A blog about my garden, my inspiration to garden and things about gardening that make me happy. UK No: 1 Garden Blog 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 (Vuelio). Garden Media Guild Blog of the Year 2019
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A couple of days after my visit to the Manor House, Upton Grey, I was on the road again this time heading for Hilldrop Garden in Essex, the garden of John Little. This visit was organised by the Garden Media Guild, of which I may have mentioned before, I am a proud member. I don't actually know where to start in describing this garden. It is stunningly beautiful, full of wildflowers of all…
I know I have said previously that Fothergill's Press Day is one of the highlights of my gardening year and it remains true. I was delighted when the invitation arrived and accepted very quickly. I was very interested to go this year due to the heatwaves and drought that we have been experiencing. We were told that they have a licence to water, but even so things looked dry. and they looked short.…
I bought Rosamund Wallenger's book about the restoration of the garden at The Manor House, Upton Grey probably when it was published in 2000, it was certainly some years ago. I remember how excited I was to read the book charting her and her husband's journey to recreate the garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll from original plans. I could not imagine anything more amazing to discover that you had…
A few weeks ago I posted my latest 'The Questions' answered by Adam Woolcott who is the gardening expert for Webb Garden Machinery. I intimated that I would be reviewing one of their products here and, at last, here it is. It has taken me a while to post this review as its been an odd year for gardening with all the weather that we have had. Well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it. Plus:…
I had wanted to visit Audley End House and Gardens for some time. I knew that Garden Organic had taken over the running of the kitchen garden some years ago and I was interested to visit. I confess, I had no idea the scale of the rest of Audley End. Audley End is one of the few houses that English Heritage stewards. It is an extremely grand stately home built in the 1600s. It was briefly owned by…
It has barely rained at all this month. There was some fairly determined but brief drizzle at one point, but mainly it has been hot (very hot) and dry. The garden is crispy. I, negligently, went away for a few days when it was dry and hot and I did not ask the person looking after the house to water the hanging baskets. I came home to a dead hanging basket. I have been watering it since I returned…
Cedric Morris, reknown artist and gardener, lived at Benton End near Ipswich with his partner Arthur Lett-Haines from 1939 until Cedric's death in 1982, (Arthur sadly dying earlier in 1978). The house and garden was gifted to the Garden Museum in 2021 and they have been restoring the house and gardens. This year they started a limited opening of the gardens. It is still work in progress and I was…
It appears it is seven years since I last visited Melbourne Hall, this hardly seems possible! I would have said it was probably four or five years, but no, shame on me. I was there for the Garden Museum Literary Festival, which delightfully was a mere forty minutes from home. Whilst I gained in not travelling far or having to pay for a hotel, I lost in that I had to have a meeting in the morning.…
There is a new kid on the flower show block, RHS Badminton Flower Show. This year there is no show at Hampton Court and instead I headed west to Badminton. This is where I confess that Badminton is not where I thought it was. For some reason I had it located somewhere in Buckinghamshire, or Berkshire or maybe south Bedfordshire. It is is none of these places, it is in Gloucestershire. I decided I…
I was pleased to be invited to join the blog tour of reviews of James Dale's book 'The Future of Bananas'. It sounded like an interesting book and I always enjoy learning new things. I have not paid for this paid, nor have I been paid to write this review. My words and opinions are my own. This book is very interesting, Professor James Dale leads a team who have developed the world's first…
