We went to several places some briefly on Friday. Some I will write about in a separate post but the main visit was to Stockton Bury Gardens, Kimbolton, which D hadn't been to before.
The Gardens have been created over the last 35 years by the owner Raymond Treasure with help from 1984 by the gardener Gordon Fenn who had been Head Gardener at Hereford Cathedral.
In 2014 Tamsin Westhope who was a garden magazine editor arrived to help with the garden.
Raymond Treasure's great grandfather came to the farm in 1886 and started to create a garden by planting a monkey puzzle tree on the main lawn by the house. Laurel hedges surrounded the main lawn and kitchen garden. In 1900 20 men and boys were employed to farm the land plus two grooms/gardeners. Today the farm and garden need just four staff.
Following the death of the great grandfather 2 great aunts continued to live at the farm spending a lot of time on the upkeep of Kimbolton Church. For the next 20 years nature reclaimed the garden until in 1944 Henry Treasure arrived to farm the land and repair the farm buildings.
By 1970 the old main house required so much repair that it was demolished and a new house built in the Georgian style. After this the creation of the present garden began.
The gardens opened to the public in 1995 and extend over four acres. The gardens really are charming with many varieties of plants and hidden features.
Part of the cider orchard
The tithe barn houses a cafe.
The three bells at the end of the long barn are rung every hour. There has always been a tradition of bell ringing here and in the past they were rung at 6.00 am to summon men to work. The largest bell was newly cast by the John Taylor Bell Foundry in Loughborough especially for the gardens.
The Elizabethan Garden
The Pool Garden
The Kitchen garden with vegetable beds to the right and herbaceous borders on the left. The perennials were a little past their best.
Timothy climbing apple trees again!
The Dingle Water Garden created from an old quarry.
The Grotto
The Secret Garden
The Pillar Garden
The Sunken Garden
Monkey Puzzle Tree Cones
The Spring Garden next to the house with bee skeps and a little summer house with painted panels illustrating flowers.
The Pigeon House Garden
Medieval Dovecote with 510 nesting holes and a revolving ladder. It is Grade 1 Listed.
There is a small museum with old gardening tools and a display of Roman items found in a Hoard discovered at Stockton Bury.
Oh look! This is interesting - one of the rumoured resting places for the body of Owain Glyndwr is at nearby Kimbolton Church!
Time for cake which was very nice. I had Lemon Polenta cake and D had Elderflower and Lavender.
David really enjoyed the gardens so I was pleased we had chosen them.
The next post will include brief visits to Leominster and of course I couldn't resist stopping off at Kimbolton Church! I drove back via Leysters and finally found the Poet's Stone!
I hope everyone is staying safe and well.
Photos taken by me with the Pansonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. Those marked *D taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).
Reference: Guidebook to Stockton Bury Gardens.
14 comments:
Another pretty garden you took us to. That barn behind the stocks looks like it has a dovecote wall but it is probably for ventilation. I that photo of you taking a photo at the end reminds me of something that happen at Corfe Castle when I went with my wife. She used to have blog which she wrote and used a doll she called Prunella to make the story. Prunella was sat on one one the castle walls where my wife was taking a photo when the bloke come along and spots Prunella and goes to grab her saying what's this? but before he got near my wife grabs Prunella and said Mine and glared at him. we just walked off. Made me smile after seeing the look on his face.
What a lovely day out. It looks a great place to stroll around. Owain Glyndwr turns up everywhere doesn't he?!
What a lovely blog! Such a variety of things to see in the garden. Timothy is turning into a bit of a handful with his penchant for climbing apple trees! I'm particularly fond of seeing bee skeps in be boles, I'm particularly fond of seeing bee skeps in bee boles, That's a fine looking set of bee boles. The polenta cake looked delicious. I hope Timothy got some bites!
Billy Blue Eyes - Thanks so much. Interesting story about your wife! I lost Timothy once on Anglesey he fell out of my pocket and I went tearing back to the car retracing my route and a couple in churchyard were picking him up. I think to leave on a gravestone but I shouted he's mine!!!!!! I rarely put him in a pocket since then!
Bovey Belle - Thanks so much. The gardens there are lovely OH and I first visited last August. Yes OG does pop up everywhere!!!!!
Rustic Pumpkin Thanks so much. Timothy is becoming quite mischievous :) Yes bee boles are rather lovely - there are some nice ones at Packwood House too. Timothy had a small piece of cake :)
The garden looks fascinating with so many different areas, quirky garden decorations and buildings to explore. Always good to have cake with refreshments when visiting a garden they seem to go together on a summer afternoon:)
Rosie - Thanks so much. The gardens are smallish but as you say there is a lot to explore;.
looks nice! I am pleased Timothy avoided the stocks ;)
oh and Mr Quacks doesn't like that sign :)
The Quacks of Life - Thanks so much. Worth a visit if you haven't been. Tell Mr Quacks I am sorry!!!!
This looks like a wonderful place to visit. So much to see and experience.
CherryPie - Thank you
What a gorgeous garden! I love those metal chickens and the three duck ornaments as well. Cake isn't bad, either. ;-)
For some reason or other, the link to your blog on my blog list has disappeared - though I found it, unworking, at the bottom of the list (also seems like most of the blogs I follow haven't blogged for years. I must update it, lol!)
Millymollymandy - Thanks so much. The gardens are gorgeous - small but pack a lot in there. We'been twice now. Once with OH and once with my son.
Strange bout my blog disappearing. I really need to update my list as most of mine haven't blogged for ages either. You have to wtach it too because these old blogs can get hacked and a strange new post suddenly appears.
Millymollymandy - Just to add I think blogger playing up with blog lists because yesterday I found one on mine despite posting less than a week ago had been moved to the bottom of the list!
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