In which I finally get my excellent haddock fish and chips, and scone with clotted cream and jam! Ticks for essential items on a UK visit đŸ™‚
On arrival we all headed out to a local garden centre for lunch amidst nursery plants – quite a busy spot! Neil headed off for home and first cousin once removed Sandy, wife Frances and I headed for a walk to Dundonald Castle, with lovely views of the area and an interesting old castle.
Dundonald Castle
Arran in the distance
Dundonald
Next day we headed over to Dumfries House, a mansion previously inhabited by nobility but abandoned until saved, literally from the auction block, by King Charles. It is in an area designated as extremely impoverished area – the grounds and house were restored and several crafts workshops were created which the local kids and young folk were able to use to learn trades and get jobs. Lovely cafe there, where I got a scone with clotted cream and jam, another tick off the list. Part of the sitting area is in the stables, with individual rooms, quite cute.
Dumfries House
Copper beeches
Viburnum flowers
Candelabra primulas down by the pond
Sandy and I caught by the greenhouse
sinks by the greenhouse – wouldn’t mind a few of these!
summerhouse – much of the structural furniture is made on site
The education garden at Dumfries House
primulas and bistort
antler statues
clematis in walled garden
Arboretum – the grounds are huge!!!!
Back to touring gardens!
There was a quick search for specific treats to take home to Canada (unsuccessful) then down for fish and chips by the seaside from the fish market, watching the ferry come in from Arran. Another tick, haddock and chips – delicious. The ferry is “temporarily” relocated to Troon as the ferry on loan can’t berth at Ardrossan – sounds very familiar, same stories of ferries being cancelled due to lack of staff, breaking down etc.
In the morning Alastair and I were able to squeeze in a quick bike ride before the rain started, on to the beautiful Tissington Trail which I remember from last trip. Riding up a hill to join the Tissington Trail reminded me how much work I have to do on return to get ready for the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia, but I am at least partially there!
End of the Valley above Wirksworth
Tissington Trail
Old stone quarry on left
lovely views from up top this particular hill – the Tissington Trail goes on for miles, quite bumpy and 8% grades in parts
my guide, a source of info (second cousin, who works as a guide currently for walking tours in Europe and happily was between trips during my visit)
lovely flowers starting on the sides
On a weekend this would be really busy but with the threatening rain and light showers we had it more or less to ourselves.
A short gravel section took us down to a stone workers museum where stone workers from different regions had come together to show their various building styles. They were vastly different.
English wall – there were vast regional differences here as well
neatly avoided the plaque to the right telling me where the wall style was from…
The Scots, ever pragmatic, just piled the stones atop one another…
We reluctantly pedalled back to town and I hopped a ride with Alastair’s brother Neil to Cumbernauld, near Glasgow. He was driving a huge works van which he’d ingeniously converted into a camper van – insulated, inner cladding, electrical wiring included a phone charger, sink, stove, compost toilet and dining area. Very clever, but the works van size made it interesting at the road stops to park. There seemed to be a fair number of people on the road and the first stop, 2/3 of the way up, was steering. There was a nice farmstop for lunch, and we pulled into Cumbernauld about 4:30 pm. Interestingly, we had had a family reunion there in 2017, the last one that was held, because it was about halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh and at that time one of the Glasgow attendees had more difficulty travelling. The rain came down enthusiastically in parts on the way up, and it gave me a chance to get to know Neil better – last met in 1996 at a family reunion and his family have just returned from Angola after 35 years of development work there. Interesting stories, and he made it through many turbulent times in the country. His wife Clare is Scottish and they were prompted to return during Covid as online education wasn’t able to be supported, so their son Lewis wasn’t getting any education. Lewis speaks fluent Portugese, the language of Angola, and now has a Scottish accent; Neil speaks fluent Danish from working in Denmark prior to Angola, and Clare is learning Arabic as well as her Portugese and Scottish as they have a Sudanese refugee living with them. They took him in three years ago at 15 yo and he has just secured a 9 month job placement at a garage with the hopes of being retained permanently. Cumbernauld seems to have a good program to support and integrate such refugees; Mubarek, their lad, came with a horrendous background story and unfortunately his father was killed recently in the ongoing war and an aunt died last week, so the pain continues for him. He is well supported by his host family, at least.
Cumbernauld is a “new town”, purpose built construction with a city centre and housing all around. Some of it is looking the worse for wear, but there is lots of green and some nice sections. Clare and Neil are rehabilitating their garden, so we had a walk around and watched some of the many episodes of the Chelsea flower show; still haven’t seen the dogpond in Monty Don’s garden! It was fun to recognize so much of the filming, even though it was annoying to have sections roped off during our time there.
The night was spent very comfortably in the camper van on the driveway, sans spiders (many decades ago on a visit to their family in Farncombe, I was housed in a little used camper van cohosted by many spiders! Fortunately being an entomologist I wasn’t much bothered).
The next morning we had a brief visit to the Kelpies (a steel structure of the mythical horses installed near Cumbernauld) and to the Falkirk Wheel, neither of which I’d seen before in my many visits to Scotland. The Falkirk Wheel was a millenium project designing a transfer system for barges from a lower canal system to a much higher point, thus avoiding multiple locks and speeding up transfer between the two canal systems immensely.
