Please ring the bell

There’s been a couple of things that have led me to post about Hunte’s Garden this week. Some friends are currently in Barbados and visiting this garden was one of my ‘must do’ recommendations, then later in the week after my Access Bars session I was reminded that Hunte’s was probably the most spiritual garden I’ve ever visited. At the time I think I wrote it took my breath away as I descended into the midst of the garden, but in truth it had me at the entrance.

And it’s those photos I’m sharing today while I process the full experience of the treatment session I had in town yesterday. I’ll share more about that in a separate post soon, so look out for that to find out more about it.

Hunte’s Garden is the first garden we’ve visited where we’ve needed to announce our arrival, though at Bosvigo in Cornwall there was an entirely self-service entry process. And so, we picked up the bell to say we were here.

Our taxi driver had been plenty of times before of course, and was more than happy to sit and wait and enjoy the garden too, while we explored this way and that, up and down and round and round, and even while we enjoyed a small rum. And it was easy to see why even though we hadn’t even scratched the surface of what we were to find.

The garden was full of curios, vistas and the most amazing plants. I remember feeling quite overwhelmed as we stepped down into the main part of the garden, a feeling I’ve not previously experienced so strongly. If you said to me I could visit again tomorrow, I’d jump at the chance - though I might negotiate a little on exactly when that visit could take place, as we already have plans for tomorrow!

The weighbridge above has certainly travelled a distance, and I’m sure has a rich history and somehow doesn’t feel out of place here - though I’ll have to admit I had no idea what it was when we first saw it.

The experiences this week have reminded me of how I felt when we visited back in December 2019 - it’s definitely true, you remember how things make you feel, and even looking at the photos those feelings resurfaced. I’ve more photos to share, but in the meantime if you want to see more of the gardens here’s some posts I’ve already shared:

• A rum with a view of the garden

• Tropical loos in Hunte’s Gardens

• Dining with faded elegance.

Oh, and before I finish you’ll be pleased to know our friends have been to Hunte’s too - I’ve seen their photos on Facebook. I’m waiting to see if they’ll be going to Fish Friday at Oistins, which was my other ‘must do’. Hopefully they’ll enjoy both recommendations just as much as MOH and I did.

Post Comment Love 21-23 October

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

I hope you’re keeping well and enjoying the autumn weather as much as you can, when you can. We’ve had a couple of glorious autumn days here followed by a couple of very changeable ones. We’ve also had our covid booster jab (our fourth) and our flu jabs and were lucky that they coincided with one of the better days, meaning our walk into Greenwich was much more pleasant. And it’s looking like we’re both ok with the jabs too, a bit of a sore arm but that’s about it.

I was rather taken with this vintage style poster that was on display in the very traditional chemist where we received our Covid jabs. It’s old, but perhaps not quite as old as you first think - in the bottom left corner it has a date of 09/09, making it just 13 years old, which in itself is pretty impressive. But not quite vintage - cute though, and an important message.

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My garden in September

In summary, this month our garden is confused. It’s recovering from the summer’s drought slowly, a few downpours have helped with that. The autumn crocuses, the colchiums are out and looking superbly vibrant, but I know they won’t last long. The gentle pale pink cyclamens have started to flower and I know they’ll keep going for many months yet. Over the years we’ve been here they’ve multiplied so much and those few initial corms (fifty or so) was definitely worth it.

The number of spiders seems earlier this year, and I’m pretty ambivalent to them to be honest - slugs are my nemesis. I love the intricacy of their webs (outside, not inside!) and it was a delight to discover this dew-jewelled web, looking quite similar to the London Eye (if you use your imagination!). It stayed for quite a while, and I have to admit that I forgot to tell our decorators and I think he fought his way through them, oops.

And of course with those downpours came growth. And with growth came pruning! The jasmine throughout the garden has suddenly gone rampant, and an unexpected and unplanned pruning session filled many garden trugs and one green bin. But it looked so much better for it afterwards. The sedums have already started to turn their autumn pink, which seems early, but I think the heat will help deepen the colour, so I’m sure we’re in for a treat.

But the big news this month is that our grass is returning. Look at those green tufts showing just how resilient grass can be. I doubted it, that’s for sure.

Elsewhere in the garden the ferns are also recovering, over the summer months they had completely died back so it was good to see their green fronds return. The Mexican fleabane is also flowering, earlier in the year I’d planned to divide it but in the end left it as an established plant, and that seems to have paid off. The other thing that’s got it’s growing legs back is next door’s vine. It’s already a metre and a half into our garden and is making its way to the top of my ‘chop’ list.

The yellow bedding plants have also picked up and have started to flower again bringing a pop of colour to the patio. Clearly they know that winter bedding is just around the corner and are trying to persuade me otherwise!

The Annabelle hydrangeas, which turned an almost green over the summer, are back to cream again which is good to see. The large heads are full of smaller intricate flowers and have been a great addition to our garden. This is the first year that they’ve flowered so well, and so it will be good to see how they progress.

So September has been a month of rejuvenation, a different September to usual but one that’s been so good to see.