Our nearest National Trust property is Biddulph Grange Gardens. We try to visit once if not more in each season and we recently made our first visit of the year. Much work is being done on a new drainage system so parts of the garden were closed off.
Also the day we visited the contents of the shop were being moved down to what was the reception area, the intention being to create a new tea room where the shop was within the building overlooking the gardens. It will be interesting to go back when this work is completed.
When we arrived we saw that a special trail had been organised to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
We followed the red paper lanterns around the paths and tried to find the information for each year.
I think we spotted them all. We found our birth years which are Tiger and Horse. This year is the year of the Pig.
The lanterns led us up through the larger trees like the Giant Redwoods
and the monkey puzzle trees
Towards the Chinese garden.
The ideal place for many more lanterns.
They all looked so pretty hanging in the trees and dancing in the sunshine and they added extra colour and warmth to the garden.
We enjoyed our walk even though it wasn't as long as we had expected because of the closures of both the Wellingtonia Walk and the Woodand Walk.
It was so quiet we had the garden almost to ourselves.
As we left volunteers and were scurrying backwards and forwards with boxes of stock and bits of display equipment for the new shop. We looked at all the plants for sale and I bought a big pot of snowdrops for just £2. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will survive as we don't have a great track record for keeping snowdrops in our heavy clay soil but this time they will be planted in a tub rather than in the ground.
What a delightful place for a walk!
ReplyDeleteThank you Wiliam, it was a lovely day for a walk:)
DeleteWow! What a beautiful place!! I love the walk they set up for everyone to follow the lanterns! That looks so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ann, it was a bonus to find the lantern trail and they did make everything look so beautiful:)
DeleteOh, so lovely & yes, I've heard of Biddulph Grange gardens & they live up to what I've read by the look of it. Our Chinese birth years are Rat(K), & Ox(me), so interesting to know yours too. We went to Cragside in 2016 in the middle of ongoing restructuring of their gardens & found it hard to get parking space. We did & I loved it. Thanks for sharing, hope the snowdrops go well & take care.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan, I've never visited Cragside it's on my 'would like to visit' list. Biddulph is an amazing garden and will I'm sure be even better after all the changes. I'm the Tiger and P is the Horse. The snowdrops seem to be doing well in a pot on the patio:)
DeleteWhat an excellent idea to relocate the cafe. The Chinese garden looked lovely with all those lanterns.
ReplyDeletesLouise, the cafe will be much better in those two larger rooms as the one they have now is quite small especially in bad weather when people can't sit outside:)
DeleteThe grounds are quite magnificent and I love the colourful lanterns. Seeing them strung out like that took me back to summer, five years ago, when we hosted the wedding reception for my son and his Chinese wife, we hung dozens of red paper balls right through the gardens to try to create a bit of atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the snowdrops.
Thank you Elaine, it is a wonderful garden and in any season too. How wonderful your garden must have looked with all the red paper balls in the trees - I've seen the photo on your blog and they look quite magical. Keeping my fingers crossed for the snowdrops:)
DeleteI enjoyed our tour, Rosie, what a beautiful place, and your can almost feel the peace and quiet through your photos. I hope we're having tea at that lovely table by the window.
ReplyDeleteAmalia
xo
Thank you Amalia, glad you could come on the tour. Tea and cake at the table by the window would be a lovely treat:)
DeleteWhat a job those volunteers have on their hands but it will be worth it in the end with the café overlooking the garden. I have been to the garden once when we were on our way somewhere on holiday so I was glad to see it again in your post. 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you Karen, I've never seen as many volunteers about at any one time - it was all hands to the pump to get the move completed, I'm guessing for half term next week as there are children's events happening:)
DeleteWe have only been to Biddulph once.All those steps led to my OH having Spinal Stenosis and months of pain!!!Thanks for sharing your photos because I don’t think we will be risking it again.Such a shame because it is a special garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you Barbara, how awful for your husband to suffer from his visit. There are quite a lot of steps and inclines also bending through the tunnels so it must have been difficult and painful. I can understand you not wanting to go back again:)
DeleteSuch a beautiful place for a walk. The lanterns were so pretty in the Chinese garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you, it is a lovely place to walk and the lanterns added to the beauty of it all:)
DeleteI enjoyed sharing your visit - the lanterns made a lovely splash of colour. I have snowdrops growing in pots and they have so far been fine, so hopefully yours will be too. (I probably should divide them this year.) I also have some in pots with ferns and they look really nice together.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
Ellie
Thank you Ellie. The lanterns were so colourful. It sounds as if your snowdrops are doing well in their pots and must be spreading if you are thinking of dividing them. I'd like eventually to put the snowdrops in a stone trough with other spring flowers:)
DeleteIt looks like a lovely place and how nice to almost have it to yourselves - I always enjoy when that happens! Good luck with the Snow Drops, they are such a beautiful sign of spring!