Falkirk Wheel – the top pointed section fills with water, tipping it over and the boat in the canal slowly lowers to the lower canal by gravity
fairly easy to maintain and minimal power needed, in keeping with Scottish frugality.
looking back from the upper canal
the ultimate infinity pool!
the canal system looked idyllic for barges, and there is a cycle path alongside between Edinburgh and Glasgow which looks very tempting
the Kelpies
It was a very popular tourist attraction, with busloads of tourists arriving and an extremely efficient parking attendant who relieved us of 3.50 GBP for parking.
After a quick scone and coffee at the cafe overlooking the Kelpies, watching the tourist behaviours, we headed off to the west coast, the other side of Glasgow, to Dundonald (near Troon).
In which the trains excel (crowded, cancelled and infected)
Whew, it is nuts with each region having its’ own train system… my original train Shrewsbury to Birmingham was booked on West Midlands then Avanti trains, but two in a row were cancelled due to lack of engineering staff. As such, you are offered a refund or can use the next available train or the one before, but it has to be on the same system…. Eventually I cancelled the original, asked for a refund and got a booking on a “transport for wales” train, crossing my fingers they had better luck recruiting staff… and the second leg was yet another company, Coastal.
Birmingham was nuts, filled with ecstatic (and noisy) Liverpool football fans as apparently they’d recently won the FA cup and were having the official celebration today. The trains were filled with people continually sniffing and coughing without hands over mouth and little change choice as most seats were filled. Then there was the woman who came on with 5 full bags (camping gear etc) and a backpack and dropped them in the aisle so you had to climb a mountain to get past. Then she had a loud chat with her relative about their troubles which was shared with the entire carriage. Soooo different from the etiquette in a Japanese train…
Happily decanted in Derby and met cousin Alastair and we drove the 12 or so miles to Wirkworth. Some parts did look familiar but it has been 8 years since I was last here. We headed out for a walking tour of the town and to view some of the “well dressing ” festival display – an ancient tradition of decorating wells with only natural ingredients to encourage them to keep producing during the summer. Alastair slid seamlessly into his “guide” role. Some beautiful displays:
One of the most sophisticated
school children did a number of these and frequently you could see a bundle of seeds on the ground in front of the displays as the “glue” let go. The birds were doing well.
one incorporated VE day celebrations
a very colourful design of a kingfisher
A walk through old town appreciated a considerable history.
Back home to a lovely dinner and the arrival of Alastair’s brother Neil who I have only briefly met 29 years ago. He has been living mostly in Angola, and moved back to Scotland during covid as the education system collapsed, and no reliable online education existed. His 8 year old was not getting any education so the move was made to be nearer family in Cumbernauld and they have stayed put just outside of Glasgow. We trotted down to the local pub after dinner, now in heavier rain, and found it relatively quiet but a pint of “mild” – a local dark draft beer – slid down nicely while we listened to horrendous stories of Mubarek’s life as a Sudanese refugee – he has been with Neil and Claire for several years now and doing well though has recently had to deal with his father’s death in the war, and his aunt’s sudden death. Makes the train service issues seem trivial….
Managed to connect by face time with my mother through Suzanne’s computer as mine kept giving me an error message – hope to sort that out before the next stop. Off to bed for all on return from the pub.
Long Mynd and beyond – in which the hip is miraculously 90% better
Another hearty B&B breakfast, this time with an extensive menu choice, a good fruit salad AND drinkable coffee!
We hiked from the B&B up a lane, then joined a trail after a very busy campsite – long weekend, lots of folk out. The trail was gentle to start with:
but quickly went steeply uphill, and we got into some energetic winds almost immediately once we cleared the valley. Not as strong as yesterday’s, but enough to need to mind the balance.
Beautiful scenery though, very bucolic.
We met a few people coming down, but it was pretty quiet overall on this part.
some interesting growth patterns on the hill across
It was about here, near the ridge top, I remembered I’d not put on Strava… sigh.
We saw gliders in the distance, and apparently there is a permanent installation on top of the hill. I also learned slightly later that there is a road up the hill, and a parking area where hikers can start from. There were a fair number of people on this top part of the ridge, and some of them undoubtedly had parked there.
The road at the top – in the back is a copse of trees, and a shelter where we had some coffee and yesterday’s leftover flapjacks. These are some of the wild horses that roam around the hills.
There was a spectacular 360 degree view from the top.
Despite the ominous clouds, we had only a short spattering of rain and otherwise were left alone. The wind was again fairly impressive, but the up side to that is – no insects!
Although there were a lot of people walking up top, we were able to strike off on a different path than most were taking and were soon on our own again, winding around the hill and then heading down into the next valley. Some fairly isolated farms…
I was impressed by how well Hilary and John navigated the myriad options of paths.
The sheep needed shearing but tradition has it done June 1st; meantime it’s been a warm spring so the sheep have taken it upon themselves to lose some of their fur, rubbing on rocks and fences and strands are also blown by the wind up to the fence lines. There are some pretty mangy looking sheep right now!
the area is National Trust land, and this boardwalk protects the wetter land below. We saw a number of mountain bikers on this section, and that looked like a lot of fun – great terrain to ride on.
