An artist's garden

I decided to join with Veg plotting --The Blogger's Cut for the Chelsea Fringe and so last weekend my daughter and I went garden visiting as a change from allotment gardening.  We visited Montford Cottage, an NGS garden.  This is a garden I have visited several times before and I never tire of seeing it. I always come away feeling really calm, having been transported away to another place and returning with some inspiration for my own garden.

I realised as soon as we got there that I'd forgotten to take my camera with me so these photos are taken on my phone. Apologies for the poor quality.

The artistic talents of the owners was evident throughout the garden. We entered  through a woodland area, filled with the scent of wild garlic. We followed the path through the garden admiring the follies, interesting archways, statues, a gate leading to nowhere but giving you the impression that there was more beyond.

Lovely old archway

We came out of the woodland garden into brilliant sunshine to see the amazing cottage garden planting, with wonderful colour  from flowers and foliage.  We did a bit of plant spotting and also found plants we couldn't identify.  Having lots of shade in my own garden, I'm always interested in the planting in this garden.  There were plenty of hostas, and here, given more space they were quite magnificent. The wild garlic was all over the garden and I was beginning to feel envious. I wanted some in my little woodland garden at home.

Me wondering what that plant is

As we walked around we came upon seating areas in various places, tucked away in little hidden corners. I wanted to sit down in them all and soak up the atmosphere of the garden. There was a lovely summer house beautifully furnished with old furniture. An important part of garden visiting for us is always the tea/coffee and cake. The scones with jam and cream looked pretty good. We chose to sit and have our coffee and scones  in a little courtyard area next to a log store which had the most amazing archway. Sitting there in the sunshine we felt we could have been anywhere on holiday, not just a few miles down the road from where we lived.

log store and seating area

Finally before we left, as always on garden visits we checked out the plant stall. I chose a lovely deep blue Bugloss and tentatively asked if there were any wild garlic plants on sale. The man shouted to his colleague, who appeared from the bushes with a newly dug up clump balanced on a spade. I couldn't wait to get it planted once I got home and I do hope it survives in my little woodland area.

borders