A tumble of pink roses in the Courts Gardens
This is the final post on our weekend away in Wiltshire.
Part 1 – Food
Part 2 – Historic Houses
Part 3 – Gardens
VISITING GARDENS ON OUR WEEKEND AWAY
If managing a large house is challenging, then managing a large garden is equally time-consuming. England has some of the most beautiful gardens in the world, and each summer when my parents visited London we would take them on visits to the countryside. My mother would inevitably position herself next to some rose bush and we would happily snap away. Mostly my mother looked more beautiful than the rose bush.
I much prefer being behind the camera than being in front of it. Sometimes I wonder if I would have left enough images of myself when it is my time to leave this earth. Then I think: maybe it’s time to have my portrait painted. For now, here are photos from the two gardens we visited during our weekend away in Wiltshire. We are members of the National Trust and Historic Houses and some of the houses we visited (see previous post) also had gardens we could walk around, but the ones below are visited for their gardens alone.
National Trust
The Courts Gardens in Holt are very, very pretty and perfect for wandering around at any time of the day. The photos follow the walk we took in the garden.
Historic Houses
The Englefield Estate is huge. The house is not open to the public and the gardens are open only on Mondays. Passing by on the way back from Wiltshire to London, this was our one opportunity to make a visit. I particularly loved the huge trees and a bonus was coming across a Giant Sequoia and picking up the cones that had fallen on the ground.
It’s very silly, but I grew up in Kuala Lumpur where the weather is like this July in England, hot and humid, but all year round. I visited the Cameron Highlands first with my parents then on a school trip, and my fondest memories are of a) how cool it was up in the hills b) my first strawberry and c) the pine cones that I picked up there. I refresh the pine cones in my London house annually and pick new ones from Kew Gardens, or from wherever in the world I come across them (including South Korea and Canada).
The photos follow the walk we took in the garden, starting with the Giant Sequoia – notice how small the bench under its shade is!