We wound our way down, losing much more elevation than I thought we’d gained – again I was impressed by the trail knowledge of Hilary and John.
When we descended into this valley, there was a brook along the track and a cacaphony of bird songs which was lovely to hear – unfortunately this site won’t accept videos/soundtracks. There are also a lot of skylarks on the ridges who are lovely singers tool.
one of the mangy sheep with half the fleece gone.
Coincidentally we ended up at the Yew Tree Inn, where I stayed the first night and where we stopped for a beer yesterday. It was an opportune stopping point again today… very civilized walking, being able to include a pub stop along the way!
The trip back to the car was about 3 miles from here, and we had some more steep ups and downs along some interesting paths, finally coming back down to the campsite near the beginning to complete the loop. Final tally 17.8 km, 560 m elevation gain.
Back to the B&B for tea and bath, and to note that my hip was 90% better today and barely bothered me at all either up or down. Maybe what it needed was a good stretch out yesterday?
Curry restaurant for dinner, then pack for the move tomorrow onto the next stop, Derbyshire. I can certainly appreciate why Hilary and John have chosen to live here – gorgeous walking, multiple trails and a very pretty series of villages (All Stretton, Little Stretton and Church Stretton) with lots of amenities.
After a very fulsome breakfast (full English with vegetarian sausages) and a couple of cups of tea (having given up on hotel coffee) we met up in the parking lot and packed my stuff into the boot. We set off on a public path across the road, heading for the hills. Crossing several fields, then the railway tracks, and some more fields with stiles, the track started heading uphill to Caer Caradoc, one of the “peaks” on the east side of town. It was a decent climb, well used with several other groups passed enroute.
The wind was fierce up top so we didn’t linger there; on one of the passes on the way down we were all actually shifted by the force of it. I took a video to record the sound of it but have no idea why there is no sound…. oh well, it looks pretty and gives an idea of the beautiful views we got. Unfortunately this site doesn’t upload videos so you’ll have to put it together from the stills!
This is designated an “area of natural beauty” and apparently Church Stretton was the first community in the West Midlands to be granted “walkers are welcome” status and there are many trails around, and many trail users!
My hiking guides. The plateau at the top of the hill sported an Iron Age fort, which we all agreed was an odd spot for a habitation as there would be no water, and all supplies would have to be carried up a fairly steep incline. Definitely could see marauders coming though so maybe it was worth the effort.
New heather starting up
The trail goes on and ever on… The clouds looked threatening but we only got a couple of spits of rain. It was the wind that was impressive!
We hiked up and over two other smaller peaks before winding down to the valley.
An enterprising farmer had set up a self-service honor payment cafe with an impressive espresso machine and some attractive ice cream buckets in a shed, and furnished some picnic tables beside a popular parking spot for the trails. Hilary and John had kindly brought along thermoses of coffee, vegetarian scotch eggs, and flapjacks so we tucked in.
It was a lovely walk back to Church Stretton along trails and lanes, with rich hedgerow wildflowers and fields of this wild garlic. It was occasionally quite pungent.
At the car, still parked at the first pub B&B we reckoned we deserved a beer so had a try of a local beer – quite good and definitely hit the spot. Final tally, 13 km and 1850′ elev gain (564 m).
Then on to check into the next B&B where I’m able to stay put for a couple of nights; the owners had closed for a couple of days to attend the Chelsea Flower show and we had a good chat about that (their first time attending also). The husband was Canadian (English Montreal) and his mother’s family came from Elgin so that was worth a chat as well! The house is lovely, will be quieter without a pub below, and has a network of rooms – very large place. Even better, there is a bath in the ensuite which was immediately christened!!
Dinner at a pub in Church Stretton was very good, with my first GOOD English fish and chips of the trip and a trial of a different, darker beer called the “sleeping monk”. Nice as well. Lovely old pub, with a large garden and picnic tables extending the seating. The menu was pretty impressive.
Managed to get some laundry done and hung up, though doubt it’ll dry overnight.
In which we head shakily out of London to Shropshire.
The day started early, at 3 a.m. with mild food poisoning from last nights’ goodbye dinner. By the time I needed to leave I was still feeling very dodgy so I eschewed the trip by underground to Euston requiring changes, in favour of a trip by cab. I think this was my first ride in a London cab – they are very roomie and comfortable. The traffic was bad, but the driver quite assertive so we made it there in 25 mins. Was very glad I hadn’t attempted the stairs at the underground with my heavy suitcase feeling as I do, and pleased (as the cab driver I’m sure was!) that I didn’t upchuck in the cab. (While I am still able to stuff everything into one case, it’s a borderline benefit as it’s getting heavy).
