Thursday, July 13, 2017

A birthday treat


It was B's birthday this week, and she has a week's holiday so the family went out for the day to a National Trust property called  Biddulph Grange Garden , a large Victorian Garden, but with lots of different planting styles.  It was created by James Bateman  who travelled the world collecting plant specimens for his large garden.

The weather was quite warm, but drizzly, and the grounds looked lush - the garden is on a hilly site and the different styles in the garden are connected by paths, tunnels, high hedges and rock-work - JB was fond of geology too. 

Just a few of the photos taken on the day.






This is a view from the terrace of the house, the borders being very formal plantings in a Victorian style.





The lake, complete with large areas of water lilies, lies beyond the formal borders and is stocked with large carp and waterbirds.




                                                                                  
The stumpery has been renovated with new supplies of oak tree stumps - ferns establish themselves among the stumps.
 




If you use your imagination you can find all sorts of creatures amongst the stumps - we thought these looked like two birds.



The Chinese garden - the temple is being renovated so  surrounded by scaffolding it didn't take a good picture.  This bridge is painted in the same colours as the temple will be when the renovations are complete.



High above the bridge is a small shelter, in the same colours. 








We spent a couple of hours walking around the garden but still didn't manage to see all the different features.  We plan to visit again, perhaps in a different season.

On the journey back we stopped for a birthday meal and dined at an Indian Restaurant - another place we plan to visit again.