National Herb Centre

 

I've been promising D for ages that we would make our annual "pilgrimage" to the National Herb Centre at Warmington, near Banbury. We go there to buy herbs and walk the nature trails.

The centre was established in 1997 by Peter Turner with the aim of providing a place where people could see, enjoy and learn about herbs. Research projects have also taken place here.

We later bought the yellow Calibrachoa for a little watering can plant container we have at home.

It was very hot already when we arrived so we decided to walk the nature trails first before it got even hotter.

At the start are 6 lovely demonstration gardens full of herbs.

The downhill walk to the fields.  When we first visited it was August and wild marjoram was in flower here and the plants were covered in Common Blue butterflies - I have never seen so many in one area. This visit we only saw a Red Admiral and an unidentified skipper that whizzed past.

So many different grasses - I would have loved to try and identify some and have since bought a Field Studies Council guide (one of those fold out charts that are so good) to help with id.

There are many paths you can follow on the nature trails and we usually do a circular walk but this time to be honest it was just too hot to walk up and down slopes in full sun

so we sought shelter in the woods where it was much cooler.

Walking back - a mental note has been made not to visit in future when its 30 degrees centigrade!

We sat in the car for a while to eat our sandwiches and have a cup of tea although we have eaten in the bistro there in the past and the food is very good.

Then we had a good look round the nursery area.

The stone dragon they had there last year has disappeared and I don't like this one quite as much.

They sell all sorts of plants and shrubs and there is an amazing variety of herbs. We did look for a "lemon curd" thyme we had seen in one of the demonstration gardens but failed to find one so bought a lemon scented one instead.  Parsley was also added to the basket. We already have majoram, chives, sage, rosemary and mint at home.

We already have Ragged Robin at home by the pond but I did buy a Fox and Cubs plant as its one of my favourites. I also bought a pot marigold and some borage.

Apart from the heat it was a lovely day out and my plan that going on a Sunday would mean there wouldn't be a rush hour on the M42 roadworks went well!  We did the return journey in 55 minutes even with the 50mph speed restriction for miles.  

I do love that part of South Warwickshire/Northern Oxfordshire and. although we've explored the area several times, one day we will visit more of the picuresque villages and churches there.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 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).

National Herb Centre and my Garden

 A few days after we returned from Herefordshire we visited the National Herb Centre near Banbury.  D and I have been several times before but it was B and E's first visit.  We hoped to walk the lovely nature trails there. I'd checked the weather forecast which suggested 15% chance of rain well you guessed it just after we arrived it rained so nature trail walks were abandoned especially as there wouldn't have been any butterflies around which are the highlight of the walks.

So we had a look round the herb centre and nursery.

I fell in love with this dragon garden ornament last year and it is still there but far too expensive to buy as a treat.  

I am not so keen on this one.

Many pots for sale. After I was annoyed I hadn't bought one of the half hooped barrels they had for sale as it would have been ideal to plant the herbs we bought to take to Herefordshire.

There are a lot of herbs for sale and many many varieties of each type. They are not overly expensive either unlike many of the nurseries nearer home.

On the way to the nature trails there are colourful borders and about 7 individual herb gardens - sadly I didn't look at these this time as the rain was getting heavier.

Timothy keeping dry in the car!

These are the herbs I bought along with a lavender and nasturtium.

Garden

Back at home the Christmas Tree in a pot has a lot of new growth.

Valerian and Sage in flower

There are lots of buttercups in the wildflower area this year and yellow rattle is doing a wonderful job of controlling the couch grass so that other flowers can thrive.

Posy picked from the garden.

Honesty is now going to seed and I was really pleased to find three Orange Tip Caterpillars.

I should have mentioned a few posts back that coming back from Herefordshire a few weeks ago we found the blue tit nest box full of dead chicks. It was really upsetting especially as they had seemed to be thriving and both parents were taking in food. It was distressing to see the female trying to remove the chicks.  I did wonder if she might make another nesting attempt (I know it is rare but not unknown) but she hasn't.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (If anyone ever wishes to use any of my photos or my son's I would be very grateful if they could email me first - thanks).