First garden visit of 2019 - Brightwater Gardens - snowdrops and friends

Last Sunday, my garden visiting friends Katy and Alison and I headed out for our annual pilgrimage to see snowdrops.  This is the start of the gardening season for us and we always look forward to it.  We were undecided where to go as there were quite a few snowdrop gardens open locally.  In the end, we plumped for Brightwater Gardens .  It is a relatively recent garden but every time we visit, there is something else to see.  There aren't the ancient wooded areas that some places are lucky to have, but we found plenty to enjoy.  Above is a lovely area full of white crocuses.

This wooded area was really beautiful.

 The snowdrops were nodding in the breeze (and I was glad I had taken my woolly hat!)

 A lot of planting has taken place.

 There were crocuses enjoying the sunshine.

 They just say 'Spring', don't they? (Even though it is still Winter).

 The cornus Midwinter Fire was shining brilliantly in the sun.

 Different coloured stems of cornus and willow were working well in this border.

 There were some hellebores...

 ...with different shades of purple.

 We hadn't noticed this little group under the tree before - Badger, Toad and Ratty -  but where was Mole?

 There he is, on the left.

 The crocus bank was full of colour.

 One garden I glanced at had me intrigued by the pale blue flowers.  When we got closer, we found they were clumps of irises in pale blue and creamy white/green, with the beautiful speckled markings.

 One of my favourite gardens, surprisingly, as it has such a meditative and peaceful feeling once yo are inside.  Hedges, pleached trees and grass are the only ingredients.

Looking through the vegetable gardens with a vista which draws the visitor onward.
We had a lovely visit and it was a perfect start to the garden visiting year.