In celebration of my birthday and our wedding anniversary we took ourselves away for a couple of days in August to the south end of the Lake District. Not too far but far enough to make the most of each day visiting places we waned to see at a relaxed pace. We came off the motorway and made for the village of Staveley where you will find the delightful and inspiring Inglefield Nursery.
Tucked away down a driveway this hidden gem is well worth visiting especially if you are looking for garden statuary or specimen plants or even some inspiration. Situated in a large building surrounded by more plants and statuary, its a great place to wander around and plan where you could put everything. Sadly my own town garden is too small for most but maybe something might find its way to the nursery gardens, I was inspired and got lots more ideas and there was a wonderful stone dragon I could really give a home to. You can find out more on their website linked above.
We then meandered down to Levens Hall. After a lovely lunch in their cafe we walked it off exploring the gardens. These surround the Elizabethan house and are full of topiary, hedges and great colour combination under planting. Tall hedges divide the gardens up into rooms with a brilliant lime tunnel, a pond filled with waterlilies and a vegetable garden. The café serves delicious food and of course as the birthday girl I had to have a hot chocolate with all the toppings 😀
 |
| Old topiary and new colour combinations, a fabulous feast for the eyes |
 |
| Golden yew |
The ten acres of gardens were started in the 1690's and include the world's oldest topiary garden. Using box and yew the many abstract and geometric shapes provide a colourful and formal back drop to the the riot of annuals under planted in vivid colour combinations.
 |
| the quirky twisty branches of old box |
 |
| A great combination of yellows and purples using snapdragons and yellow leaves agastache |
 |
| Tropaeolum speciosum growing through the yew |
 |
| Lime tree tunnel |
 |
| The water lily pond |
 |
| Nasturtium in the herb garden |
 |
| Under the topiary umbrella |
 |
| Pretty Cosmos |
After we'd finished exploring the gardens of Levens Hall we collected Maisie from the car and took her for a walk through the Levens Deer Park. This path takes you through mature trees high above the river Kent. We saw plenty deer further up the hill and the herd of Bagot goats that live in the deer park. They were quite chill and not phased by us walking by and in fact kept us company on the way back for part of the way!
Monday night into Tuesday, we stayed at Crooklands Hotel just south of Kendal. A lovely hotel and very dog friendly. The rooms were great, very comfortable, lovely staff and great food in the bar. A lovely place to celebrate my birthday and our anniversary. We’ll definitely be back and maisie approved too.
On Tuesday morning we visited the lovely wee village of Cartmel so David could re-visit the cheese shop and of course bring back a collection of cheeses. We then had a wander around Yew Tree Barn which is a great reclamation and antique place near High Newton. David and I visited here on our second trip away together 12 years ago, its grown and changed but all for the better.
Before heading home on Tuesday through the Lake district we visited Abi and Tom's Garden Plants at Halecat nursery near Grange over sands. I've followed them on social media for a while so it was good to visit. A good range of plants and planted up borders, benefiting from the west coast conditions I am always envious of for growing unlike our upland challenging conditions. Like us their plants are grown and propagated in the nursery with lots of ideas for customers as they walk around. They have a covered DIY refreshment sitootterie if you feel like a wee break.
 |
| Passionflower |
 |
| Akebia |
 |
| Pretty planting ideas for pots |
We were going to stop in Windermere for lunch but it was soooooooo busy we kept on driving and eventually stopped at the Pot Place outside Penrith, always good for lunch and pot shopping 
#rural #countrylife #countryliving #cottagelife #antiquecottagescenes #interiors #scottishborders #independantretailer #smallbusiness #localbusiness #independantplantnursery #uniqueplantnursery #hardyscottishplants #scottishgarden #gardeningontheedge #scottishborders If you to see what's new and looking good at the nursery like our Facebook Find out more about the nursery here - our web site: www.quercusgardenplants.co.uk Follow us on Instagram @quirkybirdgardener and Quercus Garden Plants |
Belated congratulations! Lovely to read about your visits.
ReplyDelete