First garden visit of 2022

On a rather wet and grey Sunday, my garden visit companions, Katy and Alison headed off to Easton Walled Gardens, which is a thirty minute drive away.  It had just opened for snowdrops the Friday before.  I had visited before, but not since 2015, so was interested to see how things had grown and changed.  I had managed to slip on our stairs that morning, which had winded me, but I was lucky and hadn't done any lasting damage, although felt a little more fragile than usual! 

The house was demolished in the 1950s but I believe the bulldozer broke down and the gatehouse was left standing.  

I remember these spirals as very small last time I visited.  (You can see it was raining).

They make a lovely feature now.

The snowdrops were looking lovely, flowering away under the trees.

I liked this combination of hellebore, cyclamen coum and pulmonaria.

More snowdrops on the bank...

...and snowdrops as far as the eye could see by the river.

I managed to lose my footing around here and ended up sprawling on my back amongst the snowdrops. which caused much hilarity (and I don't think I will ever be able to live it down).  Again, luckily, it was a soft landing and apart from a bruise on my leg, I escaped unscathed.  It was completely my own fault, not being aware of where my feet were while trying to take a photo.  

I liked these troughs planted with iris reticulata.

The hedge above had been pruned to show its lovely bumpy shapes.

The bridge was a Victorian addition.

This trough also caught my eye.  The combination of ferns, snowdrops, hellebores and cyclamen works so well and could be repeated in a large pot at home...hmm...

Yes, I came away with another hellebore to add to my collection.  I spied this one as soon as I went to the shop. It is 'Harvington Pink'.

Such a pretty pink too.

Isn't it a beauty?  Being with friends, tea, cake, snowdrops and hellebores - what a great way to start the garden visits in 2022.