RHS Hyde Hall

When I took out RHS membership last year one of the things I was looking to do was visit all their gardens (there are five: Wisley, Harlow Carr, Rosemoor, Hyde Hall, and Bridgewater), but my membership has nearly expired and till last week I'd only visited one!  So, my first trip of the year was planned around a visit to Hyde Hall near Chelmsford in Essex.

Early Spring might not be the best time of year to be visiting gardens, but I feel that anywhere attempting to offer inspiration to gardeners should have something to delight the eye all year round, and being further south than home Spring felt more advanced with daffodils and magnolias in flower.

 

The entrance had the feel of a garden centre rather than an actual garden, and this mood continued through some areas that seemed purely for demonstration than for actual use. 

This winter garden with bright dogwood contrasting with topiary looked nice but very formal and 'un-lived-in'. 

Walking up the hill past banks of daffodils the mood relaxed somewhat but there was still a feeling that everything was tidied and organised - certainly a far cry from my own garden. 

At the top of the hill, with views over the wider garden and countryside beyond, lies a section devoted to growing in dry conditions. This seemed to be an older, more established area (with less of the dreadful name tags) but it didn't seem something appropriate to Derbyshire where summer is as likely to be marked by torrential downpours as heatwaves.  It was, though, a good place to stop and have tea and cake, and relax in the sunshine.

Beyond the restaurant lay areas of lawn, bordered by daffodils, but unfortunately these were closed to visitors for the preservation of the grass. A shame really as this looked to be one of the more appealing parts of the garden - somewhere fairly natural and closer to my idea of how a garden should look. 

Overall, it's not a place I'd revisit. I'm beginning to think there may be an RHS 'style' of gardening or presentation - a lot of newly constructed flowerbeds, comparatively formal design, and an emphasis of new cultivars - and it's not one I'm fond of. The places I've visited have obviously not been 'gardens' in the sense of a plot of land, just outside your door, to relax in. National Trust properties seem to maintain this, although often in a style from centuries past and far larger than an average suburban garden.