In the last week of the summer holidays, we booked a last minute, cheap-as-chips, static caravan, and headed up to the north Norfolk cost for a few days. It was, as always, heavenly up there! We had ice cream every day, ate fish finger sandwiches on the beach, went rock-pooling and fossil hunting, and generally had a jolly British beach holiday. I even… Read more →
Category: Inspiring Places
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2018
It’s been a few weeks since the Hampton Court Flower Show. There is always so much garden inspiration to be had there, but visiting the show can be quite an overwhelming experience. The huge crowds, seemingly inevitable collisions between my feet and other people’s plant trolleys, insanely hot weather, onslaught of sights, sounds and smells – intensely fragrant lilies and roses, overheating bins and food… Read more →
Gardens in Kenya :: When Houseplants Go Wild
The title of this post should really be: That moment when you realise that all of your house plants in England are actually regular garden plants in tropical countries and really just want to romp away and become huge, exuberant specimens! But what would be far too long, and my WordPress blog interface would shout at me about ‘readability’ and ‘SEO’ and other such things I don’t… Read more →
Gardens In The Sky, London
One small part of the grand celebrations for my cousin’s wedding in London this weekend was a visit to the Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street. It was a fantastic experience, and I highly recommend you visit if you can. The gardens are at the top of a ludicrously tall sky scraper located just around the corner from the Tower of… Read more →
From Barren Ground :: Building A Show Garden
A week ago, I was at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which was awesome, obviously. Today, I’m super excited to tell you about a show garden that, although not as spectacular as any of the ones at Chelsea, is certainly a big deal for me. If you’re free on Sunday 4th June and in Norfolk, please try to make it to the… Read more →
A Visit To Sissinghurst Castle Garden
This Easter, I finally visited Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent, somewhere I’ve been longing to visit. All in all, the garden is wonderful, a pleasure to walk around, with beautifully planted borders, and lots of unusual, well-labelled plants to interest plant geeks like me. It’s broken up into a series of garden rooms, surrounding a stunning, turreted, Tudor tower. Closely-clipped yew hedges form long corridors that… Read more →
Plants For Winter Gardens
This week, I visited Anglesey Abbey, just outside Cambridge, and the University Botanic Garden. The back end of winter might seem a strange time to visit gardens. Spring plants are not yet in full growth and many winter-interest plants are almost over. But I was pleasantly surprised. There were wonderful winter borders to enjoy – Angelsey Abbey is famous for its winter garden –… Read more →
Helmingham Hall Gardens
I was at Helmingham Hall Gardens, near Stowmarket in Suffolk, on Sunday. My mum and I went to their annual plant fair in May, but it’s such a magical place that I had to bring more of my family back to see it too. The day was gloriously hot and sunny, so we licked delicious ice creams, bought from the shop in… Read more →
The Urban Jungle
Earlier this week, on the spur of the moment, I decided to finally visit The Urban Jungle for lunch and a bit of shopping. I’d heard about it from a few friends, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s an incredible place. Tucked away down a little lane in Costessey, just outside Norwich, it’s a tropical haven away from the noise of… Read more →
RHS Chelsea Flower Show: The Rest
As well as the show gardens, I saw many other remarkable sights at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, not least, the great pavilion. It’s just a giant tent full of plants, but that description doesn’t do justice to the creative nature of the displays, and vast range of perfect plants being shown by growers from all over the world. I… Read more →