Abb*ey Hou*se Gard*ens,Wiltshire Pt.13

This 5 acre garden is located in the heart of Malmesbury's historic town centre. There are over 10,000 different species of trees and plants in this beautiful setting beside the unique and dramatic backdrop of the world famous Malmesbury Abbey. This site has 1300 years of recorded history and is set on the top of an ancient hilltop. The Abbot's house was once part of the Benedictine Monastry and the resting place of Athelstan, the first King of all England.

This is a private garden belonging to Ian and Barbara Poll*ard who bought the manor and garden just 12 years ago and turned it from a wilderness to the amazing and beautiful place it is today in 10 years. Alan Titchmarsh, one of our well known TV gardening personalities says, "The Wow! factor is here in abundance".

For myself, I have visited some of the most beautiful gardens in the country, but it was the diversity of this garden, developed within just 5 acres with so many different areas and styles, and developed in such a short time.. The top gardens are all in a formal layout with the river gardens adorning the slopes down to the river and its surrounding areas.

A little history
The site once belonged to the Benedictine Monastery founded in the 7th century.
The monastery, in its prime, was the third most important religious centre in England, after Canterbury and Winchester.

William of Malmesbury, considered by some to be one of 'the Fathers of English history, alongside the Venerable Bede, was instrumental in building up a library for Malmesbury Abbey, which became famous across Europe.

Willian of Coherne (1260-1296) enlarged the built complex. He constructed a new Abbot's lodging for himself (later used as the foundation for the 16th century house), a lady chapel and an herbarium on this site alone.

A timber spine (taller than Salisbury Cathedral's tower now) once rose above the tower of The Great Cresssing (1st photo). It collapsed around the end of the 15th century.

The Yew hedging planted on the upper level of the garden deliniates part of the lady chapel plan.

It's now time to come with me and just enjoy the garden. I'll take you to The Abbey and town in the next post.

Yes, Alan stopped and made a few moves!

All monasteries had their Carp ponds for fresh fish and this one was restored alongside the tearoom

We have now left the formal gardens and are making our way down the paths to the river gardens

The gardens, sheltered by the hillside and abbey, has it's own micro-climate so that exotic plants can be grown here

We are now back up the hill and on our way out, for the second time today. We came back after wandering around the town and Abbey.

And pass this statue on leaving

Gt. Chalfield Manor & Garden. Wiltshire Pt.12

On leaving The Courts Garden (last post) our plan is to visit Gt. Chalfield Manor nearby. We can either leave the car here and walk across the fields, or drive. We decide to drive and are amazed just how long it takes to get there.It is in such an 'out of the way' place that it takes us about 40 minutes to find our way and negotiate the lanes that maybe a walk across the fields would have been a better option.



We arrive, the sky has turned very overcast and it is cold and I have developed a nasty headache and am not looking forward to re-negotiating those narrow twisty lanes that seem to go nowhere on the way back.There isn't a tea shop of any kind here but there is a barn with a kettle, small fridge with milk, bottles of spring water, tea, coffee etc. and a tray of wrapped biscuits. One helps themselves and leaves the money in an honesty box. We avail ourselves of this intriguing facility and in view of the headache decide to forgo the 1 hour house tour ( I much prefer places where we can go around ourselves)and we wander the garden instead.

Chalfield is a charming example of a medieval manor, complete with an upper moat, gatehouse and small parish church. Beautiful oriel windows and rooftop soldiers (c.1480 ad)adorn the house, restored between 1905 and 1911 by Major R. Fuller - whose family still live here and manage the property on behalf of the National Trust (the reason for guided tour only). The house and garden have been used in many TV and film productions including Persuasion and The Other Boleyn Girl.

A fun place for children to hide I am sure

I love the choice of colours here against the stone background

Not usual to see moats so far from the house

Still more to come on Wiltshire and from the gardens point of view I have left the best till the last and am still unsure how I am going to do this with so many photos to choose from but it will be worth the wait.

The Courts Garden, Wiltshire Pt.11

Another garden we visited while in Wiltshire. This garden in Bradford-on-Avon was fairly close to Bath.I did not find it a spectacular garden but it was interesting all the same. I think the part I liked best were the trees in the arboretum, quite a variety and all very mature. (Just a few shown here) The garden shows English country style at it's best.We brought a picnic which we ate in the garden before moving on to the next place and were so glad as the restaurant was very small with quite a queue waiting.

