A different sort of garden place

Last week we had a lovely morning out with lunch at Stydd Gardens, Ribchester. We first attempted to visit the gardens a year ago but turned down the wrong lane so of course we couldn't find it. This year with better directions we finally found it.

It's  an unusual garden place. I thought it was going to be a garden centre and although there is a plant centre there are lots of other things too. It's full of rustic, vintage gardenalia, some of which are for sale.. There's a garden to look around which is divided up into different areas, with a pond and fountain, a dove cote, pergola, lawns and borders. There wasn't much going on in the borders, it's a bit early in the year yet, and it needed a bit of a tidy up, but I expect that soon there will be lots of colour. The one plant which caught my eye was a big clump of white honesty. I have purple honesty in my garden which I love, but this was beautiful. It's now on my plant wish list, I will have to find some seeds.

The garden is  well designed and as we walked around we admired the way it was decorated with old garden paraphernalia. This theme continued as we left the garden and walked around the rest of the place.

 

 There were old stone troughs and sinks planted up with alpines, massive ones. Big old metal containers and statues, all very artistically arranged.

 There were also little shops housed in wooden units which were like trendy garden sheds. But the place which I found really amazing was the cafe in the big greenhouse.You could be forgiven for thinking it was just an indoor plant area because the place was full of plants in pots of all sizes.

Lovely old rustic pots with scented geraniums, big galvanised tubs with trees, benches with old tools, garden ornaments, and even a little frog pond.

 

The cafe tables were nestling amongst all the plants and statues. Some of the tables and chairs were fairly rustic and vintage too. I liked the fact that a lot of the tables and chairs didn't match, it all added to the rustic charm.  I thought we might go again in the summer when there are more flowers out and it's warm enough to sit outside for lunch or coffee.

Buying the Christmas Tree

One of the best times for me as we approach Christmas is always the the weekend we buy the Christmas tree. It's always been a special event in our family and one where I get really excited.  I absolutely love it. There's always the decision of where we will go to buy it.  Then the choosing of it is really important, it has to be the right shape, the right type and size. Once we've chosen and bought it, getting it in the car is always an event. Even now when our children have left home I still love buying the Christmas tree.

Today we went out to buy the tree.  For the last few years we've always gone to the same garden centre, but this year we decided to go somewhere different but still local. It was different because it had a cafe, so we had lunch first which was really lovely. Then we went to look at the trees. After much wandering around the many trees available we chose a 7ft Nordman. These are the non drop variety. They still drop a few needles but not so much as to be a problem as long as they are kept watered.

Whilst my husband paid for the tree and got it in the car, I wandered around the garden centre. And what did I find but some reindeer.

Santa wasn't there, but his sleigh was.  I think he works there on Saturdays and is busy elsewhere during the week.

Brightening up a dull day

Much as I love Autumn there are times when it gets you down a bit. There are days which just glow with sunshine and leaf colour. Days which make you just want to wrap up warm and go off for a walk or out into the garden to sweep up leaves or do whatever needs doing out there. Then there are the dark, damp, dreary days which can make you feel miserable and depressed.  That's what today was like.

I called in at the garden centre on my way back from a shopping trip in town, to get some bird seed. And there by the front entrance was a table full of outdoor cyclamen plants, in all colours, pink, white, purple and red.  I couldn't resist buying 3 red ones, I had an empty trough at home waiting to be planted up with something. I also bought 2 variegated erisymums which contrasted well with the red of the cyclamen flowers.

They look really colourful and I've put them by the front door.  I hope they will cheer other people up who come to my house, especially on dark, dreary days.