Graduation

Nine relieved student gardeners who made it through the National Trust Careership program

This weekend; celebration! Next week; the beginning of my final weeks of work at Hidcote!

Cheerio for now!

Combermere Abbey

The highlight of the recent trip to college was a day out to Combermere Abbey, a stately home just up the road from college on the Cheshire and Shropshire border. This place is dripping with history, starting life in the 12^th century as a monastery and over the years playing host to the likes of King Charles II and William of Orange. In the 1990s the place was in a state of disrepair, and its future perhaps uncertain. Its heiress was working in New York as the PR Director for Laura Ashley when, one might imagine, a chill wind blew through her office carrying the distant sound of some long-dead relative trumpeting a brass hunting horn! She answered that distress call, and swiftly moved back to dear Blighty to inherit and save the old ancestral home. Since moving in she has effectively saved the place, giving it a new lease of life as a place to holiday or get married, and instigating a program of repairs to keep the Abbey on its feet. This is a property that is generally closed to the public, but if you are in the area on one of the open days I would heartily recommend dropping by! 

The old Abbey, with the library restoration work clearly visible. The floor is collapsing and they are propping it up with some new-fangled supports

A drone fly, basking amongst the dewy blades of grass

Pleached avenue leading from the old walled garden

Ye olde clippery, wonderful shape and proportion

There wasn’t a great deal happening in the garden, but this climber-riddled arch hints to the promise of summer

Time for a quick poke around the greenhouse!

Muscari neglectum ‘Valerie Finnis'

The hexagonal building there is the Game Larder, built in 1815 and recently restored to former glory

Spring bulbs were very much underway around the wider estate

I saw my first butterflies of the year this day, and this basking Comma was an incredible joy to behold!

College

I’m currently away at college for the regular fortnightly dose of book-worming and garden visits. The past two months have been dashed stressful with an assortment of assignments and deadlines to wade through, and we’ve been lumped with plenty more of that kind of thing over the past week and a bit! Thankfully, back to Hidcote next week. And speaking of which, the garden has been featured once again on BBC4 with the hour-long documentary first broadcast back in June. Please see here. Cheerio!