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.......

Dicentra

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