The gardens of England

[HertzvanRental]

Great Dixter is really lovely.

Dixter and Pashley are very close. Makes a great day out!!

 

[anothersam]

Pashley Manor and Great Dixter?

Yes and not yet. We haven't tended to go to a lot of private gardens, so as to get our money's worth out of the National Trust. Running out of such places to go though – we've been at this for almost 20 years.

 

[anothersam]

Next up: Scotney Castle, which narrowly avoids East Sussex to land in Kent. When most people think of Scotney, they probably think this:

Apologies to garden lovers who go to garden threads to look at, you know, gardens, but I'm going to concentrate on the house up the hill instead.

It's chock-a-block with the usual paintings

The horsey set considers an offer

old photographs

old books

and bells to remind you who was in charge.

As you wander from well-appointed room

to room

Dinner for 10? Not feeling sociable today, Sir?

you can almost imagine living there, including the helpful volunteer staff on hand to answer any questions, like Google. It also gives you ideas for your own cheerful hovel. For example, I'd love to have one of these

to coddle my favourites. The pantry is definitely better stocked than ours

including sugar cubes for the horses, a bit too high for them to reach on their own.

Margaret Thatcher rented rooms on the estate for years, possibly to be close to Disgusted down the road in Tunbridge Wells. (Denis also liked a nearby golf course, according to one of the volunteers.) Wikipedia says the flat she was installed in was called the Belfry, which is such an obvious setup for a joke it would be unsportsmanlike to go there. I don't think she was on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

 

[HertzvanRental]

and Wales and Scotland. (Sorry, the gardens of Britain doesn't have quite the same ring. Oh, and Northern Ireland.) We begin our tour with marvellous Marle Place, a private garden in Kent. Peaceful green spaces flowing one into another, whimsical topiary, a pool for eye candy, amphibians for an earful, and sculpture which isn't at all objectionable even to philistines like myself who more often than not give anything more modern than Michelangelo short shrift

View attachment 93818
Not David, but not bad

I'll admit here and now that I mostly go to gardens because my wife likes them and I like her. Our usual routine is that she flits about the flowers like a honeybee while I seek out the nearest shade.

View attachment 93819

View attachment 93831

However, something about Marle Place captivated me. I think it started with the pool

View attachment 93822

Pretty standard as small bodies of chlorinated water go, but something about it pulled me out of my usual drowsinated garden state and made me thirsty for more.

View attachment 93823

What more can you ask for than a swing? The National Trust doesn't provide swings (and if they did they'd probably charge extra for it.) Even the knot seemed pleasingly tied. I was never a Scout and have no idea what kind it was.

Sculpture was scattered about, fitting right in wherever we stumbled upon it. I was particularly taken by

View attachment 93824

And what's this?

View attachment 93825

Could it be…?

View attachment 93826

That was very hard for my autofocus to latch on to. Of course, a rusty old bike is almost de rigueur in a garden

View attachment 93827

We were served a very nice lunch much coveted by some of the locals

View attachment 93828

then left, entirely satisfied.

My dear Sam. On the strength of your recommendation, myself and Mrs v R are paying a visit tomorrow. If she is not impressed you will be in deep trouble!!!

 

[anothersam]

I accept full responsibility, except for the weather. While you're there have a rest on this lovely bench, which overlooks the pond:

Don't worry, it's not as vertiginous as it looks.

 

[HertzvanRental]

I accept full responsibility, except for the weather. While you're there have a rest on this lovely bench, which overlooks the pond:

View attachment 95812
Don't worry, it's not as vertiginous as it looks.

I shall send a report back to base!

 

[HertzvanRental]

I shall send a report back to base!

As promised, report!
A fine place. Very little rain to spoil the fun, and very much liked the balance that has been struck between formality and normality. Very much taken with their wild flower areas and liked the fact that all sorts of odds and sods appeared in unlikely places!
On the way home we popped into Sissinghurst and, even closer to home, into the Wagon and Horses!!
Both if us enjoyed-thanks for the heads up.

 

[snorri]

Even the knot seemed pleasingly tied. I was never a Scout and have no idea what kind it was.

A bowline.

 

[anothersam]

@HertzvanRental – Marle Place & Sissinghurst on the same day; garden lovers will need a lie down after that.
@snorri – "Most notably, it is easy to untie after being subjected to a load." Which is a polite way of saying "Thank god he got off that swing, hurry let's remove it before he comes back."

 

[mybike]

Next up: Scotney Castle, which narrowly avoids East Sussex to land in Kent. When most people think of Scotney, they probably think this:

View attachment 94877

Never really interested in gardens when I used to go there.

 

[swee'pea99]

Gardens is one of the things we do really well. Parks being another.

 

[anothersam]

Never really interested in gardens when I used to go there.

View attachment 95991

Everyone looks pretty blasé about the historical re-enactment just out of shot in which some poor English Heritage volunteer is being boiled in real boiling oil. A different time.