Had a while to sit around waiting for the train platform to appear on the board and so was able to sit and chill, which was helpful to let the gravol kick in. Unfortunately gravol makes me even stupider than usual. The fellow on the seat next to me was helpful in suggesting words for the spelling bee đŸ™‚
Train left late, so was hopeful that it would be easy to transfer in Birmingham (which it was). Hoping to get some sleep to catchup but unfortunately the woman in the seat opposite, in the quiet car, was chatting on the phone the first half hour. Some people have plenty of spare time (thinking of the person on the other end)! Despite the traffic being heavy heading out of the city on the roads as it is a long weekend and start of a week long spring break here, the train was fairly empty. Made it uneventfully to Shrewsbury; the next leg, to Church Stretton was a no go as the Welsh trains weren’t able to get through due to a train colliding with a tractor left on the tracks before Shrewsbury. There were bus bridges laid on, and massive queues to get on them in parts. Road works around the rail station made it interesting for my friends Hilary and John for pickup, one of those traffic jams where you sit without moving for a long time…
It was a nice day so we went for a walk by the river Severn; lots of people out and about, and lots of green spaces. The river looked very pretty, but alas is not terribly clean so water sports are restricted for most to canoe or kayak.
sunbathing on the opposite side decks looked tempting!
lots of green space and an unusual round church at the top. They are trying to raise 200,000 GBP for restoration.
Shrewsbury is a very attractive town with a lot of preserved Tudor buildings.
Lots of independent stores vs. big box chains
Market square
a quieter back street
lots of wattle and daub buildings
Hilary and John, friends from Mongolia cycling trip in 2023
the tiny back streets could have been the set for “Diagonally” of Harry Potter
Next we went to look at the castle at the top of the hill; it’s now a museum for soldiers’ memorabilia.
complete with leaded glass windows
Hardly anyone was around. The grounds were well kept and would be a haven on a hot day.
There were nice views over the valleys surrounding.
Drove over to Church Stretton, through lovely rolling agricultural lands dotted with many sheep. Checked into B&B for the night, and met up later for dinner at a local Thai eatery. It was busy, as was the “bike shop bar” across the square where we retired initially for drinks as the table wasn’t ready. Very noisy bar…but clearly being enjoyed by the attendees! Food at the Sawadee restaurant was very good, then home to bed down at the B&B. As it was above the pub, it was a tad noisy until about 11:30 but earplugs were very effective and it closed reasonably early. After the disrupted night last night it was a pleasure to be horizontal.
In which we wheek through history and are gobsmacked by RHS Wisely.
The hotel was apparently the site of the GMC exams today so we saw attendees swotting on the steps of the conference centre starting at 7:30… there was a big crowd by 8 a.m.
8:45 gathering for our group for departure and arrive at 10 a.m. sharp at Hampton Court for a quick 2 hour tour of the gardens. Or the palace, whichever was our preference. Most of us chose the gardens, and visited formal gardens, a huge grapevine, rose garden with a pleasant chat with one of the gardeners, and walled kitchen gardens. Aphids are indeed a huge problem these days, and many gardeners have apparently had to uproot their roses and start again, and another pest is making headway on oak trees. A moth suspected of emigrating from France is attacking these, a big problem in the UK with their oak tree numbers, so spraying devices that can spray pesticide from underneath have been developed. It won’t be able to treat a fraction of the trees in the wild so hard times ahead…
inner courtyard
formal gardens
fountains and gravel
the gardener hard at work
I’m unlikely to ever get my lettuce so beautifully planted!
love these metal obelisks! Great climbing material for clematis
Hampton court palace was actually a small village with all the court folk…
Back on the bus to RHS Wisely, the flagship of the RHS gardens. I’m gobsmacked that I haven’t ever visited here, after a day of admiring its wonders. We walked about 10 km and didn’t see half of it, but were awed by over half of its sights (does that sound like Frodo at his birthday party?).
Where to start?
camus lilies wild throughout the 360 acres
wisteria tunnel – just a little past its best
White wisteria still impressive!
Rose gardens – of course…
espalier roses on the wall garden
exotic garden
water lilies near the entrance
summerhouse in the rhodo gardens
bell rhodos
pink rhodos
near the horticultural school
everywhere the landscaping was just fabulous; this tree planter was surrounded by microclover and the waves of the rings blended in beautifullly with the surroundings
The world food garden was filled with fascinating veggies, and interspersed with tables for people to dine. The flow of the garden was amazing, yet each section was distinct.
It was quite warm by this point, and sunscreen was reapplied…
Here is an interesting option for those raspberries!
the wildlife garden featured, amongst other things, a goose roosting on the roof of the shed…
Round every corner there was something interesting. We made our way to the Piet Oudolf reworked border – in its second year
In its original form it sported straight lines, and diagonal mass plantings. Personally, I prefer the curves but it’s not unanimous.
There will be something for every season
the bees just loved the purple flowers…
Next the rock gardens, and we stumbled on the pitcher plants on the way
all looking very happy and ready for prey…
All way more exotic than our natives which are inconspicuously green!
Rock garden, candleabra primulas
Alison in the rock garden
rock garden waterfall
One of my favourite parts was the alpine glass houses
Outside there were slat gadens with specimens
Chamaceyparis alpine version
different slat size
Outside the glass house
And who couldn’t smile at these down by the glass house?
