Garden Visit

 

The Hidden Valley Gardens - Treesmill

Wednesday 16th September 2015

 

Hidden Valley Gardens

Hidden Valley Gardens

Hidden Valley Gardens

Hidden Valley Gardens

Hidden Valley Gardens

On Wednesday 16th September 2015, several Garden Society members made the journey by car, to the Hidden Valley Gardens, an award winning 3.5 acre cottage style garden. This was despite the gloomy weather forecast which included a severe weather warning, as heavy rain was forecast! We were extremely lucky to make the journey in the dry and we were able to enjoy the gardens in the dry!

Tricia and Peter Howard welcomed us and after supplying us with a map of the garden, led us down to the garden. We were immediately met with the wonderful Hot Bed Border, which was a riot of colour - rich orange and yellow of the Red Hot Polkas, the vibrant purple of Verbena and the deep red of Dahlias.

From there we ambled over to a small bridge, passing by the large pond, into the Japanese garden. Here we stopped to admire the lovely maples and bamboo before moving along by the Fernery. This was full of many different types of fern growing along the decorative dead wood of tree stumps.

Moving along we approached the Orchard which was laden with Apples and Pears. Peter very kindly gave several members Russett Apples to sample - delicious! Admiring the wonderful array of fruit bushes, Peter encouraged members to sample the gorgeous Autumn Raspberries as we walked along.

The colour of an Autumn bed, filled with many varieties of Michaelmas Daisies /Asters, with a backdrop of golden Rudbekia and Japanese Anemones, was simply stunning. However, the bed that caught most people's eyes, was the Dahlia bed. What a wonderful sight it was! So many different varieties and colours, laden with bees and other pollinating insects. There was Agapanthus, which sadly had just about finished blooming but their faded flowers were still evident.

We were then guided to the Tea Hut, where we enjoyed a welcome cuppa and a home-made cake, before browsing the plant for sale. Several members took advantage of the "pick your own" option and went home with a punnet of Raspberries and cut stems of Dahlias.

All in all, a very happy group left the Hidden Valley for home.