Visit to Grimsthorpe Castle part 2

 Here is part two of the trip to Grimsthorpe Castle.  Through the vegetable/kitchen garden gate was this slightly wilder border which contrasted well with the formality of the previous garden.

 There was what looked a bit like an orchard, with box growing round the base of the trees.

In this section, the trees were growing through areas of grass which had been left longer and which emphasised the trees.  I really liked this idea.

 A more formal avenue of trees, stretching off into the distance.

 Then we came to two grass areas, with box bushed and a pool and fountain in each, surrounded by yew hedging with topiary birds and shapes.  I think that the Grimsthorpe gardens would make a wonderful setting for a production of Alice in Wonderland .

 Some of the yew shapes cut on top of the hedge.

 The view across the park to the lake.

 A delightful tunnel which just invited the visitor to explore..."Curiouser and curiouser"...

 The tunnel led back up to a double herbaceous border with yellow and white as the main colours.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Castle. As the day was still young, we decided to make a detour to a nursery and garden centre called Rasell's, in a village not too far away, called Little Bytham.  I used to live not that far from Little Bytham but hadn't been back for many years.  The nursery was full of well cared for plants and had planted borders which gave the visitor a good idea of how the plants would look in that situation.

I bought an agapanthus - 'Navy Blue' - well, it had to be done after seeing all the beautiful ones at Grimsthorpe.  I have tried to grow one before but all I got was leaves, so I hope this one will do better for me.

I also bough Dahlia Merckii, which is a plant that has been on my wish list for years, but which I hadn't seen for sale anywhere. That has been potted on and I am enjoying its small delicate flowers. Of course, we had to sample the tea room too, which was very nice, with proper china and tea leaves, not tea bags.  We had a fantastic day out and here's to the next one...

Visit to Grimsthorpe Castle part 1

I enjoyed a lovely day out last Tuesday, with my friends Katy and Alison.  After a bit of research on where we could go, we plumped for Grimsthorpe Castle, which is about an hour away.  I had visited before, but six years ago, so was very happy to go again and had a two for one voucher, so off we went. I took lots of photos of the gardens, so will split them into two posts.

 The main front of the house is very grand and imposing, designed by Vanbrugh, who also designed Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard.  The figures in gold on the coat of arms are a monk on the left and a wild man on the right.

 The house towered above us.  I was intrigued by the massive columns.

 I felt they were an unusual design.  We went in by the front door and were given a very informative and fascinating tour by Beryl, who was extremely knowledgeable and hardly seemed to draw breath!  Photos weren't allowed in the house, but I made up for that outside!

Yes, I do like a view through a door or a gate.  The gold figure here is a saracen.

 The gardens are around the house and are created in different 'rooms'. This is the rose garden.

 The older part of the house can be seen here, with the crenellations.  It reminded me of one of my favourite historic houses, Haddon Hall, near Bakewell.

 Another view from the rose garden showing the older and newer parts of the house.

 We went through to the kitchen garden which was very impressive.  Topiary and pots of agapanthus were used as eye catchers.

 Flowers and vegetables were planted together.

 The onions were drying in the sun.

 Looking down through the vegetable garden.  I particularly liked the agapanthus and decided I needed to put one on my wish list!

Now and again, there was a lovely view of the house.  The garden did give me the feeling of being in Wonderland and I half expected the Queen of Hearts to appear round the corner at any moment and demand a game of croquet!

Looking back into the vegetable garden.  The final arch had raspberries growing up it which was a lovely idea.  Part two of the visit will follow...

My Granny's memoirs - Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) photo from Wikipedia

Alice and the Duchess by Tenniel from alice in wonderland.net

On a recent visit to Mum and Dad's, Mum reminded me of some memoirs that Granny had written, based on memories from 1904 - 1914. Now and again, I'll add a few into my blog posts as Granny had an interesting early life, far removed from how we all live today. I'm going to start with some shameless name dropping. In this extract, Granny is talking about her mother.

At one time in her early years, Mother lived with an aunt in Oxford where she had lessons in logic from Professor Dodgson, Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. He asked her what was her favourite fruit and she replied, "Strawberries". "Then nothing is better than strawberries," said the Professor. Mother agreed. "And what do you like least?" "Liver", said Mother, after some thought. "But liver is better than nothing". "I suppose so", said Mother. "Well, if liver is better than nothing, and nothing is better than strawberries, then liver must be better than strawberries". All very confusing to a little girl.

It does sound like one of the conversations Alice would have with a character from Wonderland!