People ask me, “Do you enjoy visiting gardens when you are on holiday?” The answer is definitely “yes”. I can enjoy them as a visitor without the worry of designing them, or worrying how the planting is doing and in this hot weather, are the plants being watered enough.
Last month I visited Houghton Hall in Norfolk (www.houghtonhall.com). There is a 5 acre walled garden which was redesigned in 1991. It is well worth a visit and I had a great afternoon. The walled garden is divided into themed areas which include an Italian garden, fruit and vegetable gardens, glass houses, temple, fountains and sculpture, a beautiful formal rose garden and wonderful double-sided herbaceous border which runs most of the width of the walled garden. At one end of the herbaceous border the colour theme is hot colours of red, orange and yellow running though to the other end with cool colours of blues, pinks and white. The plants were flourishing and putting on a great show. I had a chat with one of the gardeners and asked if they use staking, and she said no and we talked about the maintenance required to keep it looking so good. We ended the afternoon in the cafe, for tea and cake. Next time we night manage to see around the House too!
