No sooner is Christmas over than
the Crème Egg ads and holiday brochures
appear. However, although I feel like I am living my life in ever decreasing
circles, I can’t complain. I love the thought of holidays and the promise
of sunshine. I am already thinking about a suitable holiday destination for
all of the family for next year- very tricky as we are all so different.
The ideal spot would be a period property in a Japanese theme park with a
garden and its own nature reserve. Let me know if you come across this!
We have, of course, spent some wonderful holidays in this country and as
a result I have been able to visit some beautiful and interesting gardens.
Holidaying in Britain means that there is such a diversity in landscape and
climate or growing conditions. The gardens of Cornwall are particularly notable-
Heligan and the Eden Project being perhaps the most famous, with many, many
others. Personally I prefer the slightly less commercial gardens in Cornwall
such as Cotehele with its medieval dovecote set in a very natural landscape.
All benefit from the warm Gulf stream climate to allow lush leafy sub tropical
growth to flourish.
I also adore the Lake District even though I have never been lucky enough
to spend time there when it has not been mostly raining. Still, all that
rain results in amazing greenery and there is no finer example when it comes
to evergreens than Levens Hall in Kendal. The property dates from the 16th
century and has magnificent architecture complimented by the fantastic topiary
sculptures.
In complete contrast, over the border in Scotland, Floors Castle, the home
of the Duke of Roxburghe produces a riot of colour in the summer with its
deep, tiered herbaceous borders. Although the style is reminiscent of the
so called traditional English garden, the deep pinks, reds, purples and yellows
of the flowers have much in common with the bold colours of tartan.
In recent years, holidays for us have been spent in France as we are renovating
a property there. I love the French style of planting and I wish that I could
bring the colour, imagination and enthusiasm on display on French roundabouts
to our area. I have still taken time out to visit local gardens. I was a
little surprised on one garden visit to see the odd gaps in borders where
a plant had failed or even a stray weed or two which would be a terrible
offence here in Britain. Yet, even on that day, I turned a
corner and was met by a large square border, probably about 10m by 10 planted
only with Sunflowers. Cleverly they were varying in height and variety with
the dwarf sunflowers around the edge, graduating upwards in size to giant
Sunflowers in the middle. The whole planting took on a triangular form like
a golden representation of the famous Louvre pyramid.
STACY TUTTLE