What a spectacular garden. We agreed that we ended with a bang. Interesting gift shop, then a trip through road works and rush hour back to the hotel (glad I wasn’t driving!). A quick change then out for a final dinner before we all disperse tomorrow.
Overall thoughts on the tour – amazing gardens. Would have been better with an actual garden guide. Logistics well worked out, local guides and bus drivers were excellent. Long enough, we are TIRED and my bones ache from the walking. But, great variety and we were soooo lucky with the weather…
There are so many beautiful flowers in this world… and many of them were on display today.
The day started as yesterday with a meh breakfast, a trip to Cafe Nero for real coffee (and a couple of early morning excellent instant coffees for me which I’d brought along) then with caffeine levels in the relatively safe range, we were onto the bus for a short ride to the Royal Chelsea Hospital grounds, site of the Chelsea Flower Show. It was raining, but the forecast did say we would have a dry period between noon and 3 p.m. The bus driver had to do a three block loop to get to the right drop off point, and that took as long as getting there did, but traffic was very well managed around the area. Our guide gave us survival guide tips enroute, some of which were helpful and some too late (“no point in taking an umbrella, it’s too crowded to use it”; “wear comfortable shoes”..). I elected hiking boots today as they are more waterproof than my runners.
Off the bus we trotted and were handed our tickets – these cost online 119 GBP for an all day admission, I learned last night during my research. Whew. Champagne and seafood lunch booked for 11:30 another 96 GBP – ha ha. Alison and I had sandwiches and grapes from Waitrose with us, purchased yesterday evening. Alison is as thrifty as I, happily. We picked up programs and headed off to see some of the smaller show gardens, and larger vendors down the first aisle. Not much traffic at first (the show opens at 8 a.m. officially but apparently unofficially @ 7 a.m., like Costco, you can often get in). That would have been me, given my druthers, to avoid crowds… When the rain stopped about 11, albeit it had only been light, the traffic definitely increased. What was neat was that all the vendors had gardens or plants installed, and throughout the show it was amazing to see that they all looked like they had been there for years, rather than at most a couple of weeks. Transplanting techniques are obviously very advanced.
Royal Hospital Chelsea
One of many fully dressed Royal Chelsea pensioners enjoying cake in the rose booth, aptly in front of the variety “Chelsea Pensioner”
an apropos vendor near the start, with umbrellas
There was everything for sale; many water features, garden furniture, innovative summer houses, sculptures galore… this one had a moving ring of water as well as water running down the middle. Unfortunately the video isn’t supported on this site – it was really lovely.
gorgeous greenhouses and cold frames for sale here
Lots of very quirky sculptures
and familiar ones…
A tree fountain
not your usual garden furniture, but only 10,000 GBP at the CFS (normally 12K). Gorgeous, and comfy.
made of metal, but amazingly comfortable with the seat cover
and if your taste was Highland cows in the garden, there were plenty of opportunities to purchase these!
some modern version included
if your taste leaned to wilder animals…
or perhaps fruit?
All set very attractively amongst beautiful plant arrangements.
We moved to the show gardens when the weather dried a little, and there might have been a caffeine boost in the interim. This is the gold medal show garden; Japanese.
It was a beautiful, zen space (apart from all the people jostling to see it- you had to take turns at the front to take pictures, but people were mostly courteous about stepping back after their turn).
This was a busy place, but not as crazy as the Monty Don dog garden directly opposite. We tried to see it on our first round, but there were people 6 deep and we’d been advised that things quieted down around 3 pm. at the show gardens so we moved on. Three other attempts during the day to get near it, including after 3 p.m., were unsuccessful as there were media presentations and shoots being done every time we were near, and that drew 10 deep as people flocked to watch. Moths to a light…. I never did see the dogpond or the area in front of the bench. The idea of the garden was dog paths through the riotous growth, with a pond to wash the dog, and a summerhouse to retreat to in the heat. What we saw of it was really attractive, but Gary pointed out that he’d planted opium poppies in amongst – no wonder it was a happy (and quiet) dog đŸ™‚
paths for the dog to explore
Lovely colours and dense diverse growth, like Great Dixter
the summer house
getting ready for a shoot – yet again
Seriously, not again??? 5 layers of people oggling the media stuff.
Seeing other shoots happening in the main pavilion, it was interesting to note how much supporting cast and machinery was dragged along to do one of these.
Other show gardens of note:
pathway garden – interesting landscape slatting
and xeroscopic planting
avanade intelligent garden, full of sensors to monitor and appropriately respond to conditions
Hospitalfield arts garden
Enroute to another section, some quirky instillations – pot man and dog
nice way to use a phone booth!
The pavilion was next on the agenda, after downing our sandwiches. There were very few seating areas around so we ended up on the grass. Toilet stops saw long queues but incredibly good management inside such that the lines moved very quickly and the facilities were impressive – I had expected portables but these were flush toilets and very nice sinks, soap and paper towels available. I guess the well dressed would not use a portable – and there were many of these, in stilettos and flowered garb, clearly there to be seen.
The judging had been done the day before, but some exhibits were just getting notified of their wins today.
South Africa captured the best exhibit and was a spectacular riot of colours and forms
We also loved Barbuda and Antigua, with the pink sand and cut shells.