Tetbury and the Royals

Here we are visiting the town of Tetbury in the Cotswolds, just a 20 minute drive out of Wiltshire.This market town came to life with the growth of the Cotswold wool trade. The thriving town boasts a wealth of architectural heritage.

It is also world-renowned for its unique Royal associations. Highgrove, home of HRH The Prince of Wales is situated just outside Tetbury, and Gatcombe Park, home of the Princess Royal is also nearby. Neighbouring Chalford houses the impressive Nether Lypiatt House, until recently the residence of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

The reason I wanted to come here was to visit the Highgrove shop which opened in the town some years ago. This shop helps support Prince Charles charity Foundation and the produce is grown on either the Prince's Home farm or the farms of The Duchy of Cornwall. Everything is top quality and organic and all proceeds go to the trust.




First though, it's coffee at Hortensia

After coffee we cross the square and walk past this Market House dating back to 1655 AD

And arrive at the Highgrove shop

The mural on the wall here in the gardening department is a scene from the garden at Highgrove

My purchases while here were of some gourmet produce, things like lemon curd, satsuma marmalade and special jams.

And a book on Prince Charles' garden at Highgrove. It is full of beautiful photographs of this magnificent garden but I am unable to show you any because of copyright

I have always wanted to visit this garden which was developed from scratch by the Prince and various garden experts but originally only groups from garden and horticultural societies were allowed entry. Now it is open to the public on specially arranged tours but there is a long waiting list. Nevertheless I have put my name on the list while here and am told it will be about a year before I hear.

We have now had our lunch in an Inn almost opposite the Highgrove shop. The menu was 'out of this world' with everything organic and sourced locally and all we did was order soup as we had plans to spend the afternoon in Malmesbury and needed to be on our way.

You can enjoy the sights with me as we walk back to the car

We are now leaving. In Malmesbury we visit the town, the Abbey and the Abbey Gardens. I have to say that these were the best gardens I have ever visited and I have certainly visited some. I am going to have to think about how I post on it as I took so many photographs. I might make it my last post on Wiltshire but it will be worth the wait.

A Swim in the Sea

Monday evening forecast "Summer returns for one day only tomorrow" For the South East that is, the North and particularly Scotland are in for torrential rain and gales.I check the tide tables and see that high tide is early afternoon tomorrow so a swim looks likely.Had very little opportunity to do this for some time with the awful weather we have had this summer.

I arise expectantly at 7.30 am to cloudy and overcast skies and assume the forecasters got it wrong again. Then around 10.0 am the clouds clear revealing a beautiful blue sky with the promise of 80f. I fly around getting the beach gear together (in a hot summer it would be all packed and ready) and prepare a picnic while Alan packs the car, trying to look like we are not leaving for a week!

We arrive at the beach and it is hot enough for us to buy a couple of parasols that clip to our chairs having left our large one at home. We enjoy our picnic with the high tide time giving ample opportunity to enjoy the newspaper before swimming.

It's time to put my toes in the water - it is freezing - the icy cold water is a shock to my system. This water in the mouth of the estuary is the North Sea after all. I sit awhile letting the waves crash over me then ease my way into the water an inch at a time, stepping over the jellyfish that are basking in the shallows, and I know I have made it when the sea reaches the top of my shoulders. As my body acclimatises the water begins to feel warmer and I realise once again why it is so worth the effort to do this. I feel invigorated to the point of a new lease of life and I thoroughly enjoy my swim while Alan sits and reads his book.He does not like swimming and even less cold water! Before we leave one must have an ice-cream while sitting on the beach, especially when it is Cornish Dairy with Butterscotch swirls and caramel chunks.

Some time later we drive back along the river towards London and stop off at this restaurant/cum bar for afternoon tea.

And continue to enjoy the water from a different perspective

Further along the river on our way home we stop for a walk in the early evening sun before eating here. Fish and Chips are a tradition at English seaside towns and are usually very good as the fish is fresh from the sea. This line of small cafes are built under the arches of the road above and have been here for well over 100 years. The menus vary and are always good and wholesome but they all sell fish and chips, something that is a treat to us as we have them so rarely.

We watch the ships sail down the river as we eat on the pavement under the awnings

The Cod was very tender and succulent (yes I cut into it before I thought to take a photo)

Next door and at the top of the hill is the theatre (The Cliff's Pavilion.) No, we won't go, I am in shorts and not dressed for it even if there are any unsold seats.

