National Garden Nose.

Well, it's called the National Garden Scheme really but it's for nosey people like ourselves to peek around complete stranger's gardens. Last Sunday we went with Luke's Mum to five gardens in Pentrych (pronounced Pen-turk) and today we visited eight in Colwilston (it's Welsh name is Tregolwyn). You have to love Wales for it's often unpronouncable place names. Of course, saying that I may have offended the locals who will quite rightly be saying, "It's Welsh, a different language, what do you expect?" Quite right too.

I have to tell you though that when we drove past the beautiful Red Castle last week, perched high on a hill and built in the late nineteenth century for the 3rd Marquess of Bute on the site of a 13th century castle, I told Luke's Mum to look out for Castell Coch (the Welsh for Red Castle)  and she laughed out loud. You see, Castell Coch is pronounced Castle Cock.

 

After a very soggy night and an exceedingly wet morning it stayed dry and bright long enough to have a good look around this charming little village.

We started off at an elderly couple's house, paid our ten pounds for two people entry fee (it all goes to charity) and mooched around the first garden. Last week's gardens were very well manicured and some had thousands of pounds' worth of landscaping. This one did not. What it had was a higgedly piggedly lay out, much of it seemed self sewn, with proper cottage garden flowers interspersed with vegetables. Masses of orange California poppies mingled with the blue of Love in a Mist whilst blowsy roses sat proudly in beds of individual plants, probably left there by the wind or a passing bird. All very sweet and 'as nature intended'. 

Luke told the lady of the house how envious  he was of her Cerinthe only for her to ask what that was and when he told her she immediately offered to pull up a root of it for him. Very kind but we declined. After all, if she did that sort of thing for everyone she'd have depleted her borders by the end of the afternoon.

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The next garden was owned and worked by a 92 year old who had the finest soil you can imagine. He put that down to the fact that it has been a vegetable patch for a century! It was rich, black and so fine a tilth. He had several cold frames made up of mismatched old windows which I loved. I do like the old thrifty gardeners who use whatever they can find to utilise.

 

He had his bean sticks tied up with old tights and some wonderful cornflowers in several colours; vivid blue, pink and lilac.

 

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The next garden had a baptismal pond! I've never seen or heard of one of these before.

Personally I found the ceramic teddy tied up in ribbon and greeting you on a stone seat a little twee for my taste and there were some well dodgy things to look at like tiered fountains, very grand in style but with rubber ducks bobbing about in the water but the hard landscaping was beautifully done.

 

 

As we passed the stables there was a whoosh past our heads and we realised that [airs of swallows were nesting in each stable. A flurry of activity occurred whilst the birds whizzed in and out, & flying so low to the ground that they looked like they were skating on the grass itself. This was enchanting to watch and we felt privileged to witness it but more was to come.

We crunched back down the grave drive, past the Rolls Royce with personal number plates and realised we had missed out one of the gardens on the route so we backtracked and this time viewed a 'plant woman's.garden', as it said on the brochure.

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Although below looks like a take-away meal it is actually assorted succulents on a glass table at the top of the garden. Nice idea.

I'm amazed how versatile sloping gardens are. From thinking they dictate the entire look of the garden I'm been turned around in my thinking and I see the beauty of a curved slope or the possibilities of terracing. This garden gradually led us down to the end corner and was a very peaceful garden with lovely planting which was understandable as it was owned by a garden designer.

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Wandering back past the 'teddy bear' house again we were soon at the Old Farmhouse and I loved this one.. The view across the fields was spectacular and this garden had several specific areas with an old play section, a large mixed herb raised bed, deep curvaceous borders filled with lush perennials and a productive veg patch as well as a good crop of raspberries.

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Onto the next and my second favourite garden.(the farmhouse was my type of romantic, informal planting) This one had a lush row of bountiful pink roses creating a border to the top part of the garden and then down some central stone steps to a calming lawn with a wonderful centrepiece - a huge sundial on a stone pedestal.

A big dog fight rang out when a visitor brought her well behaved pet in on a lead and Gwen, the long haired Irish hound and William. the daschound who belonged to the owners of the house took exception to the intrusion. A scuffle for ten seconds before we saw the visitor and her dog exiting the garden - rather quickly.

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This next garden was much smaller than the others, with the house in the centre of the garden. We walked around the shady side of the ouse and came out on a lawned area with the same spectacular views as the last few gardens. The planting was considered and gave the garden pockets with a different feel to each one before.

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Our last garden was small and compactwith lovely lupins but the most amazing and breathtaking point of the whole afternoon was the sight of an enormous and rare Red Kite flapping it's huge wings thirty foot above our heads.

Sadly, the camera could not focus on the bird in the time we had to capture the view. Red Kite's are not common and are only found in certain parts of this country. I have never seen one so close up and it was majestic - a solitary elegant bird that finished off the day beautifully.

Thanks Colwinston.