This won in a different category and couldn’t be more different; we had eventually found a seat for coffee with a volunteer from this booth and had a good chat with her about how she got to be a volunteer, then met her later on her shift. There is accomodation on site here (near Kerry) if anyone wants to see the real thing!
This lovely acer won best tree; there were cascades of acers in several spots
The volunteers manning the booths were always happy to chat, and this one below was manned by a Turkish immigrant (here 3 months) who worked in a private plant research facility after some previous work on vertical gardening.
pollinator garden
An explosion of fuscias
Salvias! Almost as good as Great Compton Gardens
Delphiniums… chatting to this volunteer sent us over later to an interesting peat free compost alternative – a former Yorkshire sheep farmer using comfrey and wool clippings for a water retaining compost mixture. The UK and Europe are far ahead of us in preserving bogs and banning peat extraction.
And then there was the section of cut flowers…
Mums
gladioli
lillies
Pinks
Crowds were thick at times and it had a disneyesque feeling with the garbage containers being wheeled out of curtained off areas in the back… all very efficient though.
Having a little rain in the morning really helped keep away some of the numbers, esp the well clad lot.
The section on balcony gardens was fabulous, unfortunately tough to photograph as we hit this section during the busiest time.
flowers, furniture and art on a balcony
block style
cement board planters and 6″ deep blocks on the foot surface for durability
A lot packed into a small space! One could call this a garden of the future as well…
The Japanese small space – functional and zen
Karen with unknown person who stepped into the shot, during the rainy period. I will point out I only drank one coffee at a time, I was holding Alison’s while she took the shot.
There was much, much more but no more room to show it all. And we didn’t see it all either – a huge volume of stuff in a very small space, though it didn’t seem small. Again, astonishing how seasoned the gardens looked considering they were there only a short time. I watched a video on you tube last night which documented the building of one booth; really interesting.
We took the tube home, as we didn’t want to hang around until 6:30 p.m. (we were tapped out an hour before that) and got Indian takeout for dinner. We had trouble ordering on line so I eventually phoned in our order and during pickup the owner was quite concerned to hear the website wasn’t working properly – he threw in a free bottle of beer which we appreciated.
Trial pack tonight to see if I can still get away with only one case – looks hopeful.
Would I go to the Chelsea Flower show again? Those who know me know how much I LOVE crowds. Probably, but wouldn’t come over specially for it and would get there very early. Overall, it was wondrous, the downside being the crowds even on members only day. At least most were polite, different from North America. I would try and book some kind of meal mid day, as there is not enough seating and had the rain continued it might have been miserable trying to find somewhere to park to eat. Happily, the weather forecast was wrong in our part of Chelsea and we had sunshine alternating with clouds but no more rain after it stopped about 11 a.m.
Hmmm. Almost everyone has a story about their room in the new hotel, and one couple whose room was reportedly filthy have packed up to move today. Two have already moved rooms. Alison’s heating was NOT fixed yesterday, so she reported it again today. My safe wasn’t working, and after the “engineer” tested it and got the same error message on trying to lock it (surprise!), said he would be back later to replace the safe. I asked what to do with the valuables meantime, could I put them in a safe at the front desk and the reply was “no, just leave them somewhere in the room”. ?????? Fortunately they came back before I left, and unfortunately they came back before I left – as they were working in the hall right outside the bathroom, blocking passage during the replacement while I was trying to get ready to leave for the day…. at least I had somewhere safe to put my passports before I left.
Buffet breakfast is not up to Tunbridge Wells standards…. ugh, the coffee here too is undrinkable, so Alison and I nipped around the corner to Cafe Nero before we left, to supplement the instant I had drunk earlier.
Short drive to Kew Gardens, and our new tour guide Kim was full of useful information enroute, as a tour guide should be (hint, hint, “study leader” Gary). We unloaded at the Elizabeth Gate and were let loose with our maps. We had the whole day at Kew, with pre-ordered lunch at noon, and it was forecast to be up to 22C today; the sun came out fairly quickly.
We scattered from the gate into the usual groups, and we spent the day exploring (not necessarily in order):
the Palm conservatory (interesting building from Victorian times, quite an architectural triumph):
We went up a quintessential Victorian staircase to the viewing platform and every step the temperature increased noticeably. Quite an amazing collection though.
The lovely staircase up
2. The waterlily building (fabulous Victoria lillies like the ones I saw in Guyana):
and these amazing ones with variegated leaves:
3. The Princess Diana conservatory: (multiple different growing zones from stone plants that were tiny and resembled rocks in an arid environment, to exuberant tropical growth in very hot and humid climes)
the carnivorous plant room; way more exotic than our pitcher plants, and varying in size from tiny to these sizes in a myriad of forms
4. the rock garden:
(dome from the alpine garden in background)
Convolvulus
Romulea
5. the alpine garden….
delicate forms of columbine and others reduced in size in a harsher environment
compact but still very colourful
Throughout we were accompanied by school groups with loud kids (whatever happened to “be quiet when you’re there, please?” though it was good to see them having fun and engaged).
