Thornbridge Hall Garden Open Day - and a surprise meeting

Ive never managed to be around for any of the Open Days that they have held at Thornbridge Hall, (near Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire) and its one of those places that I have always wanted to see more of. The hall is privately owned by Emma Harrison - local Entrepeneur and "Secret Millionaire" and when I read that the gardens were open today under the National Garden Schemes, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to visit.

The history of the hall is very interesting and I was surprised to read that it was owned previously by 2 more Sheffield entrepeneurs at times throughout its history.

I have to say that the gardens were really surprising. I didn't expect them to be as stunning as they were - my photos cannot do justice to them.
There are delights at every turn - but even though it is all really grand, it looks totally lived in and very used.
Some of the features in the gardens were bought when other local stately homes fell into decline. A couple of the fountains, and this stunning temple were from Clumber Park.
I wish you could smell these sweet peas - there were lots of beautiful sweet pea wigwams dotted around.
The Potager gardens were stunning - they were in a splendid very sunny spot and I spotted lots of produce being grown very succesfully.
This chap seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders!

The borders were all stunning. They had a great sunny and hot day for the Open Day. I got a lot of inspiration for my own pocket hankerchief sized plot.
One of my favourite parts of the garden was the relatively new Orangery (seen here from the coach house where delicious sandwiches, cakes and beveridges were being served).
Emma appears to live with her extended family and a few friends. The house and gardens look as if at any given time, they can - and do - turn into Party Central. The Orangery had lots of places to sit and dine.
In fact they had built a kitchen into one end of the Orangery so that they could cook down here - away from the house - straight from the garden. Behind the (fabulously Farrow and Ball painted) brick wall, was the old potting sheds. Now turned into a Micro Brewery!!! A great addition to a party house - and we tested the beer ! It was really really good. The lovely pained units were full of mismatched china. I loved it all!
Emma is also growing 2 Lemon tree's just outside of the doors - handy for her G&T's!
We also passed a new part of the hall that the family has built - a fab swimming pool.. So I came home wanting to completely redo my garden - to incorporate an Orangery, Swimming Pool, Pottager, Brewery and some new plants. The hall also has a underground Bar, Gymnasium, Ballrom and lots more stunning features. I really loved it all. Hubby is slightly alarmed at the number of projects I formulated in my head whilst walking round!
Then on our way out - something strange happened. We passed a young couple - and even though I knew I didn't know them - I thought they looked familiar. I mentioned to hubby that I thought that I recognised the young lady as a blogger that I regularly leave comments for - and she for me. He told me to ask her, but I daren't in case I was wrong. Then we bumped into them again around the corner - and she said "Hello - youre Diane aren't you"
It was Louise from Ramblings of a Roachling, (and Dave - her other half). It was lovely to stop and have a chat with them - such a small world.

Village Gardens Open Day

On Saturday, I packed a day and a half into a day.

First up, was our village open gardens day. This year, 8 people opened up their gardens in aid of the church restoration fund. I planned to visit 5, but ended up only having time to do 2 (because of chatting!!!).

The first garden I visited had started out as a tiny patio garden when the couple first bought the house. It had an allotment and an orchard from the pub behind it. When the pub planned to turn the orchard into a car park, they had objected strongly, and had ended up buying the plot and turning it into a massive garden.

They had bought the plot in 3 stages, and each "stage" was like exploring a secret garden.
The wild boar made me jump!
They were very much a "make do and mend" couple and had made a fabulous greenhouse out of next doors old windows.
The house was positioned on a hill, and in direct sunlight. Ideal for the very productive vegetable patch.
The second garden was a lot smaller but had loads of people in it. (They were serving Pizza Lunch here!)
Its a lovely idea to open your garden up to local residents. I got tons of ideas for my own. I caught up with a couple of people I hadn't seen for a while - who all promised me fabulous goodies for my WI stall in September, and I met people who I wouldn't have otherwise met. Brilliant.

Then it was off to my next engagement of the day.

How does your garden grow?

After a late start, my garden is now bursting into colour. The Viburnum that I treated myself to last year has thankfully survived the cold winter and is treating me to some beautiful scented pompom blooms.

