On the Thursday afternoon D and I decided to visit Stockton Bury Gardens as it is his favourite Herefordshire garden. B didn't want to come with us as he was cleaning the outside of the caravan. Stockton Bury is less than 20 minutes away and a fairly small garden.
The C18th barn by the entrance to the gardens is Grade II listed and now houses the Tithe Barn cafe.
An old farm implement and stocks.
Stockton Bury Gardens has 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 2015 Tamsin Westhorpe, a gardening magazine editor, arrived to help with the garden. I have recently discovered she has written several books - one based on Stockton Bury so I have bought a copy for my kindle. The gardens opened to the public in 1985 and are delightful with lots of garden "rooms", many varieties of plant, and quirky and hidden features.
These three bells at the end of the barn are rung every hour. There has always been a history of bell ringing at Stockton Bury and in the past they were rung at 6 am to summon farm workers. The large bell has been recently cast by JohnTaylor Bell foundry in Loughborough especially for the gardens.
The Elizabethan Garden
The Pool Garden
The kitchen garden with vegetable beds, fruit trees and a greenhouse on one side and herbaceous beds on the other.
I must get some sea holly for our garden - the flowers were just covered in bees.
Then into the Dingle which is a garden created from an old quarry.
This door leads into the grotto.
The Secret Garden
The Pillar Garden
The Sunken Garden
By the side of the house is the Spring garden with bee skeps, sundial and a small summer house.
The Pigeon House Garden has a medieval dovecote which is Grade II listed. It contains 51 opening holes and a revolving ladder.
We had a look round the shop and a small area selling plants where I was thrilled to find Red Hot Pokers which B has been trying to buy for months.
We stopped off a the Tithe Barn Cafe for cake - Lemon Polenta for me and Strawberry and Cream sponge for D - the cakes there are delicious.
A few photos taken by D.
We saw quite a few butterflies - "whites", Meadow Brown and a Peacock.
On the Friday we popped into Tenbury Wells but I will write about that in the next post.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lunix FZ330 bridge camera and 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 of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).
What a lovely place to visit! This has to be one of my favourite blogs. Full of really lovely, picturesque images, many are card worthy! The shelf, the steps, the skeps, the ducks, the watering can, vistas, flowers and too many more super photos to mention! What, or who is sitting at Timothy's feet?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Debbie for your really lovely comment. We love the gardens there - so many quirky features and never too busy and the cakes are always good too. Oh at Timothy's feet is sitting Mr Spotty Dog! Son had won him the day before in one of those snatch and grab machines at the pub :) Timothy is not keen on him - lol!
DeleteHow lovely, there is so much of interest in this garden, I love all the different areas and you have both taken some super photos. The cakes look lovely, just the thing after wandering around, glad you found the red hot pokers, we used to have them in the front garden when I was a child. Timothy looks as if he is eyeing up a bite or two of the strawberry cake, Thank you for your kind message on my last post:)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Rosie - the gardens there are very photogenic and really rather lovely. I do like red hot pokers but they seem out of fashion these days. Hope you feel a bit better today and so very sorry they have increased the dosage.
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