The perfect garden

After lunch we visited our first NGS garden for ages. It is actually reasonably close to us but because of numerous detours in place because of roads closed for repair, it could have been in Yorkshire.

Generally, open gardens will put distinctive yellow signs out in order to let visitors know where they are. There’s usually two – one from the main-est road and the second at the garden itself. This is generally enough. Not this weekend though.

Linda was guiding us down the road that led directly to the garden when we were stopped in our tracks by a big ROAD CLOSED sign and an NGS yellow sign next to it indicating we should turn right. There followed miles of driving through obscure country lanes with infrequent yellow signs pointing us in the right direction.

Against all odds, however, we finally found Wheatley House. And we’re so glad we did. What an amazing garden. We could see ourselves living there (with a full time gardener, a ride on mower and a path), something that rarely happens.

One excellent wall

The centre of the upper lawn is dominated by an old, dead and fallen tree (Mirinda reckons it probably fell during the great storm of 1987) which has been effectively propped up by an overgrown trellis. Rather than uproot (or grind) the old tree, it has become a lovely feature.

The aided tree

Dotted around the garden was a collection of porcelain statues, handmade by local artist and garden owner, Susannah Adlington. We fell in love with a few of them and, had we had a bit more cash with us, would have bought the one called Flora for our garden.

The faces of these statues are beguiling and instantly appealing. Mirinda is determined we should visit the artist’s studio (which is quite close to us) with enough cash to actually buy one.

Statues among the flowers

We spent a lovely hour wandering round the grounds in admiration of the colourful displays of plants. The gardener (presumably under the direction of the owner) had gone for a sweep of colour that gradually went from yellow, to red, to violet and to white. It all looked stunning.

Caught mid turn, going into the greenhouse

One of the things that appealed to us the most was the amazing view. Mirinda could easily imagine herself lounging back on the top lawn facing this view, after a long week at work.

The view

A big thumbs up to Wheatley House – it was well worth the tortuous detours.