A new house, a new walk

We’ve spent most of the past fortnight emptying boxes and hosting family in our new house - and it’s been fun, even emptying the boxes (mostly). We knew we were setting ourselves a challenge doing both so close together, but we really wouldn’t have had it any other way. We’ve shown them our house, and our new area (or some of it at least) and it’s been great.

But it wasn’t until yesterday that I finally got around to leaving our new house on foot to explore some of the footpaths right on our doorstep. And it was so good to do that. When looking at the area we’d walked a direct route and a more scenic route to and from the pub in the next village - priorities right?! - but we hadn’t explored things closer to home.

We knew that just around the corner was a lane which led towards the River Trent, so we headed down there following the old brick wall as it wound its way round and under the brick bridge - it looks like a railway bridge, but if it is (and we don’t think it is) it isn’t a line that’s active, and onto an ornate entrance ‘for deliveries'.

From there on the wall ended and the views really opened up, and we followed the lane as it weaved its way around fields until we spotted the yellow topped wooden marker for the public bridleway, when we turned onto a narrow, verdant path.

Dodging the nettles, me more successfully than MOH it wasn’t long before the path opened out and the red haze of the (most likely) weeds caught my eye, as did the pink flowering clover along the pathway.

We could soon hear the River Trent and it wasn’t too long before we were on its banks, along with a few anglers from the local piscatorial society. To our left was a recently harvested field of barley rising up to where we’d started from.

Along the way there were plenty of thistles, resplendent in purple and complete with fluff and I also noted the potential for some blackberrying later in the summer!

Reaching a junction we turned back on ourselves, so walking parallel to the river but back on ourselves alongside fields of barley, this time with a poppy or two for a pop of colour. A view that’s really quite different to those we’re used to in South London, even Greenwich Park can’t quite offer this solitude and peacefulness.

As we ended our walk I spotted this thistle which seemed a bit behind the rest we’d seen on our walk, which also handily seemed to be better positioned for a snap - I’m quite pleased with how it turned out, and the detail that my iPhone was able to pick out.

An hour outside, three miles walked and so much more headspace regained. For us the move was a lot about space, and maximising that - already it feels like home here, and there’s so much more to explore. I’m hoping that our next venture out on foot is that one we’ve tried before, to the pub in the next village - we really should double check it, shouldn’t we?!

Tulips at Mottisfont

We stopped off at the National Trust’s Mottisfont on our way back from our short break in the New Forest. Breaking the journey with a stop at a National Trust property is absolutely my best way to break a journey, and while this one took us a little out of our way from a direct route it’d been a good few years since we last visited, so it really was a no-brainer.

I just checked and we previously visited in 2017 on our way back from a family celebration holiday in 2017. Back then I was pleased to discover the Potting Shed, but sadly it was no longer in place. On this visit though the tulips more than made up for that.

So as the tulips die back for another year, here’s a reminder of just how fabulous they are. There were so many different types, and many that I didn’t manage to capture (unbelievably!), and our wander through the walled garden started where I remembered the potting shed to have been with a large terracotta pot of tulips, and rows of raised beds equally full.

It was in these raised beds that these frilly purple tulips were mixed in with the paler pointy pink ones, and a more neutral yellowy-white variety. Though with the fancy ones, the neutral ones barely got a look in though I think they really did help the others shine.

Moving on into the walled garden the borders thronged with tulips, as you’ll see in a moment - but first just some of the glorious tulips that caught my eye. We were lucky with the weather for our visit, and the sun made the tulips shine even more.

You know how much I love a walled garden, and this one’s no different - but there’s something about gates in garden walls isn’t there? Especially closed ones, perhaps it’s the mystery of what’s behind it - and no doubt that is likely not to match my imagination.

We stopped on one of these benches to enjoy the space awhile, and admire the tulips too. On our previous visit the garden was full of roses, and I’m sure they are most likely making their presence felt right now. The climbing rose we have in our garden is doing spectacularly well with more flowers than we can remember for a long time, I’m hoping that many rose gardens are also benefitting from plenty of flowers and gorgeous scent.

There’s more individual flowers to share yet though, and I promise I didn’t stop to snap them all - though it was tempting!

The one above reminds me of rhubarb and custard, can you see that too?

As we wandered through to the end of the garden I caught sight of the armillary sphere and couldn’t resist a picture. I will have seen this previously and I’m sure admired it but wouldn’t have known its name. I do now though thanks to the Seven Sisters series of books by Lucinda Riley! See you never know when what you’ve learnt through reading will come in useful - I’m still several books behind though, and I’m waiting for some more to become available on KindleUnlimited (spoiler: I couldn’t wait for some, and it’s likely I’ll be purchasing the next in the series soon!)

It was great to have a wander around the walled garden, and to catch up with other parts of the property - including a quick tour of the house to see that again, and to answer a question I had from our previous visit. But that’s for another day…

Through a hedge into The Secret Garden

* I was provided a pair of tickets to the Gardeners’ World Spring Fair and therefore are marking posts from my visit as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

The Secret Garden by Hillier was a central feature of this year’s Spring Fair, inspired by The Secret Garden. It promised to be enclosed by high hedges, and the entrance was through part of this hedge, the design was said to encourage visitors to get up close and personal with the plants displayed, and that was the case, as much as you can at these kind of events.

Unsurprisingly it was a popular feature of the show and it was pretty busy when we visited but generally people gave each other space to enjoy and explore the garden which was absolutely full of plants.

On the right as we entered was the border containing the Himalayan Birch trees and hostas, which was getting much less attention than the border opposite. This area was designed to be more contemporary and included the low-maintenance brilliant white trunked trees. The hostas among the trees represented a ‘sea of foliage’ as a contrast to the colours opposite.

It was nice, but quite understated and in complete contrast to the larger section of the garden, which as you can see, was a lot more interesting.

The border full of herbaceous perennials and shrubs start with whites and purples and go through the spectrum of colours, the idea for the design was to move through the softer, delicate colours to intense and vibrant shades to depict the sun’s movement during the day.

One of the plants stealing the show was the bright pink Judas tree - isn’t it stunning? I think we’ll see more of these, and I’ve already spotted that some of the RHS Chelsea gardens are using them. I know I’d be happy to have one in my garden!

Along the back border the colours changed to the more intense and vibrant colours, with fiery reds and oranges and yellows, representing a bright sunset, and a beautiful end to the day.

Looking back at these photos it’s much more obvious than I remember at the time, though this is most likely because of sharing the space with more people than you would normally share a garden with, so it was much harder to look at the garden as a whole. However the photos allow that, and the planting is really rather special.

My other hot tip is shallow pots complete with pebbles and water - we saw these in more than one garden at the Spring Fair, and it’s something that’s easy to replicate at home, so I think we’ll see more simple water features in our gardens, and that can only be a good thing.