Since early January, together with my friend from Hamburg, we started planning another snowdrop trip through English gardens.
A part from a lady running into the back of my car straight on the first roundabout after having left the motorway, all went smoothly and well and rather exciting. Luckily, my car has only damage in the bumper and that did not hinder us to continue our journey in a relaxed way.
First impressions came from Lacock, a village I always wanted to see. We had booked an utterly charming B&B (link:
http://www.lacockpottery.com/lacockpotterybednadbreakfast.html)
highly recommended to go to meet Simone and David but more of that later.
It was so pleasant to wander around in this peaceful garden after all the driving across the Channel.
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| The Abbey |
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| this very friendly cat wanted to be our guide |
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| Lacock village |
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| So pleasant to still have evening sunlight |
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| great room to stay in |
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| another cat welcoming us |
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| David lit a fire and offered us a glass of wine |
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| The B&B is just opposite the church |
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| Fish and chips - a must for the start |
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| The day started as perfectly as the one before ended: great fire, fantastic full cooked English breakfast and the sun! |
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| the garden surrounds the B&B |
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| Rosemary in bloom |
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| the 'pink' window is due to the red tinted glass in the morning sun |
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| we both did chose the hat with flowers |
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| all quintessential English |
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| as any 'good' tourist, we had to take a picture of 'Harry Potters' house |
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David explained that people who live in that house, have to drive through the ford
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| after visiting Devizes market we went to Frome |
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Frome is a lovely town to visit and we went to get some flowers from the cute florist there for my DIL in Bristol.
The next day, we headed down to North Devon
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| The long drive made us hungry. Actually, no opportunity to have lovely cake on our journey was ever dismissed. |
we enjoyed all our walk through the garden and were -again- lucky with the weather.
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| the fragrance in the greenhouse was so sweet - daffodils and freezia |
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| perfect way to keep them upright: 4 sticks and some twine |
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| Rosemoor House |
Eventually, we went to visit Colesbourne Park in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire but there was also a property to be looked at on our way.
Very cute but too much modernisation work to do. However, Herefordshire did it for me!
Colesbourne Park was a fantastic event!
Never in my life I would have believed that there are so many different snowdrops to be seen. It is believed that here is the biggest collection of galanthus to be seen. The park opens 5 weekends/year under the NGS for charity.
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| the icehouse |
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| Galanthus George Elwes |
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| Galanthus James Backhouse |
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| carpets of snowdrops and cyclamens |
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| Galanthus nivalis 'petite fille des Flandres' -as cute as its name |
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| galanthus 'Kildare' |
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| galanthus 'Margery Fish' |
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| galanthus 'Falkland house' |
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| galanthus 'Pusey green tips' |
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| galanthus 'Bagpuize Virginia' |
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| galanthus 'Primrose Warburg' |
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| galanthus "Blewbury tart' |
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| galanthus 'Lady Elphinstone' |
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in the park are also 8 'champion trees' to be found, Sir Henry explained us that those trees are of outstanding size - hence their name
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| galanthus 'Armine' |
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| I find this snowdrop should have had the name of a rondo |
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| many varieties were of course for sale |
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| but none over 50 £ |
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| Sir Henry Elwes |
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| after the fascination of the tiny bulbs came the fascination of the blue lake |
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| the water is really of this unusual blue and Sir Henry told us that it is due to a clay mineral from the sources. If brave enough to dive in this icecold water, one could even not see its hand in the water |
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| so nice that he takes the time to explain so many things about his park |
The next journey to Dover is already booked: travel to Nots, workshop at Hope and Elvis.
we enjoyed all our walk through the garden and were -again- lucky with the weather.
