Be careful of the hidden pond

That’s not a sign you expect to see in a garden is it, but it’s one that greets you as you enter the Summer Wildlife Garden at Barnsdale Gardens. That’s garden 14 out of the 38 there, and is what I can only describe as the equivalent of a gardener’s theme park. It’s also the Gardeners’ World home of former presenter Geoff Hamilton, and where the programme was filmed at the time.

The way the gardens are laid out make them easy to take inspiration for domestic gardens, it’s so easy to imagine how they might work and that you’ve just stepped out of a house and into the garden. I think this photo shows exactly what I mean.

The hidden pond is in a corner of the grass and the paved stepping stones aim to lead you on a safe route, though I imagine with the planting the pond is easy to miss, so wouldn’t work for everyone. But it’s a great spot.

The garden was created using principles outlined in the BBC’s Living Garden series and includes features to attract wildlife and safe places for them to live and hibernate. The plants too have been chosen to encourage wildlife and give them reasons to stay. The honeysuckle, hebe, rose and foxgloves, as well as the hostas all have their part to play, as does a spot to sit and enjoy the space and its inhabitants.

The other endearing feature in the garden is the bird bath - as well as providing a space for birds it gives a focus point for the lawn. I love its column and could imagine sitting in the garden, enjoying the space and letting my eyes wander and wander through every spot. A totally relaxing space, don’t you think?

The Japanese Garden at Barnsdale

If you asked me, I’d say I probably wasn’t a Japanese Garden fan, but there’s something about this one. The planting is minimal, and it’s all very calming.

Maybe the attraction was that it was so different to many of the other gardens at Barnsdale. Maybe it was the raked gravel that really gives the impression of calming water.

The bamboo is large, and also creates fencing.

And the stones that weave their way through the gravel tempt you into believing there’s water there too.

It’s definitely a place for mindfulness, and while on our visit there was little colour - other than green - the information on display showed the most shocking pink and beautiful plumes of Astibe, would be a great addition.

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See the other Barnsdale gardens I’ve shared here.

A summer cottage garden

One of my unexpected highlights from our recent break in Lincolnshire was our visit to Barnsdale Gardens. Before we arrived in our holiday cottage I’d not heard about these gardens, but they were in the recommended places to visit, so I took a look. And as soon as I did, they went straight onto our ‘to visit’ list.

Barnsdale is the Gardeners’ World home of former presenter Geoff Hamilton, and it’s where the programme was filmed. It’s a garden full of gardens, described as a gardener’s theme park - there’s thirty eight individual gardens in the garden. I thought I’d diligently photographed every single garden, but somehow I don’t have all the photos.

Never mind.

I’m starting by sharing garden number twenty eight - a summer cottage garden.

This garden was built as the main show garden for the very first Gardeners’ World Live Exhibition at the NEC in 1993 and was designed by Dan Pearson. Isn’t it delighful?

Originally the maze was a herb maze - filled with silver variegated thyme, lavender, rosemary and sage - imagine the smell! The Barnsdale gardens are heavy soil and the herbs didn’t thrive, so was replaced with a box hedge.

The archways are covered in roses, and like many cottage gardens there’s delphiniums, more roses, campanula, geraniums, foxgloves and clematis.

It’s exactly the type of garden that you could easily see in a domestic garden, and wouldn’t that be something to aim at?

I loved the strategically well-placed deckchair, which on a warmer day would I’m sure be in much demand.