Gardens to Visit: Hatfield House East Garden

Hatfield House has huge grounds; there's a park with tree walks, one over 5 km long, a daffodil ride, several distinct woods, and two different gardens. The West Garden is open every day but the East Garden is more private and only open on a Wednesday. It was laid out by the 5th Marchioness of Salisbury

You have to pay a little extra to get into the East Garden but it's rather nice to visit a beautiful place with hardly anyone else around. And I think perhaps not everyone realises the garden is there, or maybe they don't want to pay an extra £4 but that's their loss. I think there were 5 other people in the garden the whole time we were there.

The garden is in two distinct parts. There's a highly structured part with pleached trees, lots of brick and stonework, and flower beds defined by closely clipped hedges, and then there's a more natural area with a large lake. It was my first outing after my illness and to tell you the truth, I think I was a bit ambitious. I had to have a lot of sit downs. And had I waked around the lake, I think I would have had to call for help.

This slightly random gateway leads to steps as you can see., and the steps lead to a little landing stage. This lake is called the New Pond and dates from the seventeenth century.

There are lots of beautiful trees around the New Pond. I really must get round the other side one day.

Just enough wildflowers to make the manicured part of the garden look extra fabulous.

The garden is divided into separate rooms by beautifully clipped yew hedging. This little room is an orchard. Well, I say little, of course this room is bigger than my whole garden.

The formal part of the garden is beautifully maintained. It looks as though they mow the grass every day and cut the hedges every other day. Check out the sharp cut of this maze. Sadly it isn't open to the public. Such a shame. I'd love to get close to that sphinx.  But hedges are more fragile than they look so even a few visitors a week would probably be too many.

I don't know if this view can be seen from the part of the house that's open to the public but here's a link to the East Garden web page which gives a much better idea of the flower beds than my photographs.

It's a lovely garden and I'd really like to go back if there's ever a Wednesday when I'm not at work and it isn't freezing cold and pouring with rain. It's not very far from home so I may get lucky.

Gardens to Visit: Thornbury Castle

This pretty little garden is in the grounds of a swanky Gloucestershire hotel. 

But that hotel started life as a Tudor palace. It looks as though it has fallen into ruin, but in fact work was stopped mid-flow when Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham fell foul of Henry VIII and the building he envisaged was never completed. It seems that Henry (or his advisers) was suspicious of the grandeur of Stafford's plans and he was suspected of having designs on the throne. Today it seems amazing that anyone might be beheaded simply because their building schemes seem too fancy.

You do not have to stay in the hotel to visit the garden. 

I know they provide afternoon teas on the lawn, and perhaps you can also drop in for a coffee or glass of wine and take the opportunity to explore the garden.
The garden is not as fancy as the building but adds a little extra something to a visit to this amazing building.
I can't help feeling that had Thornbury Castle been completed the gardens would have been considerably grander, but perhaps not so charming.

If your garden is surrounded by a high Yew hedge you can't go wrong.

The tea tables are set out on the lawns in the garden courtyard but the flowers are mostly planted in a room hidden behind the Yew.

Old brick or 500 year old stone walls serve as a beautiful backdrop to any planting.

A wander round the garden offers views from all angles of this fabulous building.

After a large hotel breakfast it was nice to have such a pleasant little garden to stroll round. 

It probably did me a power of good.

There are some large trees to admire on the other side of the building, and a vegetable garden too.

Next door to the castle there's a nice country church in a graveyard, and then about 5 minutes walk away the little town of Thornbury.

It's always fun to stay at a grand hotel like this but rather than have dinner there we ate at a local pub, Hawkes House, which was relaxed and welcoming, and the food was very good too.

Gardens to Visit: Avebury Manor

Of course Avebury is a fabulous stone circle in Wiltshire with huge undressed stones, very well worth a visit, but in the middle of the circle is the village of Avebury, and Avebury Manor and its gardens are in the centre of the village.

Part of the garden is very formal with clipped box hedges, yew topiary and lily pools.

And part of the garden is very relaxed and feels almost as though it has been left to its own devices.

The lady who sold us our tickets told me it is lovely at daffodil time but I'm not sure where they grow.

And then a couple of minutes walk from this pretty little garden and you are back with the majestic stones of the Avebury stone circle. They really are amazing and definitely worth a visit. Indeed, worth a fairly big detour.

Just around the corner is the strange and symmetrical Silbury Hill. 

Nobody knows why it was built, but it is the largest man man mound in Europe. 

Both Avebury and Silbury Hill are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, as is Stonehenge. Most people know Stonehenge but you can't get up close to the stones these days.

The huge skies of Wiltshire.

Fabulous stuff... but take time from these huge monuments to relax in the garden of Avebury Manor.