If you choose the right days, like a Monday for example, you can visit both Hidcote Manor, and Kiftsgate Court on the same day. It requires stamina and an early start because the gardens are beyond Chipping Camden, so quite a drive away from Swindon.
This website about gardens says about Hidcote Manor:
'A famous Arts and Crafts garden, made c1905. Lawrence Johnston was a keen plantsman with a strong sense of artistic composition. Yew, holly and beech hedges are used to define a series of garden rooms. One room is occupied only by a circular raised pool. Others have a character deriving from their inspired planting. The standard of building craftsmanship is high and the number of plants which have the name 'Hidcote' point to Johnston's expertise. Were it nearer London, the garden would be as famous as Sissinghurst.'
If you click on the link you can also see how close it is to Kiftsgate Court, 0.6km, it's also only 5.9km from Fibrex Nurseries which I'm very keen to visit having seen them at the Quenington Rectory Rare Plant Fair this year.
I chose this photo as my favourite of the garden, and found the link about Hidcote above also chose the same shot.
On arrival, we were greeted with 2 trolleys showing great plants from the shop looking at their best:
Walking round the garden the tree ferns were lovely
The rocky part of the garden had some lovely cyclamen, and beside the round pool there were Actaea simplex in great profusion looking really effective, it's also known as autumn bugbane
from there we walked through a gap in the hedge into the area where there's a small open building with delightful plant arrangements, like this one:
and this one with many pelargoniums in pots
and these lovely murals on the walls:
I've Googled Hidcote murals, but been unable to find anything about them, but they're very effective in the dreamy position they're in.
There were gorgeous displays of riotous flowers:
Perhaps my favourite part of Hidcote garden is the large conservatory with pond beside it
Here's a close up of the Rudbeckias and Euphorbia
I loved these tall spires of flowers
And the Brugmansia were fantastic. How do they get the flowers to grow so large?
Having seen most of the garden, we had a lovely lunch in the cafe and drove the 0.6km to Kiftsgate Court, a privately owned garden. It's a beautiful garden, with lots of different areas surrounding a beautiful house. Last Monday when I visited, there was a coachload of visitors and a full car park, so there were quite a few people around.
Here's a view of the sunken white garden
Above a view of the pillars beside the terrace, and below a beautiful hydrangea
The hedge around the pond has this lovely sculptured seat on the opposite side to the pond. I'd love one of these in my garden.
Here's the pond with one of the sculptures in the sculpture show on the lawn
I liked this sculpture perfectly positioned beside the pond
There's a dramatic feature in the garden that I love, this is the view from it
There's a lovely swing in this hideaway
And this is the view from the swing:
and the same view again, subtly different
Two wonderful gardens well worth visiting.
This website about gardens says about Hidcote Manor:
'A famous Arts and Crafts garden, made c1905. Lawrence Johnston was a keen plantsman with a strong sense of artistic composition. Yew, holly and beech hedges are used to define a series of garden rooms. One room is occupied only by a circular raised pool. Others have a character deriving from their inspired planting. The standard of building craftsmanship is high and the number of plants which have the name 'Hidcote' point to Johnston's expertise. Were it nearer London, the garden would be as famous as Sissinghurst.'
If you click on the link you can also see how close it is to Kiftsgate Court, 0.6km, it's also only 5.9km from Fibrex Nurseries which I'm very keen to visit having seen them at the Quenington Rectory Rare Plant Fair this year.
I chose this photo as my favourite of the garden, and found the link about Hidcote above also chose the same shot.
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