The Tropical zone in Cannington's glass houses

As the warmer weather appears to have deserted us again I've taken measures into my own hands and today I'm sharing pictures from our visit to the Tropical zone in Cannington's glass house.  It was grey and misty in London for most of today and while the warmer temperatures are forecast, I'd appreciate if they were here now.  I'm sure you would too!

The glass house was hot and humid, replicating the wet tropics of Indonesia and the Amazon Rainforest, I'm taking this post as a kind of acclimatising type of post in readiness and anticipation of less grey, less misty and more Spring-like weather.  

Even just writing this post I can feel the warmth as we stepped into this area, the temperatures aim to be between 26 and 28 degrees, tough hey?

Warm, but lush. 

Just look at all the greens, and the odd burst of colour too.

As we walked around the small but densely planted space, something unusual caught my eye above me.  It was green, but not the usual green of plants. Taking a closer look, I was right, but no less curious. 

I don't think I've ever seen anything like it, and had no idea what it was. We thought it might be pepper, but we'd seen that at RHS Wisley and it wasn't this colour. 

Isn't the colour vibrant? And isn't it fascinating?

Thankfully there was a sign telling us it was a "Strongylodon macrobotrys" or more helpfully a Jade Vine.  I can see how it gets its name!

It's also commonly known as an Emerald Vine or Turquoise Jade Vine and is a native of the tropical forests of the Philippines.  Stems can be up to 18 metres in length and it's a member of the pea and bean family.  Can you imagine if I grew one of these on the allotment...

No me neither, especially in this weather.

But there was more colour for us to see before we headed back to the more temperate areas.  The pink, red and green leaves above, which I'm sure I've photographed before, most likely at Wisley and a much welcomed hibiscus. 

Doesn't it look fresh and full of warmth.  So who knew that you could find such tropical-ness in a small part of Somerset which is well worth a visit if you're close by.  I'm sure you won't be disappointed, and the added bonus is that if it's a chilly day, like us, you can spend time discovering the peculiar, but wonderful Jade Vine.

The Blue Garden

One of the small gardens within the Walled Gardens of Cannington is the Blue Garden and that's a challenging choice, as 'true blue' is a relatively rare colour among flowers.  You might immediately think of cornflowers, irises and periwinkles, and maybe even the more purple blues of lavenders and pansies.  And I'm sure there's more, but they don't roll of the tongue easily, do they?

WHAT OTHER COLOUR BENCH WOULD YOU EXPECT?

The cobalt blue benches were striking on the wet and grey day we visited.  With more blue flowers in the garden I'm sure it would be a fantastic space.

You forget that rosemary has small blue flowers, but it does, and they were starting to make themselves known.  I bet the garden is also one of most fragrant spots what with the rosemary and lavender.

BLUE FLOWERS STARTING TO SHOW ON THE ROSEMARY

The water feature, which somehow I've cut the top off in my photo, was designed by a student and creates a modern interpretation of a conifer tree.  It's been modified though as it seems that the design also soaked visitors.  As you'd expect the stone wall that it sits around it matches the theme of the garden - blue lias stone - and was quarried in Somerset.

THE BLUE GARDEN WATER FEATURE

THE SILVER BLUE LEAVES OF LAVENDER

There's a lot of rosemary in the central part of the garden, and it was a good reminder of how it can be used sculpturally, adding shape and height.  It also gives me hope for my future rosemary hedges over on the plot.

ROSEMARY USED IN SWATHES OF BEDS

Given that our visit was the middle of March we did well to see the blue flowers we did, especially given the cold weather.  The irises were starting to make themselves known and yet again reminded me that I need to add some to my garden.

DWARF IRISES ADDING A PURPLE BLUE TO THE GARDEN

The board in the garden says it's been designed for year round interest, and it'd be great to see it throughout the year, wouldn't it?

More than we bargained for

I'm the sort of trip planner that plans ahead but doesn't quite get around to booking, and then when I'm sure we're going I'll go back to the plans and realise the place I wanted is fully booked, so it all starts again. But not this time - I'd done half the research while we had that sneaky weekend away in February, and I'd even remembered to book the hotel too.

As quite often happens there was a luxury room available, but here it was only an extra twenty pounds. So seduced by the luxury tag I opted for that, quite unprepared for what that might bring. I knew there'd be a bedroom and bathroom, and wasn't disappointed, and there were some nice touches.

White bedlinen, squishy beds, velour dressing gowns and great accessories and in the bathroom full size toiletries.  Everything you could want in a bedroom billed as luxury.

The more than we bargained for bit, was apparent as soon as we walked into the room. And that was a kitchenette and living room, which we were totally not expecting. In fact so not expecting that I was soon on the website checking that I hadn't clicked on the wrong option, or that I'd missed all this information.

Turns out I didn't mess up or miss it, it wasn't there. But after a longer drive than we thought, courtesy of bad weather and too many cars on the road, it was just what was needed. I've said before that self catering is our preferred style for holidays, and that's partly because you get somewhere normal to sit, and don't end up camped out on the bed just for somewhere to sit.

We didn't make much use of the kitchenette - bar for making quite a few cups of tea, and with a good restaurant downstairs in the pub and breakfast included in the cost, I'm not sure you'd need to make much use of it at all.  My only criticism is that with a proper fridge it would have been nice to have proper milk and if we'd been there for longer we would have done. 

Isn't it surprising where crochet turns up?  What surprised me though was the granny square front had been attached to a more glitzy and existing cushion cover.  MOH was rolling his eyes at the inspection of the "knitting" and I'm not sure he got the explanation of why they're different.

The verdict though on our stay at the Bower Inn was definitely a thumbs up - and if we're nearby, we'd stay there again. I've a feeling that it's a busy and buzzing place as the weather warms up. So if you're looking for somewhere to stay in Bridgwater, this could be just the place.