There was an installation called “the Hive” which has up to 1000 LED lights which light up in response to the activity of bees in a monitored hive at the gardens; the one thousand LED lights glow according to the vibrations of bees that are currently active. In the background, music sound is played in response to the amount of activity in the key of C, which is the key that bees have been shown to communicate in (shouldn’t it be in the key of B?). Very innovative, but unfortunately also inhabited when we visited by a class of green pinnied youngsters diving and sliding over the floor in great glee and enthusiastic voice.
We had an amazing lunch at the botanical conservatory cafe at noon, beautifully presented and delicious, a lovely interlude in the walking.
We had had to pre-order our dishes several days ago, a process that was quite hilarious as Lynn struggled to pin us down to selections and had to repeatedly list the options…
cauliflower soup
pumpkin with quinoa
The dessert, for our selection a blood orange sorbet with chocolate mousse was a lovely juxtaposition of dark rich chocolate with sharp citrus. Definitely have to try that, and maybe with a bergamot sorbet ?
After lunch we set off to see more and wear off the calories just imbibed! Alison and I visited the temperate conservatory which is actually larger than the Palm conservatory and houses plants that can’t survive < 10C;
then headed out to the treetop walk, and of course the rose garden:
thank you to the tourists who chatted forever in front of this bed and finally moved out of the frame…
I love that most of the roses are traditional tea roses with lovely scents;
Pink rose; evidence of aphids here too, obviously a widespread problem
Throughout the gardens there were attractive climbing structures for all kinds of plants.
and then to the bamboo forest via a lake crossing;
We sat down on a bench to consider our next move and had a chat with some Canada Geese, who suddenly became quick agitated and talkative, the reason being an upcoming visit from a foe, the fox:
The bamboo forest was replete with multiple types of carefully contained islands of bamboo and some lovely gingko varieties:
We saw a mother deer and fawn in this area as well but they were too shy to be photographed.
There are many magnificent trees providing shade, including this lovely Moroccan cedar. I remember going to Kew with a picnic lunch and book many times in the past and selecting a spot in the shade they provided.
Finally, on the way back we swung around to Kew Palace to see the Queen’s gardens behind, and a wedding photography session out front
formal gardens in the rear
borders
laburnum tunnel, photo courtesy of Alison McWalter – just to prove I was actually there!
magnificent peonies
There might have also been a cup of coffee or two in there (pretty awful but containing caffeine), and a visit or two to gift shops.
We met back at the Elizabeth gate at 5:30 p.m. and thankfully piled onto the bus for the return to the hotel – 12 km or so of walking and we came nowhere near to seeing everything. What can you say – Kew Gardens are fabulous!
Fortunately Alison’s room heating is finally fixed, and we dashed out for fortifications for lunch for the Chelsea Flower show visit tomorrow before lowering our tired bodies into a hot bath to soak some fairly tired muscles…
In which we return to London to roost via an amazing garden, a historical site and a filler.
Breakfast was advertised to start earlier today, at 7 instead of 8 but arriving down at the restaurant I am told that the hot buffet doesn’t start until 7:30. Okay… I also learn that the last minute instructions from Lynn, our tour guide, to bring our luggage down at 9 a.m. for a 9:15 leave time were erroneous, that in actuality we have paid for porterage and were to put our cases outside the doors by 8 a.m. Folk had been notified by what’s app of the change, but Gary hadn’t let me know despite knowing that I’m not on what’s app. Oh well, too bad, so sad. I had a few minutes to throw more things in the case before returning to the dining room for my fix of beans, tomatoes, scrambled eggs and mushrooms.
Got the luggage down before the rest had been loaded on the bus, so all good. We managed to extract ourselves at the scheduled time and first stop was a private garden called Longbarn. It was the precursor to Sissinghurst, the first garden that Vita Sackville West and Harold Nicholson designed, and visit is by invitation only. Located on a remote backcountry road, it was quite a challenge getting there in our girnormous bus. We got stuck at one point by building trucks and parked cars on both sides of the narrow road but fortunately Sam was able to locate the owners of the building trucks to move them so we could get through… we were welcomed by the house owner and head gardener Rebecca Lemonius, who together with the previous owner gave us a history and background of the garden. We were offered tea/coffee and cake then set loose; two hours of wandering around passed really quickly in such a magical spot.
Background from Rebecca. Note the wavy roofline behind her…
Very quirky house, very few straight lines as it was built without a foundation a la building techniques of the time (1360) and there has been considerable settling since. The second part of the house, to the right, was a barn addition added later.
Lovely old barn doors on both the house and barn.
Gorgeous terraces, the first concept of “room” gardens and a cacophy of birds in the background made it feel a world apart.
White wisteria near the entrance
top terrace
Tulbaghia
Aeonium – so many beautiful plants, artfully placed
Kolwitzia
top terrace – yellow rambling rose on the house
Cristus
the bottom terraces led gently up to the top with a unifying staircase
the garden was filled with places to sit and contemplate
only 20 mins by London by train, it was another world
bottom “room”
Peony
roses – the first we’ve seen without aphids covering the buds
roses on the border of the meadow
diversity in roses.. all looked gloriously healthy
rockwall garden
This has to be my favourite garden so far on the tour, tied with Great Dixter. I took many more pictures than I can show you here!
