A Walk Around Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

I popped along to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens for an hour this morning. The Gardens are a rare example of an English Baroque garden and they are being restored to the period 1680 - 1740.




Lady Bridgeman's Garden was full of summer colour







My Lady's Border



Melon Ground











"Love lies Bleeding"





The North Orchard is planted with species of apple tree and pears that would have been have been available to gardeners in 1740

It looks as though this will be a bumper year for fruit at the Gardens and there were even a few peaches growing against the wall














There were lots of signs that autumn is on the way with the ripening apples and pears and berries such as rowan, elderberry and holly.

There are quite a few unusual tree species. These are cockspurthorn berries



New Orchard



Black Mulberry





A good crop of sloes in the hedgerow - has anyone got a recipe for sloe gin? :D





The South Kitchen Garden which follows a plan by Batty Langley from his 1728 book - "New Principles of Gardening"











The Lower Wilderness



Ripening holly berries



Looking down Holly Walk towards the Green House which was built around 1729



It was breezy and cloudy today so not many butterflies about just a few speckled woods seen in the Extra Gardens.

There were several juvenile blackbirds around and a jay flew overhead by the kitchen garden.

There is an "Animal in Hands Event" tomorrow (11th August) at the gardens where you have the chance to see and handle animals such as python, milk snake, barn owl and cane toad - an ideal event for children. So if you live in the Solihull/Castle Bromiwch or East Birmingham area why not pop along and enjoy the event and gardens. Please see Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens website at:

www.cbhgt.org.uk

for details.