
Chelsea Flower Show
Tour 2005
May 22-30, 2005
May 25th, Hidcote and
Kiftsgate
After breakfast we headed out to Hidcote - 'The twisting lanes of the
Cotswold countryside lead to one of the most inventive and influential
gardens of the twentieth century. Hidcote Manor Garden, with its structure
of outdoor 'rooms', linked by vistas and furnished with all sorts of
topiary, recalls both the English garden style and the European connections
of its creator Major Lawrence Johnston. Laid out over seventy years ago an
astonishing variety of effects have been created. Hedges, walls, water and
paving were all combined to create a garden that has its originals in the
Arts and Crafts movement. Profuse and 'jungly' planting, rich colour and
texture, contrast with areas left deliberately plain to give calm and
restful interludes, so increasing the impact of the garden's lavish and
exciting progression.'
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hidcote/ Just outside the entrance to
Hidcote is a beautiful little lane that I wandered up before leaving ...
there I found a thatched cottage, some sheep and ducks munching away and
delighting in the sunshine, and wonderful little cement mushrooms that I
have only seen in the Cotswold's.
The afternoon took us to Kiftsgate Court Gardens - created by three
generations of women gardeners. Started by their grandmother Heather Muir in
the twenties, continued by their mother Diany Binny from 1950 and now looked
after by Anne Chambers and her husband plus their children lend a hand on
occasion. The gardens are a plants man's delight reflecting the pleasure the
family has had collecting species from all over the world.
Beautiful peonies, a Patty's Plum poppy caught just opening and a few
minutes later almost completely open (with and without a light filter), red
tulips poking out along a pathway.
http://www.kiftsgate.co.uk/
After our visit here we went to Stratford upon Avon for a short visit. The
house you see with the thatched roof is where Anne Hathaway used to live.
Parts of this house date back to the 15th century.
http://www.stratford.co.uk/prop3.asp
Then a couple of pictures of a fellow re-thatching a cottage ... this is
quite the art and each 'piece' of art has the artists signature ... usually
some type of bird sitting on top of the roof in thatch.
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