Village gardens

Today we popped up to Crondall to check out their open gardens. This was in spite of the almost continuous rain we had today. In fact, as we neared the village Max was drenched in what can only be described as a torrentially devastating downpour.

But then the weather turned a kindly eye upon us. The rain stopped and, a few times, the sun came out.

Crondall is a lovely village not far from us. We once looked to move there and we’ve been to their open gardens in years past. It’s always a pleasure. Even in bad weather. In fact, after the rain stopped and the sun peeked out, the whole village looked clean and bright…like a new pin.

We managed to see about six of the gardens (I await Mirinda’s comment that will correct this) out of a possible 16. Not bad considering the distances between them. And, of course, we stopped at the Hampshire Arms pub for a beer and cider.

Easily my favourite garden was the Artist’s Garden complete with humpy bridge, stream, doors and windows. It was a magical delight and gave me lots of insane ideas for our garden. (Plants in tea cups? Genius! Outdoor chandelier? Maybe not.)

The photo above is NOT the Artist’s Garden, by the way. It was a lovely little garden split in two by the house. It was very cute…as was the house. Actually, next door to this house there was a house with the leaniest chimney I’ve ever seen. Roofs, floors and doors I’ve seen at all manner of angles but a chimney? This one seriously took the biscuit, crumbled it up and made a cheesecake out of it. And then, to top it off, the house belonged to a builder.

Always a pleasure, the Crondall Open Gardens seems to have been a success if the numbers of people roaming around are any indication. And the parked cars. And the not-so-parked cars.

Then, as we were leaving, I saw Kate (the puppy groomer) driving by. We exchanged a “Great Gardens!” greeting before heading our separate ways.