A Garden Visit

 On Friday we met up with friends at Wollerton Old Hall Garden which is near Market Drayton in Shropshire.  It's about a forty minute journey from home.  We'd visited a couple of times before but not recently.  

It was a birthday celebration for one of our friends so as we arrived close to noon it was time for refreshment before the small tea room got too crowded.  Lunch was lovely.  We had Hummus and pitta bread with a couple of different salads. Friends had Gardener's platter.  All very fresh and well presented.  Sorry no photos as we were too busy chatting and catching up on news.

After lunch we had a wander around the gardens. 

 'When Lesley Jenkins moved back to her former childhood home of Wollerton Old Hall in 1983 with her husband John, she quickly discovered that the great age of the site demanded formality in the gardens design. She created three north-south and three east-west vistas. The resulting linearity of these vistas together with the hedges, walls and paths resulted in a collection of separate gardens, with each one having its own style and ethos.'

I've copied the above from the website (link at the top) to explain the history and layout of the garden.  It was very sunny so I didn't take too many photos as the light was too bright in places.  Just few photos below of those I did manage to take with my little camera.

The scents and sounds were wonderful - especially the Wisteria.  In the wilder area at the bottom of the garden there were butterflies and damselflies flitting around under the trees amongst the cow parsley.

There were plenty of seating areas in quiet places.

After that it was time for tea and cake before heading home.

Miscellany

Just a few of the things I've been observing today.

Chloe guarding the remains of the Christmas pomanders. I took the coloured ribbons off but was loath to throw them away as they still have a lovely smell - I thought cats weren't supposed to like a citrus smell!

Hyacinths - I bought and planted them in October but as I bought them loose and put them in the plain bag provided by the garden centre I couldn't remember what colour they were - it looks like they will be pink.

Our new bird feeding station bought in the sales for under £10 with some money we were given for Christmas. Hope the giver approves! The birds seem to like it and it is a lot easier to keep clean than the old wooden bird table.


The pond is well and truly frozen and covered with snow - there are animal footprints going across it as well as round it.

We took the Christmas wreath off the front door and left it on the garden seat - it is now covered in snow.

Some of the soft snow is disappearing now but it is very cold and icy - time for some warm tomato and basil soup for lunch.

This afternoon I went for a walk with a friend across the fields nearby known as Sammy's Pool. Needless to say the pool was frozen over. As we walked the sun was low in the sky and the light was so beautiful.

A Special Lunch

On Friday, twelve of us gathered around a table, in our own private room, eating wonderful food served by attentive and friendly staff. Some of us knew each other of old, some had met more recently and some didn't know each other at all but were aware of each other from conversations with the mutual friend who had gathered us all together in a wonderful gesture to join with him in celebrating his special birthday. As I sat at the table where people were chatting and laughing and eating and relaxing I gazed towards the end of the room where the arched windows overlooked the old church and thought what a wonderful setting it was in which to celebrate such a special occasion.

Langar Country Hotel and Restaurant is in the village of Langar and close to Cropwell Bishop in the Vale of Belvoir. The house itself was built in 1837 to replace the original 18th century house, owned by Admiral Howe, which was destroyed by fire. You will see the setting of the house more clearly from the photo on the welcome page of the hotel's website (link above) I was standing as far back as I dare to take the photo above, one inch further backwards and I would have disappeared, probably rather inelegantly, into the Ha-Ha which was just behind me.

The church of St Andrew stands at the side of the house and the grounds too, are lovely.

These are statues of either ostrich or emu, not sure which.

Views across the fields from the car park area, the hotel grows and rears a lot of its own produce as you can see from their blog

A gorgeous laburnum tree.

Cottages on the lane around to the church which we visited after lunch.

The flowers displays were very pretty and natural with flowers from the kitchen garden and verges - using plants like aliums, cow parsley, aquilegias and ceanothus.

Inside the church was simple and plain with just the minimum of decoration.

The photo below is courtesy of Paul whose camera takes better close ups than mine - it is taken from one of the illustrations on the pulpit.

The churchyard was quiet and peaceful, a typical country churchyard - with cowslips growing in profusion amongst the grass.

The heavy rain of the morning had dissipated as we sat around the lunch table and the first few rays of sun glinted through the windows of the dining room, just right for a stroll around the grounds and the church afterwards.

The lunch was long, entertaining and satisfying. I passed on a starter and had a beautifully presented portion of stuffed aubergine with a hummus quenelle with a butter bean and chick pea coulis, follwed by a summer berry Eton mess with stawberries and blueberries - my first strawberry of the season. The most popular dishes amongst our party seemed to be crab cakes, steak and ale pie and spring lamb, just two others as well as me chosing the vegetarian option. It was all delicious.