Reluctantly, we returned to the bus and had another eventful trip back to the main road, narrowly scraping by cars parked on either side of the road. One driver reluctantly backed up after we squeaked through two others on a curve and encountered her coming in the opposite direction – she backed up so far she nearly landed in the living room of the house nearby… yikes. However, we made it back to the main road intact.
Next up was Eltham Palace, a former royal palace where Henry VIII grew up, and bought and refurbished by Americans in art deco style. A bizarre combination…. one of the few remaining period pieces was the Great Hall, where the ceiling beams were magnificent.
There was a talk going on in the corner from a volunteer, but from our vantage point in the gallery it looked like they were receiving a sermon…
Amongst the bizarre combinations were this gaudy bathroom
Virginia Courtauld’s ensuite – does the gold plated gaudiness remind anyone of a contemporary example?
The bomb shelter in the basement was fairly well equipped including a pool table.
It did sport fairly good views of London’s downtown financial district – photo courtesy of Alison McWalter. (dogwoods still in full bloom here though I still marvel at how advanced the artichokes are).
The gardens had some pretty spots (clematis above for eg), and were known for the contemporary 100 m long borders.
We had another day of lovely weather, and by this time it was t-shirt temps.
This garden too, had morning glory problems and were attempting to lure them up climbing sticks to isolate them and make them vulnerable to gently applied herbicide. I guess the standard gardening advice when asked how to best deal with morning glory, “Move!” wasn’t an option here….
hard to go wrong with a border given the gorgeous walls in the background…
gladioli with moat in background
Rock garden – photo courtesy Alison McWalter
Wisteria on terrace of Palace – growing on pillars relocated from Bank of England after its’ renovation
Here too in the grounds there were many spots to plop down and be contemplative. There was an interesting swath of laurel which was left for yards in a low trim, like a high groundcover (seen on the right). Must be a challenging trimming job.
The lower gardens were styled in rooms as well, though the rose garden was afflicted by aphids again.
There was an iris project close to the entrance which yielded some lovely colour.
After final refortification with another drinkable coffee (we’d had a quick sandwich and coffee at the start) we were off to the next spot on the itinerary, Horniman Gardens. Or were we? Trying to leave the palace parking lot the bus driver was faced with 2 vans on one side of the road, and another car parked directly across on the other, leaving little space to get between and certainly not enough for our monster bus. Unfazed, Sam put the behemoth in park and hopped out, walked over to the school nearby whose name was identified on the side of the vans, and returned with a woman with dangling keys who moved the car (stupidly parked on the narrowest point of the curve in the road)… turns out she was a teacher on her way home and had just “run in to get something she’d forgotten”.
And so it was into London traffic, past the famous Maudsley Hospital amongst other landmarks, to Horniman Park. This is a large public park, with good views of the city and expansive green spaces for the public to use for free. It contained a (rather sad looking) specimen of a Woollemia tree, a dye garden, and we found mulberry trees at the back of the latter.
Dye garden
The dye garden was chained off and we watched with interest as someone hopped over the chain fence, took multiple pictures including while stepping onto the bed to get a closer view, then proceeded on his journey, hopping over the fence on the other side.
lovely carved bench near the perennial garden
London skyline from Horniman park – closer!
It seemed like a bit of a filler visit, but some time meditating on a bench in the shade (Alison and I) while others basked in the sun (most of the rest of the group!) passed a very pleasant hour. Then it was back into rush hour traffic, fortunately most of it heading in the opposite direction to us, and we learned that Sam was a former double decker London city bus driver hence the explanation for why he was never flustered!
It was heartening to see some decent bike lanes on our way through town, and many cyclists on them pedalling through the inner core. Most but not all sported helmets and there is no law here to wear one, unfortunately. It was very different driving past landmarks such as Victoria Station, which I’ve only ever accessed from underground, I think, and fun driving past the iconic MI5 building. Going alongside Hyde Park in Knightsbridge I was able to identify The Berkeley where I’d been a few days ago picking up the patisserie from the Patisserie Cedric Grolet… We were deposited in Kensington in a fairly tony neighbourhood, and decanted onto the sidewalk with our suitcases. Sadly, we are saying goodbye to Sam and Lynn here and changing buses (hopefully to a smaller one) and guides. The hotel here is huge, with a lot of Middle Eastern customers and many things are not functioning well – Alison is currently engaged in getting her heating fixed as her room temperature approximates a refrigerator interior. I was “upgraded” to the 6th floor for some mysterious reason, and the upgrade appears to entail a smaller room, and being the only recipient in our group of a bottle of water….
Laundry done, Alison and I went for a quick stroll in the ‘hood and discovered the nearest green space was a private garden needing a key for entry. I offered to hoist Alison over the wrought iron fence but she declined. We dined en masse at a nearby pub with preset menus; the starter of feta cheese and humus was nice, the main of salmon cakes was good and the most important course, dessert, a very disappointing sticky toffee pudding made with molasses cake and very little caramel sauce.
Long but interesting day, and once again I forgot to start Strava though I can summarize by saying, there was lots of walking!!
