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.
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.
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.
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.
The sprawling shrub on the right at the front is a mulberry tree.
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.
I love these michaelmas daisies, they flower well into autumn when there’s not much else in flower & the bees love them.
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
Leave a Reply