Northcourt

I didn't go on a walk as such here.  Yesterday afternoon my mother and I went to Shorwell Midsummer Fair, held at Northcourt.  The fair was pleasant; old fashioned English summer fete really, with coconut shies, bric-a-brac, tea tent etc.  However, for an extra £1.50 you could explore the gardens.  My word! That was the best £1.50 I've spent this year! The gardens are lovely, a mixture of relatively formal flower and kitchen gardens, to rambling woodland.

The woods were full of shrubs such as Magnolias, Crinodendron, Azaleas and Leptospermum, as well as wonderful conifers and ferns.  There were footpaths that led all over the place, and around every corner was a plant that made me gasp.  The formal gardens were just the way I liked them; not manicured, with flowers bursting forth and overspilling their space.  There were lawned areas with flower borders that you could imagine at home, a lily pond, a knot garden, a stream with a lovely hump-backed bridge over it, a bamboo grove with a muddy path winding through it, topiary, a tennis lawn, beautiful beehives, ancient roses, a tiny grotto, old wrought iron gates leading to yet more mysterious pathways, and steps all over the place.

This garden was heavenly and I want to go back! 

Geranium

Beehives

Digitalis

Allium