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Recommending gardens to visit...or not!

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merlotgran Wed 17-Aug-16 17:08:30

We've just got back from Barnsdale Gardens. We usually try to do two or three garden visits during the summer and as this one is only just over an hour from us it seemed a good bet especially as I loved Geoff Hamilton's Cottage Garden series.

What a disappointment! I know late August is not the time to see gardens at their best but most places take this into account and plan their planting to give plenty of colour and interest during high summer.

The plants all looked half dead with drought and the whole place was shabby and unkempt. You'd expect to see some staff out on the borders weeding or dead heading but we didn't see a single gardener the whole time we were there.

The small 'themed' gardens mostly contained the same plants - some of them decidedly out of place and apart from the Japanese Garden there was nothing of real interest.

Not a patch on The Old Vicarage at East Ruston.

Shame.

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midgey Wed 17-Aug-16 21:51:39

Trentham Gardens near Stoke on Trent are truly amazing, well worth a visit. There is a great playground for younger children, a maze and a sensory walk. There is a shopping village nearby too. You will need comfy shoes and all day!

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merlotgran Wed 17-Aug-16 22:00:36

Beth Chatto's gardens are amazing because they garden for the conditions. The gravel garden shows just what can be achieved once plants are well established in the driest of dry environments.

Barnsdale is dated and tired. They haven't moved on from the style and plantings of the nineties. Cottage gardens are not low maintenace and I think it's a con to flog the Geoff Hamilton legacy with something bordering on neglect.

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midgey Wed 17-Aug-16 22:38:04

Should have said that there is an Italian garden as well as a Capability Brown designed landscape. At present the wildflower areas are spectacular.

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hildajenniJ Wed 17-Aug-16 23:15:17

The gardens at Howick Hall were lovely when we visited last summer. It is the ancestral home of the Earls Grey ( of the tea), in Northumberland.
We visited Drumlanrig Castle a few weeks ago, I enjoyed the house and gardens there. It's in Dumfries and Galloway.

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merlotgran Thu 18-Aug-16 09:54:22

Oh how I wish I had the time and money to just start at the top of my Wish List and work my way through them all.

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seacliff Thu 18-Aug-16 10:19:11

I also really love all the Open Gardens in villages our area, most usually open earlier in the year, May and June.

However there is a really great one on August Bank Holiday every year at Walsham le Willows. They have over 30 gardens open, all sizes, a mini bus between them, and lovely teas. They have been doing it for 35 years, so pretty well organised. It is really worth going.

www.walsham-le-willows.org/opengardens

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