ReplyDeleteThank you Pam, it was very quiet just a handful of other visitors and plenty of space for all. I think there were more gardeners and volunteers than visitiors whilst we were there:)
DeleteThe gardens are wonderful and such a lovely idea to hang the chinese lanterns and set up a trail. I've only been once - we arrived an hour before closing as we had been elsewhere and I would dearly love to return to spend more time there.
ReplyDeleteI hope your Snowdrops do well - I struggle here too! although our soil is very sandy. The last lot I planted have at least survived and are showing buds at the moment.
Thank you RR. Hopefully you will be able to return one day to spend longer there, there is a country park next door to it too also Little Moreton Hall not far away. A whole day out on a day with warmer days and lighter evenings perhaps? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the snowdrops:)
DeleteThe lanterns look really vibrant against the green backdrop.
ReplyDeleteSquirrels eat all our snowdrops!
Thank you Julie, we've had squirrels eat crocus and miniature iris bulbs, I hope they don't discover the snowdrops. The lanterns ere very pretty in the trees:)
DeleteOh what a lovely walk!
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to have these special places, preserved and open, for you to enjoy.
💓 ✨ 💓 ✨ 💓
Thank you WoW, we are very lucky indeed to live so close to some lovely places:)
DeleteI understand that Biddulph was the first place to create a stumpery. (I got this information from the notes schoolchildren had written and placed in a display cabinet in our walled garden in the park). It looks like a lovely, mature garden and the Chinese lantern trail is perfect for this season. It always nice to take home a plant bought from such a place and I hope the snowdrops give a lot of pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda, yes Biddulph has a huge stumpery lining some of the narrow and intricate paths down to the Chinese garden, they were lovely when we visited with snowdrops and ferns growing amongst them. Trentham Gardens have started a stumpery too as part of their Capability Brown alterations they have foxgloves planted amongst them. The lanterns were so pretty and it was lovely to look out of the kitchen window this morning and see the snowdrops:)
DeleteLovely view from the room with the chairs. I can imagine sitting there drinking coffee and eating boudoir biscuits! The bright red paint in the Chinese garden certainly brightens the day. Good luck with the snow drops. x
ReplyDeleteThank you Simone, it would be lovely to sit in the window overlooking the garden with a warm cup of coffee:)
DeleteGardening questions I can have a go at . . . snowdrops don't mind clay soil as such, but they need some decent drainage. So if you could dig out a big planting hole, and mix the soil with horticultural grit (the stuff that's about 3 or 4mm), use 50/50 grit and soil, that will help. Also, they can cope with being deeper than many people plant them. Oh, and they don't mind a good dry spell in summer which is why they succeed in pots, but they'll need regular repotting so introduce fresh soil/more nutrients.
ReplyDeleteThank you Jayne, drainage in our garden is quite poor and it is liable to flood sometimes, we have tried various ways to try to help the situation but water comes from the school field behind our boundary hedge and also from the other gardens as we are on the end and on a lower level to them and most have concreted over their gardens which doesn't help! We are looking for an old trough or sink that we can place some of the spring bulbs in. Thank you for all your advice re planting and potting, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can keep these snowdrops going:)
Deleted'uh, penultimate line; that should be `TO` introduce, not "so"
ReplyDelete