A feeling of trepidation always accompanies a return from holiday. Wellyman worries whether the house will still be standing, I, on the other hand wonder what state the garden and allotment will be in. We have just come back from a week in East Sussex and, miraculously, bearing in mind what a shocking summer this is turning out to be, had good weather and the only rain was at night. It appears the south-east of Wales hasn’t faired so well if the height of the River Wye is anything to go by. As we drove past it on our return its churning, chocolately brown water flowing rapidly downstream told us there had been a lot of rain and the unseasonal strong and gusty winds made me wonder how the plants had coped.
It is incredible the difference a week can make and certainly all the rain has meant the garden looks incredibly lush. Those plants not reliant on warmth are growing at a pace, those hoping for something warmer are looking positively weedy in comparison. It’s on days like today that I love the fact we have no lawn. I hated being greeted by the foot high grass that made the garden that looked lovingly tendered before the holiday look like something the local farmer would like to get his hands on when we returned. There’s nothing like returning from holiday and suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the chores that will need to be done, at least lawn mowing is one less task for the Welly household.
After a much needed cup of tea, some unpacking and food we wandered up to the plot. Considering the buffeting it is taking it is looking remarkably good. There’ll be bucket loads of flowers to pick tomorrow, plenty of strawberries and our first broad beans and peas. Some annual asters don’t look well and the topsy-turvy weather means I might have a gap of several weeks with few flowers, whilst I wait for the later flowering plants to bloom. The broad beans, peas and climbing beans have all struggled with the wind. My plot is quite exposed to the prevailing south-westerly wind and it is quite a challenge to keep everything upright. The broad beans are certainly going to need some remedial staking work tomorrow. The courgettes are sulking, it really isn’t warm enough for them. Still, I feel I can breathe a sigh of relief now.
For years now we had been saying we wanted to visit Sissinghurst Castle Gardens and Great Dixter and so this year we booked a week on the Sussex coast with the plan to tour the gardens of that county and its neighbour Kent and it’s from there that we’ve just returned. It turned into a bit of a garden fest with Pashley Manor, Perch Hill and Derek Jarman’s garden at Dungeness, along with several nurseries all visited in our whistle-stop trip. Often when you have wanted to visit much lauded places it is the unexpected that captures your imagination the most. There were many highs; roses at their best, beautiful wildflowers growing along the coast, my first sighting of a bee orchid, some gardening book bargain purchases and a few lows; the inability of visitor attractions to provide tasty, reasonably priced food and being bitten by some marauding insects that have certainly left their mark on my legs. I’ll post about the gardens we saw over the next week but for now there is a pile of washing waiting and an early night before a day on the plot, picking produce.
Diana of Elephant's Eye said:
I would dearly love to see Derek Jarman’s garden – but is too far for our rare and brief holidays in London.
wellywoman said:
Hi Diana, Oh I would so recommend making a visit if you get the chance. Maybe you could stay in the area overnight and make it part of your visit. It’s certainly looks beautiful in June.
Rob said:
Good to hear you’ve had a nice week. I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got to say about Sissinghurst and the others. Enjoy your allotment day!
wellywoman said:
Hi Rob, We had a lovely time and I hope you enjoy reading my garden posts this week.
paulinemulligan said:
You certainly visited some wonderful gardens, will look forward to your post about them. Coming home always means a lot of work for a few days unfortunately, especially if it has been raining almost non stop, amazing how everything grows when your back is turned!!
wellywoman said:
Hi Pauline, I always feel like I need another holiday a week after I come back, with everything that needs doing. Weeds are sprouting up everywhere. Aaaaarrrgghhhh!!!
kate said:
Great Dixter is – was – my all-time favourite garden, ever, and reading your post made me really want to be able to just zoom down there…. sigh… I used to go to Sissinghurst a lot too, but I always felt a bit let down by it – maybe the number of visitors didn’t help. But now I want to go back there, too. Glad you had a great time.
wellywoman said:
Hi Kate, We had a lovely time. I’ll post on each of the gardens this week so it’ll be interesting to see what you think about the gardens too.
Sue said:
That sounds like a stimulating trip. I visited the Jarman garden ten years ago and found it unpretentious and simply beautiful. I’m comforted to see it appears not to have changed.
wellywoman said:
Hi Sue, His garden was stunning. The simplicity blew me away.
Jo said:
Glad you got the weather for your week away, it must be the only part of the country without torrential downpours, I should let you choose our holidays for us. It’s about a month until our fortnight away, I too shall be on tenterhooks.
wellywoman said:
Hi Jo, We were very lucky. It did rain, and boy did it rain, but it was at night, fortunately. It was very windy though for quite a few days. We felt like we’d been sandblasted. I wouldn’t get us to choose your holidays we have yet to have a complete week rained off, although a week in the Lakes about 6 years ago was pretty close but we’ve only had a few weeks in 13 years that have been gorgeous weather. Still if you’re going away for 2 weeks you stand a chance of getting some nice days. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Woolly Green said:
I love the gardens of East Sussex! Really looking forward to reading all about them …
wellywoman said:
Hi Woolly Green, We were spoilt for choice with so many beautiful gardens to see. I’m sure we’ll go back again to fit in some more.
David Marsden said:
Welcome back, WW. Looking forward to your take on the gardens in my own ‘back-yard.’ To my shame, I’ve never looked over the fence at Derek Jarman’s garden – and its not so very far from here. D
wellywoman said:
Hi David, We had a lovely time in your ‘back-yard’. You’ve got some beautiful countryside there. Hopefully my post on Derek Jarman’s garden this week will inspire you to make a trip. It’s well worth it.
Lyn said:
That sounds like an ideal holiday to me! I’ll also look forward to reading about your visits to each garden.
wellywoman said:
Hi Lyn, Last years holiday was garden visit free, not even a plant nursery. So this year has certainly made up for that.
Annie_H said:
Glad you had a lovely holiday, its great to go away but good to get back to your own garden isn’t it. Thats an area of the UK that I keep meaning to go to, and there are some iconic gardens that you have visited there so I can’t wait to hear all about them. I think I’m going to do the same and book a week there visiting those gardens.
wellywoman said:
Hi Annie, We’ve been meaning to go for years but always end up in Cornwall. I would definitely recommend a holiday to the area. Hopefully my posts this week will inspire you.
Page said:
Do you know which poppy that is in your photos from your trip? Is it Patty’s Plum….would love to find out. I’m jealous…..no water here and ninety degree days…loved the escape of the photos.
wellywoman said:
Hi Page, The sign in the garden said they had ‘Patty’s Plum’ flowering. But I thought it was less pink and more a blackcurrant colour than the one in the photo. There’s a oriental poppy called Manhattan that looks a bit more like the one in the photo. We’re not short of water here with one of the wettest Junes on record. I’m glad the photos allowed you to escape the heat, even if only mentally!!
Flighty said:
It looks and sounds like you had a really enjoyable time, which doesn’t surprise me as these are all wonderful places to visit.
I’ve been to them all but not in recent years. xx