Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

B and I went along to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens for an hour or so earlier this week. These gardens are a real hidden gem in North Solihull offering peace and tranquility whenever you visit.

The 10 acre (Grade II Listed) walled gardens are a rare surviving example of a formal 17th century English Garden. Many formal gardens disappeared when the more informal English landscape garden became popular. The gardens had been neglected for some decades during the middle of the 20th century but were re-discovered and in 1985 the Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens Trust was formed to restore the Gardens to how they would have been in the years 1680 to 1760 when they would have been in their prime.

Flying around the Sweet Williams were my first Damselflies of the year -

I think these were Common Blue but my damselfly identification skills are not brilliant.

French Lavender in Lady Bridgeman's Garden was covered in bumble bees -

Red-tailed bumble bee.

I wondered what this plant was until

I spotted these Red Lily beetles!

Peonies and

Daisies in

My Lady's Border together with

Irises.

Pink Rock Roses with flowers looking like crumpled tissue paper were also attracting bees.

The North Orchard

White Alliums

We spent some time exploring the Extra (or Slip Gardens) which lie outside the main walled formal garden. When I visited this time last year several alterations had been made such as the planting of wildflower meadows and a bird feeding area behind willow screens.

Wildflower area

Mirror Pool

More wildflowers have been planted in the orchard situated in this area.

Fox and Cubs

Yellow Rattle

Yellow Rattle, Oxeye Daisies and Ragged Robin

Ragged Robin

I've seen the occasional Chimney Sweeper moth in this area of the gardens before but this year there were dozens. They are very lively and difficult to photograph - there is one hidden in the flowers in the photo below.

Heavily cropped photo.

The larvae feed on Pignut and there were lots of these plants around the orchard.

Part of the Batty Langley Vegetable Garden

Honeysuckle scrambling over a wall.

Dog Roses are starting to flower

Golden Chain (or Laburnum)

More alliums

Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens form the beginning (or end) of the Solihull Green Man Trail