Felbrigg Hall

 
After a gentle amble round the country roads and footpaths near our holiday cottage, we headed after lunch to Felbrigg Hall. Its walled garden is one of my favourite places to visit, with everything from a cottage-style garden of intermingled vegetables and flowers to olive trees and a dry, 'desert' garden.




The tulips were going over a little, but this is how I like them - wild over-blown, rather than upright and stately.

There were irises in an array of colours

and even bluebells.

Olive trees growing in pots against a brilliant blue sky gave the outdoor cafe area a Mediterranean feel.

I've long wanted to explore the wider parkland, so after a small snack we headed down towards the lake, through a pleasantly cool wooded area.





This isn't a long walk but we'd tackled it in the wrong direction, against the arrow routemarkers, which led to an amount of confusion, and by the time we were heading back from the lake I was getting tired and hot, and thought it might be possible to take a short-cut directly to the House and car-park. Sadly, this proved to not be possible. A fence cut across the direct route and we had to go round via the church anyway. I'm not defeated though, and next time I'll know where I'm going, and perhaps even explore further round the park.

Felbrigg Walled Garden

I'd visited Felbrigg Hall several times before I discovered the walled garden, but now I have it's a place I go back to whenever I'm in the area.

It was September when we visited and, after a wet and windy week, warm. Even so I was surprised at the array of flowers to be still found in bloom.

The walled area is split into various sections, the first of dry weather, low water plants, the second a more 'Mediterranean' vibe, and lastly a bounteous cottage-style garden filled with a mixture of fruit and veg (and, yes, that is my favourite).

Apples fruit along the walls, grapes clamber up frames, and figs grow in pots.

Pumpkins of every shape and size are ripe for Halloween.

On our last visit, the doves and chickens were locked away in coops because of bird flu, and it was lovely to see them back in the garden this time. The doves just flying around. The chickens on important pest control duties.

Throughout there's an emphasis on growing by natural methods - encouraging pollinators and pest-control insects, using companion planting, avoiding watering whenever possible - and the garden looks wonderful. 

There's a lily pond to encourage frogs and/or toads, which makes a beautiful spot to still beside and relax.

Lean-to greenhouses to protect the most tender of plants.

I'd intended to explore the wider parkland (something I've never done) but it was getting close to closing time and my legs were complaining, so a cream tea seemed a better way to round off the visit.
 

Felbrigg Hall walled garden

My previous visit to Felbrigg's walled garden was in summertime, when the flower borders were bursting with colour. I was completely enchanted by it, and wanted to see if it retained the same magic in autumn. 

Long story short, it did.

It was helped by being such a glorious day - warm enough to walk round without a coat, and to sit and relax in the sunshine. Amazing for October.

The garden is split into several sections, each with different plants, a mix of flowers and vegetables, ranging from the usual English garden varieties, dahlias and delphiniums,  to figs and palms.

On my previous visit there had been chickens wandering around, pecking at grubs and acting as natural insect killers, but at the moment they're cooped up because of bird flu; even the doves appeared to be staying in their dovecot.

It wasn't quite an empty as it appears from the photos but it's an amazingly peaceful place. Maybe it's good design, or feng shui, but it feels like a place to relax and just take in the atmosphere. And afterwards, although I forgot to take a photo, there was lunch in the sunshine outside the National Trust cafe - ploughman's roll and cake, Victoria sponge this time,