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Garden Design Tips from Suffolk.

October 10, 2016 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Hello, I hope your weekend was good?

We’re back from a week of mostly clear, blue skies & sunshine in Suffolk. If you don’t know it, it’s a pretty county in the east of England with lovely countryside & wonderful buildings, like this house in the village we stayed in. It looked so amazing that it seemed unreal,  like part of a film set.

Garden Design Tips from Suffolk.-pink Suffolk house

We’re avid National Trust visitors & as luck would have it, there was a fabulous Tudor house just up the road from where we were staying, which also had a rather nice garden.

Melford Hall was built in the 16th century & had that warm brickwork & mullioned widows. We had our dog Bonnie with us, so couldn’t look round the house, or take her into the garden, but my husband kept an eye on her while I indulged in the garden.

suffolk-mh-house-hedge

I’m always interested to see how such a big garden is laid out, when it’s done well it always feels so comfortable, everything in proportion with a nice feel of “I wonder what’s around this corner”.

It’s always good to see how the surrounding area is included in the garden near the house. Here an avenue of well spaced Yew columns leads your eye towards the urn & then beyond to the parkland, which is part of the estate.

suffolk-mh-vista

Further divisions of the garden are made with hedges, they all give so much structure to the garden. I liked this fancy one with its’ interesting shapes & different colour greens. Combining different greens  in a hedge can look fussy, but I think it looks good in this large space with a nicely proportioned mix of different shades.

suffolk-mh-fancy-hedge

The sprawling shrub on the right at the front is a mulberry tree.

suffolk-mh-dining-house

The banqueting house

I liked the detail of these fat onion shapes on top of the brick pillars at the side of the steps, they were repeated around the garden on other brick pillars. Using the same feature like this is an age-old device to knit a large space together & it works just as well in smaller gardens.

sufolk-mh-brick-pillar-tops

I love these michaelmas daisies, they flower well into autumn when there’s not much else in flower & the bees love them.

Garden Design Tips from Suffolk- michaelmas daisies

Michaelmas daisies have had a name change & are now called Symphyotrichum.

All in all it was a very restful week punctuated by outings & good food. One of the best things was that I had the time to get back into reading novels, inspired by Laura at A Circle of Pines & her project A Year in Books, a book-club with reviews & recommendations of books. My choice The Elegance of the Hedgehog felt at times like a bit of a slog, but livened up with an amazing ending. Please check her website & find a novel to loose yourself in.

Jill

all photos: Jill Anderson

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Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Gardening, Plants Tagged With: gardens to visit in Suffolk, Melford House, Michaelmas daisies, National Trust, Symphyotrichum

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
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Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
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One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
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It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
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A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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