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.

 

Lyveden New Bield

 

This holiday/mini break was all about exploring somewhere new, and, as I like to find somewhere more interesting than motorway services or a drive-through diner, we broke the journey with our first visit to Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire. It's not so much a ruin, as a never-actually-finished project, and has stood in much this way since the  1600s.

Our visit started at the Manor House with tea and cake (it's a National Trust property after all, so there's almost bound to be excellent cake).

Despite the glorious blue sky, the ground underfoot was very wet so we followed the slightly less muddy path by-passing the heritage orchard where plums or damsons were in full flower, and buzzing with bees, 

At the top of the slight rise lie a series of moats which surround a labyrinth originally formed with raspberry plants - but again we decided to admire from a distance to avoid too much mud.

So, onward to the New Bield.

Maybe it's due to the pale stone standing out sharply against the deep blue sky, maybe it's because the carved details still stand out clearly, but it feels more like a film-set than an actual old house.

Ducking into the servants entrance, we wandered around what would have become the basement floor, looking up through floor and ceiling spaces. In one tower a modern spiral stair leads up to give a view over the surrounding countryside.

It seems to be a place which has captured people's imagination for a long while, with visitors from as early as the 1700s leaving their mark!  

I'm not sure why we haven't visited before - it's only an hour and a half from home (well, unless you get lost in Leicester city centre as we did this time) so easily within reach for a day trip. Another time I'd try to schedule a visit for drier weather but especially for when the apples and pears in the orchard are all in flower.

A 'Home Counties' mini-break

Barkway

 I'm just back from a few days in Hertfordshire, which may not seem like an obvious place for a holiday but I wanted to visit the RHS garden at Hyde Hall near Chelmsford in Essex, and the National Trust's Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire, so looked for somewhere partway between the two.

Driven as much by the availability of Air BnB lets as knowledge of the area, we stumbled on Barkway, a lovely old coaching village once on the London to Cambridge route; in fact, our above-garage studio was in the grounds of one of the many former inns. Although it's grown over the years Barkway hasn't sprawled in the way so many Midlands villages have done and is still surrounded by open countryside, which tempted us out walking.

Lyveden New Bield

For March the weather could not have been better. Skies were blue, the sun shone, and though admittedly the breeze was at times a little brisk it wasn't as rough as the gales of a few weeks ago.

Hyde Hall garden 

On the way south, we stopped off at Lyveden New Bield in Northamptonshire, visitd Hyde Hall and Maldon one day, walked around Barkway the next morning and visited Wimpole Hall (Cambridgeshire) in the afternoon, and on the way home visited Chishill windmill, Anglesey Abbey, and Houghton Mill (all in Cambridgeshire).

Thames barges at Maldon

All of these places were new to me, so a great way to kick off my holidays for this year.

Walking near Barkway

There are more posts (links will turn blue as I add them) and pictures to follow so for now, here's just a few.

Wimpole Hall 

Chishill post mill

Anglesey Abbey

Houghton Mill

In all it was an unexpectedly delightful area to discover, a great way to start this year's adventures, and I'm already thinking about returning at a different time of year.

Spring at Kedleston

I'm determined at this time of year to make the most of any sunny days, so when blue skies appeared last Wednesday I headed out to Kedleston. 

Despite not being far from home, Spring seems more advanced here, though perhaps that's due to the specific daffodils being grown, rather than an odd microclimate, though the Pleasure Grounds face south and are sheltered from the wind which was blowing across the Park by the bulk of the  Hall.

In the flower beds snowdrops have been succeeded by daffodils but on shaded banks these first harbingers of Spring are still in full flower.

Walking past the south front of the Hall to the far corner of the Pleasure Grounds, I found steps leading down to a door in the wall which forms the haha. I've been so many times, and suspected that somewhere there was access from the gardens to the park but have never stumbled across it before.

Following along the boundary we passed back to the main entrance of the Hall, and circled round to pick up the 'Short Walk'.

Here there were more signs of Spring - snowdrops again, early anemones growing with them under the trees, flowers on an early rhododendron and cherry tree. 

Having come out on rather a last minute whim, we hadn't planned things well, so didn't have time for much of a walk so ambled just as far as the viewpoint below which looks out over the countryside before heading home for a very late lunch.

 

Spring on its way at Shipley

A sunny end to last week tempted me out for a short walk round the snowdrops at Shipley.

The sky was blue, the sun shining brightly but it was still cold, which resulted in my phone battery dying partway round the walk - so there are less photos than usual.

To be fair, the snowdrops are much the same from one year to the next, so old photos probably capture as well as new ones. (See 2018  2019  2021 and probably a lot more on the blog) Even so, a walk at Shipley has come to mark the beginning of spring and (hopefully) warmer weather.