A jam packed week off

I said last week was a quiet week on my blog as we were away, well this week has been quiet too and we’ve been back at work. I’ll admit to enjoying time away from my laptop in my week off and so while this week I’ve been back on the laptop during the day, I’ve stayed away during the evenings too, picking up my crochet instead.

And also knowing where to start, and what to post from the many, many photos I’ve taken. So many photos, so many gardens and historic houses - and such a good time - and so, this post has a bit of everything. A kind of whistle stop tour of what I’ve been up to.

We started in Norfolk visiting some of my favourite places, including the shops at Creake Abbey and the historic Georgian town of Holt - it made a lovely change to wander around shops, though still wearing masks.

A great day in Holt ended with a bit of a downer when a stone thrown up by a passing van hit the windscreen with an almighty crack. And it was quite a crack, no chip in sight and quite a shock. On reflection a crack is way better than a chip, as that meant a new windscreen rather than a repaired one. Thankfully the crack kept outside of my vision for driving, and the insurance and replacement were easy to navigate with all the necessary recalibrating done in a single visit once we were back home. Even there they realised that after having the car for less than a month, I probably didn’t need to replace the wipers!

It was definitely a night to opt for fish and chips and we headed off to Eric’s for the first time. We ended up with double fish and chips each, and more than we could eat - and we couldn’t resist trying the black pudding fritter, which is exactly what you’re thinking - black pudding in batter. I’d eat it again - obviously - but probably not as a side order to cod and chips.

Up next was our holiday cottage in Lincolnshire, part of the Walled Gardens on the Easton Estate - and it’s the first holiday cottage we had with its own library - a small space with a chandelier, but a library no less.

It also had one of the best equipped kitchens we’ve experienced, and best of all it provided direct access to the walled gardens which were available for us to visit outside of their usual opening hours, and it was really special to have such a lovely space to ourselves.

This was a sign that I wasn’t expecting to see - thankfully the giraffes were statues.

We got out and about a lot in the few days we were in Lincolnshire and first on my list was Barnsdale Gardens, which was the Gardener’s World home of legendary presenter Geoff Hamilton. There were 38 gardens there, so plenty of inspiration - and while I wasn’t a Gardener’s World viewer when he was a presenter it was a great place to visit. I’ll be sharing some of the gardens here, but somehow I’ve lost some of the photos I took, but even so there’s still plenty to share.

What is always special is the chance to look around the nursery and growing spaces, and this is the heucheras at Barnsdale - not lettuces as MOH first thought (though they do look a little lettuce-like from a distance).

That evening we headed back out into the Walled Gardens this time exploring the Cottage Garden and the Pickery - great name isn’t it? - and discovered this most amazing bark, I promise you it’s a real, living tree and not a sculpture.

Another of the places I was keen to visit was Belvoir Castle - a few years ago when we cycled between Grantham, Melton Mowbray and Newark we spied it on the hill top in the distance, and had it marked as a future place to visit. It didn’t disappoint, the interiors were stunning - from the displays of rifles and swords as you entered, the vibrancy of the wall coverings and the grandiose rooms - I was ready to move in.

We also spent some time walking around the gardens, including the formal rose garden, which considering the gardens are on many levels was a lot of up and down, but definitely worth it.

But we weren’t done with visiting historic houses just yet - our next stop was the National Trust’s Belton House, where it was easy to pick up on a greyhound theme, including on the door plate and on the weather vane on the roof.

The orangery in the grounds was just as spectacular, and I think I’ll need to add an orangery as a requirement to my next house! (Some chance, I know).

With our week almost at an end we managed to squeeze in a visit to nearby Stamford, another Georgian town - no prizes for guessing the type of architecture that MOH and I are drawn to.

I told you we packed a lot in, and now you know why it was so hard to choose just one part of an action-packed week away from home.

Topiary at Levens Hall

This garden wasn’t on my ‘to visit’ list, but when our hosts said it was a garden full of topiary, well it jumped to the top of my list. It was less than a fifteen minute drive from where we were staying so it seemed a complete no brainer, and we worked out that we could pair it with a visit to the National Trust’s nearby Sizergh Castle, which was on my list, so even better.

This was the view that met us as we walked through the wooden gate to the gardens:

Even though I’d read on the Levens Hall website that the privately-owned house was home to the world’s oldest topiary gardens, I’m not sure I quite expected this. The gardens remain largely unchanged since the 17th century and were truly remarkable.

The garden is a mix of ‘ancient box and yew’ and for someone that, as you know, has a bit of a thing for topiary was breathtaking. I don’t know how my research of the area missed this gem, but I was so glad that we were pointed in the right direction early in our stay!

The gardeners were busy working, but still happy to stop and chat and share more about the gardens. There’s so many shapes to trim that each is only cut once a year, otherwise as the gardener’s said that’s all they’d be doing. And as any gardener knows, there’s always something to be done - while we were there they were fastidiously replacing the bedding plants.

The house wasn’t open on the day we visited, which is a shame as from a at-a-distance-glance-through the windows it looked a great place to visit. It’s a family home which the leaflet we were given assured was one that was free of ropes and barriers for visitors, so as such it felt right to sneak a look rather than peer through the windows!

There was more than the topiary, but clearly this was the main feature - another day I’ll share more from here, and by then we may even have tasted the jar of honey we purchased part-way round the garden. But until then, let’s just enjoy the topiary and the many varied shapes.

Enjoying the atmosphere in the Shade House

The weather here is still mostly Winter, with a little bit of Spring. But just enough to fool you. To fool you it’s warm, and it is in the sun. But it’s definitely not in the shade. I don’t know about you but the warmth of the sun is very welcome, however brief and I’m looking forward to it being more constant. But today’s post definitely has heat, we’re heading back in Barbados and memories from our trip in December 2019, where spending some time in the Shade House was very welcome.

We’d taken a taxi to visit the Andromeda Botanical Gardens, and it was an incredibly hot day even by Barbados standards. It was nice to wander around the planned route of the garden, which was probably one of the best labelled and informative gardens we’ve been too. The Shade House was the 31st stop (of 41) on our garden tour and the guide encouraged us to sit for a while to listen to the birds.

It was a fascinating structure, providing as its name suggests shade. Which was very welcome. It’s rustic nature brought charm as well as shade. And in the climate it’s not like a greenhouse was needed, so this made perfect sense.

The plants were ferns, arums and phormiums. Though taking a seat was trickier as the arums got there first. But loiter a little we did, glad of the brief respite.

Sadly we didn’t get to spot the birds suggested by the guide - though we may not have recognised a Bananaquit if we’d seen one, or been quick enough to capture a hummingbird. I’m sure they were there, but we weren’t attuned to them. But it was a fabulous space, and as lush as the rest of the gardens, and a few degrees cooler which was very, very welcome.