Photos from an afternoon garden tour at Highgrove House. For overseas peeps, that's the King's country home. And very nice it was too. I booked it ages ago, assuming as I always do that at some distant future date I would somehow have spare time to go swanning around country estates. And of course when it actually came around to it I didn't really, but I went anyway. Work has been busy, busy, busy lately, and I rarely take an afternoon off, so it was lovely.
The guide told us that the garden 'wasn't manicured', and it was really refreshing to see the odd thing that had been nibbled or an apple tree that looked a bit like mine. Apparently the King doesn't much like stuff to be cut back either, so there are lots of climbing plants over the house that aren't to be touched.
The pictures are from outside the private gardens, with no photos allowed inside. You can see inside here though.
I left with a really good feeling about my own scruffy not-always-productive garden, which was nice. I imagine if I went to the Chelsea Flower Show I'd get home and look at my patch and be a bit despondent. But Highgrove was very encouraging. Let it all grow! It's all brilliant, let's just see what comes up etc. The wildflower meadow had faded this late into the season, but there were still lots of butterflies.
Takeaways were:
1. Don't give up on the olive tree (mine had some sort of leaf problem and I was thinking about composting it)
2. More wildflowers - keep going and just see what comes up every year
3. Yew always looks amazing
4. Keep planting thyme - theirs hadn't done very well, so they were replanting
5. A group of life-sized elephants on the grass is absolutely the way to go
I bought a little salvia to go with my (small) collection, none of which are doing very well at the moment for some reason. I suspect some old potting compost might have been to blame, so I've repotted.
I've been loving the showers (except yesterday when me and the dog pushed our luck on a long evening walk and had to stand under some plum trees for about 15 minutes to avoid a deluge). The local authority have planted lots of saplings and they were struggling in the dry weather, so it has been nice to seem them well-watered and perking up nicely.
In other news it is of course perilously close to the end of term. As above, I always imagine I will somehow magically have time off, only to take on a load of work at the last minute. But the urchins are fairly self-sufficient and don't generally need to be taken to the seaside or to see the goat at the garden centre any more.
I am knowing my limits this year and not pretending I will accomplish all sorts of amazing summer things, such as fantastic trips, arts and crafts projects, minor garden construction (raised beds, hedgehog house refurbishment and insect hotels), working through the To Be Read pile, decluttering and award-winning cuisine. You can see I haven't even thought about it.
How is everything at your end? I hope summer (or winter) is chugging along nicely. CJ xx
What a fantastic place to visit - who could fail to be cheered by an elephant in the garden?! Interesting about the thyme - I was looking despondently at mine today and wondering if the deer had eaten it; there was barely anything left. Now I know to just buy a new one. Enjoy the summer holiday and enjoy having your eldest home. xx
ReplyDeleteI feel really inspired having read your lovely blog post! My garden is more ‘scruffy’ and natural and I’d hate it to be so neat and tidy as, to me, that shouts out something characterless! I’d love to visit Highgrove! I hope that you find time to relax during your summer break! 😁
ReplyDeleteI am going to look into purchasing an elephant or two for my own scruffy garden. I did some tidying yesterday but the garden waste bin was full and I gave up again. Loved looking through the King's garden via your link, thank you. I hope you get some time to relax over the summer holidays. We are halfway through, phew! Here's to a few dry and sunny days for pleasant dog walks xx
ReplyDeleteA most enjoyable post and good pictures. I'm glad to see that you enjoyed your visit, and think that your 'takeaways' are interesting.
ReplyDeleteAll okay here, and thankful that summer so far hasn't been really hot. xx
My small garden is scruffy around the edges, mainly because of the frogs and toads that hatch in our pond and the hedgehogs that occasionally make an appearance. I live in hope that between them they’ll control the slugs and snails 🤞🏻 I quite fancy an elephant in the middle of the tiny lawn, I wonder what the dog would make of that!
ReplyDeleteI always get that summer holiday feeling but as the girls get older, we have taken to going away for a few days and switching off then having an either productive or lazy break inbetween then it doen't feel quite so chaotic somehow. A bit all or nothing rather than trying to keep several plates spinning. I have a garden post this morning with more than my fair share of gardening woes!
ReplyDeleteYou’ve made me feel much better about my rampant garden. If it’s good enough for the king. Sadly elephants might struggle to find space along with everything else. Nice thought though. I’m about to return to bucket and spade time on the beach with granddaughter. Nice to revisit simpler times. Hope your summer is stress free
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