Much easier hike back to the airport DOWN the metro stairs than it was going up! Able to bypass the horrendous lineup at the check in counter and dropped off two bags, carefully packed with all the valuables in the main bag! The plastic knife from my travel cutlery set was confiscated at security despite having carried it around for two years with no prior difficulties…. grrr.
Popped into WH Smith as an afterthought, still looking for Fry’s peppermint cream chocolate bars – had looked extensively in England and Scotland with no success. And there they were, in their abundant glory, the usual outrageous airport pricing, but made a dent in the pile and headed to duty free to add another Scotch that isn’t obtainable in Canada to the collection.
Lounge was relatively quiet until near departure, when a couple of yakkers got on their phones and bored everyone surrounding with their loud conversations. Plane left on time, and the trip back was infinitely better than the trip out, in business class. Accidentally set the alarm off in the washroom and was puzzled why there was so much thumping on the door as I washed my hands – surely nobody was that desperate?? Oops. Uber home from YVR to view the growth of weeds in the garden, and the trip is complete.
Garden tour section: Would not do a UBC Alumnus trip again. Expensive, and false advertising (no guiding done). Too big a group for my liking (full at 24), although there wasn’t a single really annoying person on it, defying the rule. But, it was a great tour despite all and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were spoiled by the Tunbridge Wells Spa Hotel as the first one. Chelsea Flower Show – fabulous – bucket list item, would go again if I was in the area at the right time, but would start early.
Favourite gardens: Longbarn, Great Dixter and RHS Wisely.
Shropshire – stunning countryside, and great rambling.
Visiting relatives is always a highlight and super to reconnect with Neil after so many years. The north of Scotland is always great to visit, with the bonus of meeting the two boys who have recently joined Andrew and Grant’s family.
In which more family is visited and the return trip starts.
Delivered to Glasgow Queens st. station without hitting much traffic, so was good and early for the 10:30 train. Train left late, and there was only 13 minutes for the train transfer in Aberdeen – next train to Inverness in another 2 hours so was resigned to another wait but amazingly (according to everyone else getting off) they held the Inverness train 5 mins for the transfer. The second train wasn’t as pleasant with a group of very loud young men taking up the empty seats and drinking beer (expressly prohibited and hidden whenever the conductor came by). Thanks for noise cancelling earphones. Stepped right into a cab and through Forres to my cousin’s place – lots of traffic and Forres seems to be twice the size I remember.
Lots of family visits ensued including the first time meeting the two new adopted sons of Andrew and Grant, lovely kids and what amazing parents. Did some walks, had some lovely meals, accumulated rowies, sweeties and associated sundries to take back, and added the haggis to the case finally dislodging the second bag.
The Dava Way trail
view from the trail
the broom is out!
The trail passes by a resting distillery, Dallas Dhu
the buildings seem in good repair despite no whiskey production inside
The trail passed a field of pigs and then went into the forest, with a creek babbling at the foot of the bank.
The birds were singing, and it was very zen! I only passed a couple of people with dogs and otherwise had it to myself.
The last night we got together for a pub meal, which yielded some very good haddock and chips (for me). The front of the menu noted that the prices had increased, and a long explanation of why (mostly payroll taxes, apparently).
lovely rose at the Mosset pub
The additions to the MacDonald family, with and without their cool glasses.
And so, the holiday comes to an end. First leg is over, encompassing dropoff at the Forres train station by a kind friend of Jenny’s, train to Dyce (near Aberdeen), taxi to Aberdeen airport. Trust a Scot, the driver refused to take me to the actual terminal but dropped me near an airport hotel to avoid the 5 GBP surcharge for going into the airport grounds…bit of a hike in from there but worth it! Too early for the check in but guided by an experienced traveller I found a coffee shop and waited it out, and after check in and a SLOW security line, found the airport lounge for dinner. Flight to Heathrow was packed – full of screaming children, thank you noise cancelling earphones! After an interminable wait for luggage off to the underground for another wait for a Picadilly line train, out after two stops to discover with chagrin that there was no lift at Hatton Cross Station…. got a workout going up three flights of stairs with the luggage now weighted down with 6 cans of haggis amongst other things… one step at a time, literally! Hard to understand the walking instructions to the hotel, which didn’t tell me I had to cross immediately as I found out when the sidewalk ran out on the other side after half a block… but eventually made it to the airport hotel with everything intact, feet now up and having a lovely cup of fruity tea.
Home tomorrow afternoon, if Air Canada doesn’t cancel or leave late again….
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 🙂
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 🙂
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 🙂
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.
