:16:04
Here is a picture of the Bog Garden at Chanticleer. It is in the general area of Lotus and Waterlily pond. The other photos are teasers to tempt folks to check out this incredible garden.
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Mark |
| Mark |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 20:45:15
Thanks all43. By the way, I wonder what "all43" stands for or what the reference is .. not one I recognize.
Young kids in the garden, hey? Well I doubt if they're much harder on the garden than my two dogs. The other place that had a bog garden with pitcher plants was Chanticleer garden near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania here in the states. I love the look of them and may have to work in a boggy area too. I'd include some photos of them from Chanticleer but I started this as a 'quick response'.
Mark |
| all43 |
Posted - 17 Jul 2008 : 08:09:29
Great pictures Mark, I'd love some pitcher plants in my garden one day...perhaps when my kids have flown the nest as I am not sure they will cope well with excitable lively kids about!
Glad you had a good time over here and now your back it is time to sort out that full English lol.
busy doing nothing |
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