John and Jackies Garden
On Friday and Saturday I worked hard in the garden, then on Sunday Andrea and I went on the Hexhamshire Garden Trail in rural Northumberland (in aid of St Helens Church at Whitley Chapel). There were 20 gardens to visit, and we managed 17. I was map-reading without my specs, so obviously, we were lost most of the time but saw some beautiful countryside, loads of rabbits, pheasants, hens, lambs and birds, ducks and fluffy ducklings. Andrea was a bit dubious driving her beloved Mini along single track lanes, but she only had to reverse twice! All of the gardens were very nice but a few stood out. Greenways was a pure delight. John and Jackie have been making their large garden for ten years and the variety of trees, shrubs and flowers was amazing. The mecanopsis were better than the ones we saw at Harlow Carr Gardens, but best of all, John had a few groups of orchids which we thought were the same as the mystery plant we'd found in Watergate Park. but turned out to be a different type of orchid.
We were made very welcome at Five Dykes by Archie and enjoyed the beautiful terraced garden with ponds and stream, and especially the ducks. Photos also show Jemima Puddleduck sitting on her nest! The field next to the garden was covered in yellow buttercups - stunning!
Archies Garden
Jemima Puddleduck
Here is the field of buttercups next to Archies garden
Here are a selection of photos of plants we admired in the other gardens.
This is the garden of Betty at Deneham, overlooking the river
On the way home, we saw fields of poppies in the distance and made a detour until we found them near Corbridge. Andrea climbed into the field and took this picture then we called into Brockbushes for coffee and cake!
3 comments:
WOW Mary!! What a day out!!
What you have described is what us Aussies typically think of when we think of the English countryside...beautiful gardens, single lane tracks, getting lost and having to reverse the Mini hehe!!
LOVE the photo of the field of poppies :)
Those pink poppies are gorgeous, and I love the pink lupines with the columbines.
Here in Maine, the roadsides and fields are covered with lupines in bloom just now, purple, pink, and creamy white. It is beautiful, and makes the passing of the lilacs easier to bear.
Thanks for sharing your adventures to other gardens. I love to look at other gardens of the world. Unforunatly I have only been able too look at them through photo's.
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