On last week's HDYGG Kriss from Wild About Here posted some gorgeous shots of the Tulip Festival taking place at Standen House. So as we were off to East Grinstead and hoped to have some time to visit a garden close by this jumped straight to the top of the contender list. And so we found ourselves sitting on the terrace in the sun Monday afternoon. Thanks Kriss!
As we wandered around the house and onto the terrace it wasn't the tulips that caught my eye though, it was the wisteria just starting to flower and how it's framed this window. There's lots of wisteria here in Blackheath, so it must like the conditions - I'd love one in my garden, and it would look great growing over the wall of the cottage at the end of our garden. Although I don't think the owners of the cottage would have quite the same enthusiasm for it that I would!
The second thing that caught my eye was the tulips, so many tulips! Well 8,000 of them to be exact, although I didn't count them... There were though many varieties displayed in borders and pots, a couple had escaped and were growing freely in the gravel too who'd've thought there'd be rebel tulips
The terrace was a pretty spot, with lots of colour from the trees, and plenty of pots too - some of which didn't have tulips in.
I spotted this growing in among the tulips near the front of the house, I'm not sure what it is and would be keen to find out - do you know? I like how its flowers are different shades, pretty isn't it?
The views from the terrace and the nearby Top Terrace over the Ashdown Forest are just fabulous. They're the sort of views you just want to breathe in again and again
The camellias too were still mostly flowering, some looking more vibrant than others. Those that were fading still managed to do this elegantly, and even those fallen to the ground still looked pretty. I've decided that camellias really do have class
Peering into one of the flowerbeds we were in for a bit of a surprise, it seems they grow cats here too..
And if the colour overload of the glitzy tulips were too much there were much calmer daffodils, camellias, rhododendrons and blossom to feast your eyes on
But it wasn't too long before we encountered more tulips with a rather stylish arrangement of pots outside the grand front door in the courtyard, alongside the traditional bike.
We did go into the house, and that was a treat too but I'm saving that for another day along with the kitchen garden and our woodland walk. We'd missed booking onto a tour of the house so needed to wait until it opened, so what better than to sit among the tulips admiring them, taking in a few rays and imagining this really was our house and garden
We did have some competition for the bench though...
