Tuesday 19 April 2016

An Open Garden

Hello Lovelies,
after spending most of my week off in the garden... weeding, planting, digging up and dividing I was ready for a little trip on Sunday.
Mum had kindly brought me the NGS booklet for our area and one open garden immediately caught my eye.

I do seem to be a little bit obsessed with gardens at the moment, but that's not a bad thing, surely. I'm going with it anyway.

So on Sunday morning hubby, eldest and I set off to Felley Priory.
It was only about 10am when we arrived and the flowers were still glistening with dew, beneath a clear blue sky.......



We walked past beds of spring flowers and came upon this wonderful pond, it made me gasp with delight..........





The sunlight sparkled on the water.....


And everywhere there were flowers........



How I loved it's setting, with cute old cottages as a backdrop........


Ahhh, a lovely mossy wall. And this one had flowers too!.......


This striking marginal plant caught my eye........


and from here we could see the priory it's self........



I loved this corner of the garden, with it's intriguing statue, and someone's forgotten weeding tools......


Who ever does the weeding here does an amazing job. The beds were all so well tended, full of beautiful plants, most just awaking from their witner slumber but lots looking their absolute best. If there were any weeds I certainly didn't see them.

So much hard work I'm sure, and yet large parts of the garden looked very natural...........


There were lots of these charming Fritillary scattered throughout the grass around the pond too........


In complete contrast the formal gardens near the priory were very manicured. Perfect lawns, and immaculate topiary caught the eye........


I liked these pergolas. I'm sure they will look stunning in summer, offering cool shade beneath beautiful flowers.......


I do love Clematis, but I rarely seem to have much luck with them.........


These  ducks made me smile, and in the background you can see the lovely view from the garden.........


Around the side of the priory was another spring garden.....


So many lovely Daffodils........


All these plant supports gave a hint of the summer blooms to come.......


Through an old doorway we entered the Rose garden.......


Oh, what a delightful spot. We headed straight for the bench, to sit in the warm sunshine......


And beside it I spotted a flower that's one of my favourites.......


The  old stone wall and the beautiful magnolia tree here were delightful......


of course the Roses were not yet flowering.....


They were mostly being trained up arched supports, but this metal basket looked an older and very charming way to showcase these special flowers.....



Oh look, more fritillary........


and lovely Magnolia trees........


It was good to see new areas were being planted too.........


Eventually we walked back through the older part of the garden.......



Past the nursery........


and followed the blue signs up the muddy, slippery path........


till we found the bells of blue ( or is it purple?)......


well, whichever colour, it's simply stunning........


I couldn't stop taking photos......




It's one of nature's truly magical sights, don't you think.......













From this part of the woodland you could look back towards the priory.......

I loved the pretty valley Felley priory was nestled in. 

The gardens are open all year round, but not every day.
 See HERE for opening times. I do hope to come back in the summer, but I'm so glad we travelled here at Bluebell time too.....



Jacquie x

21 comments:

  1. I love Dicentra too:) I remember my grandmother had these in her garden so if I ever have a garden I hope I could grow some of these. Oh and raspberries, I am however not gifted with green fingers so i might not succeed but it would be lovely. :) I love your nature walks and garden tours.

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  2. Oh you found so many wonderful things to look at! I always enjoy your jaunts and how you share them with us. Your bluebell woods photos are the stuff of legends. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  3. Beautiful flowers! Thank you for including a close up photo of the bluebells. The buildings of the priory looks magnificent! The pond with all the flowers around is just magical! Thank you for sharing!

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  4. Your pictures are sooo beautiful, you can almost smell spring. I especially like the ones with the pond. I wish I could have made this walk with you. Viola

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  5. Wow, what an absolutely beautiful place. The water is particularly lovely, and I bet it's a magnet for wildlife. I like clematis too, but I've never had any luck with them either. The topiary is fantastic, beautifully clipped. What a wonderful find, hurray for the Open Gardens scheme! And it's good to hear you're loving gardens and gardening at the moment. CJ xx

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  6. I love taking walks with you on your journeys! I get to see so much. So many beautiful pics and scenes!

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  7. What a fabulous garden! Thanks for sharing! My bleeding heart (Dicentra)is blooming beautifully now. LOVE that huge basket!Have a great day!

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  8. Wow that does look a beautiful garden on a beautiful day too! The bluebells look fantastic I can almost smell them on the breeze! Sarah x

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  9. Such wonderful places you have to visit and it's so nice that you take us along with you. We truly appreciate it. I think the topiaries and bluebell woods are my favorites of this post. The perfection of the trimming of the topiaries always amazes me and the bluebell woods remind me of Elven kingdoms of the Hobbit movies. Magical.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  10. Fabulous post!
    Thank You Jackie!!

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  11. What a great place. We have an open gardens day in our town and you can go and see behind all the doors, fances and gates that you don't normally get to look behind. We are going to take a look at the bluebells this weekend at the farm. Jo x

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  12. The marginal plant is called Yellow Skunk Cabbage - nice eh?

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  13. The gardens are beautiful and those bluebells are absolutely stunning. We are going to Howsham woods tomorrow morning in the hope of seeing bluebells.
    Jackie x

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  14. Another stunning garden. I am like you and just cannot stop taking photos of the bluebell woods, is there any more beautiful sight? I don't think so. xx

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  15. Wow, so many beautiful photos! Lovely post!
    Kate :}

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  16. Stunning photos, that looks like a lovely place to visit, and then the bluebell woods to boot - fantastic!

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  17. Bless you for your superb photos. I spent my childhood and teens on the northern outskirts of Nottingham but am ashamed to say I hadn't heard of Felley Priory.
    Your walks and blog always cheer me on, thank you
    Trying not to feel homesick,
    Cheers from Oz

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  18. Just beautiful thank you for sharing!

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  19. What an exquisite place!!!!! Your photos are just beautiful!x

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  20. what a gorgeous place! I love looking around NGS gardens, it always makes me want to go back and get stuck into my own garden!
    Bluebells already? ours are not out yet. xxx

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  21. Love it here, I often pop over with a gardening pal of mine...have you been early summer, it's amazing :) xxx

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