A visit to Hidcote

We woke this morning to a brilliant blue sky, and ice on the Heki rooflight. A heavy frost.  Still we were cosy in our caravan.  And the day held a promise of good weather.

 We set off early, via many very narrow lanes, and following the navigational system in the car.    Such picturesque countryside.  Eventually we arrived at some tall masts, with a narrow dirt track running beside them.  The back of Hidcote!   So after meandering through some more narrow lanes we finally arrived at the entrance to Hidcote.

The sittingroom or perhaps the study in the farmhouse at Hidcote.  A very comfortable and welcoming room.

A tantalising view of the gardens through the window.
Hidcote is now owned and managed by the National Trust.  It is described in the brochure as an 'Arts and Craft' garden in the North Cotswold.  it is also described as 'colourful and intricately designed outdoor rooms' with 'magnificent plants that burst with colour'.

But of course it is now early Spring, so we saw it in its 'bare bones' before the leaves appear and summer flowers have even come through the ground.  The evergreen hedges and topiary had also just been closely trimmed, which added to the starkness of the gardens.

The gardens were created by Major Lawrence Johnston after his mother purchased the property in 1907.  Major Johnston was the son of American parents.  He was born in Paris, went to Cambridge, became a British citizen, and fought in the Boer war and in the first world War.

 He obviously had plenty of money, as he spent his time on interests such as painting, music, travelling, entertaining and playing tennis. However he also devoted much time in planning and developing his garden.

The photograph below shows the huge heated greenhouse, full of tropical plants, plus cane chairs in which to sit and soak up the warmth.

 The huge kitchen garden, all ready to be planted out.  The rhubarb was just coming through and it put my little patch to shame.  The herbs were well developed too.

Walter standing under the bare arched lime trees, which will become a tunnel of green in the summer time.

 Major Johnston divided up the property into a series of 'outdoor rooms', which were divided by corridors and paved paths, and surrounded by evergreen oaks, and hedges of holly, yew, hornbeams and beech.

In the 'rooms' he planted flowers, shrubs and small trees, creating different themes and ideas.  He also brought back plants from his extensive world travels.

 It was very difficult to get a really good photo of these very tall yew trees, as there were quite a few of them. They were very impressive.

A very long vista.

 The hidden lawn. Out of bounds at the moment, due to lawn repairs.

 A beautiful clear pond, great reflections and two frogs mating on the bottom.  Well I presume that is what the frogs were doing. My knowledge of the mating habits of frogs is not that brilliant.

 A very comfortable area.  And a lovely mural on the wall.  My apologies as I am sure it had a name.  I must have been still thinking about the life cycle of frogs.

 These are impressive steps leading up to the topiary entrance to the next
'room'.

The wider view outside the gardens was pretty impressive too. A rolling green countryside with woolly sheep contentedly eating the rich green grass.

 

 After a lovely morning wandering around the gardens, we ate our packed lunch in our comfortable and warm car.  It had suddenly become very chilly.  so we needed to warm up before braving the cold outdoor cafe in order to drink our much needed cup of coffee.  With a large slice of cake of course.  

 

We were so pleased to have had the opportunity to visit these well known gardens.  Even though it was early spring and they were not at their best.