Visiting gardens in England 2008 - day 2
  Intro • Day 1 • Day 2 • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5 • Day 6 • More pictures
 
 


Stow-on-the-Wold - Hidcote


Cedar Lawn, Hidcote


Red Borders, Hidcote
 

  

Day 2 - Thuesday June 3rd

Heavy rainfall outside when we woke up. We had an early breakfast at the hostel, earlier than the staff expected. Just to get ready in time. Embarked the bus at 09:30 after a quick visit at Tesco to buy lunch. The rain lasted most of the day but it didn't matter so much. Since we had full sun all days during last years trip, we prepared for the worst this year. Six days in-a-row with only sunshine and clear blue skies won't happen again in England for a hundread years we thought. And we were right, at least for the six days that our trip to England lasted this year.

Hidcote Manor Garden

Designer: Lawrence Johnston
Style: 20th-century garden "rooms"
Size: 10 ha

Hidcote is famous worldwide and who has not seen 'Hidcote Blue' lavender? Now we were there!

Hidcote is said to be the birthplace of "Garden Rooms". Around the main house there are about a dozen "rooms" with different themes. Lawrence Johnston, the creator of the Hidcote gardens, moved here in 1907. In 1910 he started realizing his garden plan. Only ten years after, most of the work was done and the site looked as is still does today. 

Apart from the typical "garden rooms" the "Red Borders" is one of the most famous features of Hidcote. Unfortunately it wasn't very red att the time of our visit since it was at the wrong time of the season.

With umbrellas, raincoats and suitable shoes we kept warm and dry despide  the rain.

  
 

             
Bathing Pool Garden, Hidcote                                      Stilt Garden Gates, Hidcote                                         The Long Walk, Hidcote
 
 



Plant Shop, Hidcote


Roman Baths, Bath


YHA Hostel, Stow-on-the-Wold

  


Due to the bad weather there were few visitors apart from us. The soft light and the haze gave us many good pictures without a lot of people :-).

As the tradition bids, we finished off with a visit to the plant shop where we bought an elder [Sambucus nigra] 'Black Lace'. When we returned to the bus, Dee looked slightly unhappy, mumbling "Oh no! Here we go again..."

Bath

We left Hidcote at half past two for a visit to the anchient town of Bath. It took us two hours to get there and meanwhile it stopped raining. 

Bath was said to be a fantastic city! We strolled up and down the streets of the town, looking for the "fantastic" but failed. Probably our own fault though, as I guess we were not in the right mood for city-watching. Because it is true, Bath is indeed a very interesting town with its long history. It all started with the Romans, who founded the town at the hot springs here almost two thousand years ago. We headed for the Roman baths but considered the entrance fee, £10:50 per person to see the excavations of the anchient baths, too much and setteled with watching the ruins from the restaurant above..

We explored the city for a few hours and found, among other things, a small garden shop (what would you expect) in Quiet Street. Unfortunately everything in the shop was either too heavy or too expensive to take home so we didn't buy anything. We finished our "urban mission" at an Italian restaurant together with Peter, Inger, Marie, Lena, Stefan and Dee.

Back at the hostel again around ten o'clock in the evening.

  
         


© 2008 Carsten Nilsson