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.