And my investment in a bag full of bulbs purchased in November has paid off too.

The violets have spread further and further,

and I had forgotten how many of these I had planted. Note the sad Bay plant which doesn't look like it has made it - but I'm giving it chance to recover - just in case.

My early Clematis is full of flowers and has crept further and further over my apple tree,

which is starting to burst into blossom also.

Its always about 5 degrees warmer around the front of my house - illustrated perfectly by these tulips - round the back.....

...and around the front!

How is your garden doing?

A brief stroll around my garden this afternoon showed that whilst the much welcome green shoots of Spring are poking their heads out of the very cold earth,
...and buds are appearing on the bushes,

And some flowers are indeed in full bloom,

there have been some casualties from the very cold spell before Christmas. (I cannot live without my Bay tree and to replace it will cost an arm and a leg!)

A gardening expert on radio Sheffield said that the full effect of the cold spell so very early on will not be seen until well into late Summer. Apparently it was so early that the plants had not gone into "Winter mode" - evidenced by the amount of leaves that were seen on top of the snow (I took loads of photos of this as I had never seen it before). My neighbours Palm tree looks as if it is lost, and all her exotic type plants are very brown and looking as if they will not recover.

A big clear up job looks as if it is on the cards!

I read today that if the skies clear this evening, we may see "The Northern Lights" displayed above our heads here in the UK. We are to have some kind of Solar Storm (which sounds a bit scary to me!) I shall keep popping out with my camera and fingers crossed as this would save me a fortune as they are on my "to see" list!.

The Meadow??

When I drive into Sheffield, I travel through an estate that is in need of much regeneration. They have pulled a lot of the houses down over the last couple of years, and someone had the genius idea of sowing wild flowers on these patches.



I got a few funny looks when I stopped to take photographs (from the residents of the estate and also my passengers in the car!!!), but I think it looks beautiful.

Well done to the council person who had this brilliant idea.

Promise

There is promise in my garden.



The promise of a salad picked minutes before it is eaten. (VERY slow growing. 3 weeks it said on the packet! I don't think so!)



The promise of an Apple crumble - but not for a while yet.

Strawberries in time for Wimbledon week?

And peas picked and eaten straight from the pod.

Can't wait.

And yes - the wine corks are keeping the slugs at bay! Link added for those with memory probs!!!

Family life

Like most families with teenage kids, we find ourselves enjoy different hobbies and interests. And whilst we all still very much enjoy each others company, there are times when we indulge in our different interests. Hubby and the young man are nuts about sport, but the dancing queen and I are not so keen. So on Saturday, whilst DQ was working at her Saturday job, Hubby and the young man took themselves off to watch their team win 2-1 - a rarity this season!


whilst I looked for my own green shoots of recovery in the garden. The garden needed a lot of tidying up and cutting back and I had a great time - although my hands and arms look as if I "self harm" now!!

These 2 beauties are from what I grandly call my "winter border"

Then on Sunday, whilst the dancing Queen danced all day, and the young man enjoyed a preview weekend of a sports channel on Freeview TV, hubby and I squeezed in a little walk around the garden centre.

The best bit for me though, was when we all met up at 4pm at the "all you can eat" Chinese Buffett, before we headed out to watch the Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey team (who unfortunately lost 5-2 to Hull), because we were all back together again, listening to the kids laughing and chattering away to each other. I like us to all do our own thing, but I do love it when we are all together.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Brief respite

So finally the torrential rain has stopped, the sun has shone briefley, so I thought I would pull on my wellies and go outside to stop myself going stir crazy.
I spotted plenty of raindrops. Does this one look slightly heart shaped to you?

And I spotted some much needed winter flora about to burst into its full glory.

How on earth these little beauties are hanging on is beyond me.

Ive made the most of this totally dreadful weekend by cleaning the house from top to bottom - its positively sparkling!!! Even the skunk pit that is the teenage girls bedroom!! Ive nursed a poorly boy. We thought it might be swine flu, but its looking more like man flu. I'm thank full for very small mercies.