I saw this rhododendron right at the top of the bluebell wood in Emmetts Garden, a National Trust property just outside Sevenoaks in Kent and noted the pendant habit of the flowers and of course, the warm, deep shades of orange, both setting this apart as a rather special rhododendron. I suspected it was R.…
Tag: National Trust
Bluebell woods – and more – at Emmetts Garden in Kent
Bluebell Woods at Emmetts Garden in Kent There is always a frisson of excitement about a woodland floor, carpeted with a shimmer of bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) - areas of deeper or dappled shade intensifying the blue, brighter shafts of sunshine creating a lighter haze. Emmetts Gardens, a National Trust property close to Sevenoaks, sits a-top…
Continue reading ➞ Bluebell woods – and more – at Emmetts Garden in Kent
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Ightham Mote – a perfect house in a beautiful setting
My first visit to Ightham Mote this afternoon and I am utterly charmed by the medieval, moated house set in a secluded, wooded cleft of the Kent Weald. There is a lot to appreciate and admire in this gentle landscape, aside from the main building dating back almost 650 years and I will return…
Continue reading ➞ Ightham Mote – a perfect house in a beautiful setting
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Almost Wisteria time… a diary note to visit Nymans and BBC4 ‘British Gardens in Time’ tonight
Nearly time for the annual Wisteria Blossom Show - some, like this example, are almost there - others are just showing plump, silky buds on a bare fretwork of stems, but a few more days of warmth and sunshine and it will be Showtime! A divine few weeks of peppery-scented intense blues, ghostly blues and…
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and welcome to 2014….
A very wet, chill and windy day today, the first of 2014 - and I was out and about in it all - thermals, waterproofs and wellies (my trademark hat too) keeping me warm, toastie and mostly dry. More of the same tomorrow but with the hope of drier and brighter weather before we're back…
Continue reading ➞ and welcome to 2014….
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Late summer at Sissinghurst
Sissinghurst, now owned by the National Trust, the former home and exceptional gardens of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson From 'The Gardens of England and Ireland' by Patrick Taylor The garden at Sissinghurst, famous as it is, has become for many people more an idea, a myth, than reality. Yet to visit the garden (especially when it…
Continue reading ➞ Late summer at Sissinghurst
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Chartwell and Winston Churchill
Chartwell, Kent. The Family Home of Winston Churchill A late-in-the-day decision to visit Chartwell (getting the best value from the National Trust annual membership), the family home of Winston Spencer Churchill. Presented very much as it was when it was their family home, with gardens that Winston had a great deal to do with -…
Continue reading ➞ Chartwell and Winston Churchill
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Hatchlands Park
A Gertrude Jekyll flower parterre, good trees and a dream-like park. The curving path from the old orchard, now the car park, brings the eighteenth-century mansion into view at an oblique angle between the trees. In its restored state, it is a striking block of red brick and white paintwork, contrasting sharply with the parkland…
Continue reading ➞ Hatchlands Park
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Ham House & Gardens
On this first day of spring, with a gusty southerly wind blowing along the Thames, an opportunity to call into Ham House & Gardens. We've been neighbours since moving to Teddington in 2000 and the gardens are a familiar haunt - but it was only last year that the interiors were explored. They are a…
Continue reading ➞ Ham House & Gardens
The Teddington Gardener 