Well we had much better weather than expected – sunny and warm, unlike what was experienced in the east of the country. We had the croquet out and our badminton net was rescued and erected inbetween The Woodhouse and The Wainhouse, with new racquets and shuttlecocks. Our Woodhouse guests were sitting out on the terrace until late, enjoying the late evening sunshine on the moat and watching the ducks. Barn Croft guests have been out cycling.
We had a couple of hours on Easter Sunday when we went to see our favourite local garden – Hampton Court. It has new owners who are trying very hard to welcome more people to the property. There are tours round the castle which were never available before, but it’s the gardens that are so beautiful. There’s the wonderful organic vegetable garden with espaliered fruit trees and the walled garden with a sort of pavilion surrounded by water. There was a trio of very talented musicians there when we arrived, singing a cuckoo song which sounded Alpine as it had yodelling in it. The Dutch garden has a canal in it and lots of tulips, then there’s the sunken garden, waterfall (which you can run behind) and a “secret tunnel” leading to a tower overlooking the maze, herbaceous borders, a river walk and the most fantastic wisteria tunnel (not out yet).
The castle itself (not much remains of the early part which is actually older than the more well-known Hampton Court near the Thames) has a glorious location overlooking lawns and a ha-ha down to the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye. The wild daffodils are a lovely sight and there are two or three huge philadelphus, which are beautiful later on in the year.
I think we would get season tickets to the place if we could.