Return home instead with time to make this 50th Wedding Anniversary card for some friends,reminding me again that we celebrate our own later in the year!!

August is Behind Us

One minute it seemed like we had the whole of August ahead of us and now it has come and gone. I still have lots more photos to post of our visit to Wiltshire in July, not to mention day visits we have made since then, and the list already on the 'back burner'. My pending posts to blog are mounting but I do not want my blog to become purely a 'tavelogue',hence a little about life inbetween ocasionally.

Of course while Janie is still on maternity leave we are seeing much more of her and Oliver and Rebekah (either here or there)and apart from the usual days out and the hurly burly of life in general, we have been looking after the gardens of 2 friends while they were on holiday for 2 weeks.

While they were in the Lake District getting drowned most days, we were having some warm and sunny and windy days. Weather that is guaranteed to dry out the soil so as we were watering home grown produce we needed to keep a constant watch. One of the gardens was more like a small market garden it contained so much produce. The owner was keen for me to pick and use whatever needed to be picked. So with, beans, beans and more beans, courgettes and tomatoes (some I gave away to others)I was able to make a vegetable casserole dish that is good used as a past sauce, or an accompanying vegetable dish. Before you ask, courgettes, French or runner beans, tomatoes,onions, garlic, crushed corriander seeds and basil. Sauteed and slow cooked in the oven for an hour on low heat.

Added to this I was given rhubarb, plums, apples,cucumber, beetroots from various folk so a fair bit of the month was spent preparing and freezing produce. Now we are into September and schools are back so hopefully we will get some more days out before the winter sets in.

At the beginning of August we had a day out to Dedham (lots more photos under 'Essex') with house church and while the young people spent time 'messing about on the river' others went walking or visiting craft centres. I chose to walk to a part of the village that I had not visited before where I understood there to be some old Flemish cottages. I was not disappointed as you can see here. Alan and I and another couple ended our day (after everyone else went home) walking across the fields to Flatford Mill where we had a nice afternoon tea together before walking back again.

Mid August brought out the berries on the Pyracanthas (far too early as the birds are already demolishing them) and our own tomatoe crop is doing well. Six bushes with about 2 dozen large tomatoes on each.

Here we have a number of gifts kindly given to us as a thank you for our garden watering. Some beautiful roses. The upside to these for me is that being commercially grown they do not have perfume so I could really enjoy them at close quarters. My own garden roses are heavily perfumed and I find I can no longer bring them indoors without having an allergic reaction to them.

Some chocolate liquers

Pretty tins and Gooseberry and Elderflower jam

Particularly liking the side of this tin

Back to the 'travelogues' for the next post

Bowood House,Wiltshire Pt.10

Having spent a day enjoying Lacock we spent the next morning having a lazy day around the cottage, catching our breath before spending the afternoon at Bowood House which was very near to where we were staying.

Bowood is a stately home but also a family home. The Lansdowne family have lived at Bowwood since 1754, and while much has changed over time, the beauty of the house and gardens has not.Lying within 'Capability' Brown's glorious parklands, Bowood perfectly captures a bygone age. You are welcome to come on this tour with me and see it as we saw it.

The House

As we walk through the entrance we are immediately faced with the family chapel


We now look to the left

And to the right

Before making our way through the length of these inter-connecting hallways

We are only allowed into a few of the family rooms

I like the cameos on the ceiling of this library
which contains 5000 leather bound volumes

Dr. Joseph Priestly, who was working as a tutor to the 1st Marquess of Lansdowne's sons, discovered oxygen gas in this room in 1774. His laboratory in the house is a scientific time capsule. Joseph Priestley was also a Unitarian minister, teacher, author and natural philosopher and also the Earl of Shelburne's libarian and tutor to his sons.

Dr. Jan Ingen, pioneer of smallpox inoculation and the discoverer of the process of Photo Synthesis was a friend of the Marquess and a contemporary of Dr. Priestley and worked in this room in the 1790's.

We are now out on the Parterre but not planning to sit and rest as there is so much more to explore

We are now leaving the formal gardens and exploring the grounds

walking around the lake

We eventually come to this woodland area which is a haven of fun for children

and me!

Lots of paths to circumnavigate

And a labyrinth of caves

And waterfalls

and stepping stones

We are now looking into the family's private walled garden

We have just enjoyed afternoon tea and cakes in the tearoom before leaving

and could not help but notice the interesting bark on this tree

Hope you enjoyed your visit

Still lots more to come on Wiltshire