2023 Garden Tour to Herefordshire

 It's become a bit of a tradition to have an annual trip to a particular area with a gardening enthusiast friend, Lyn, often prompted by wanting to see a particular garden, staying away for 4 nights and visiting as many gardens and nurseries in the area as we can find. This year, I was intrigued by The Laskett Gardens in Herefordshire; so we based ourselves at Grove Farm, Kimbolton, a very comfortable and friendly B&B with a great welcome provided by our host Fiona. Although Herefordshire is virtually on the doorstep, it has magnificent countryside and a truly rural feel. There's almost a 4 acre rule; many great gardens are 4 acres in size on this tour.

On the way to Kimbolton, we stopped off for the first plant buying session at Hoo House Nursery, a great spot selling a great range of top quality plants as you'll see from the catalogue.

I'll the tour with The Laskett Gardens which are the creation of Sir Roy Strong CH and his late wife, the designer, Julia Trevelyan Oman. They bought the house in 1973 and began work on the garden the following year. It's a creation which has evolved over four decades; in the formal garden tradition under the influences of both Italian renaissance gardens and the formal tradition of Tudor and Stuart England. It's well worth looking at the website which describes the 4 acre garden in much more detail. I took lots of photos which convey something of the look and feel of the gardens:

I've started with a photo of The Stag, one of my favourite parts of the garden

There is a massive amount of hedge clipping to be done, lawns to mow and between the cracks weeding to be done.

I do rather like this topiary

There are many small rooms off main pathways and lots of the garden rooms are personal to Sir Roy and his wife; it almost feels like an intrusion to walk round, but his secrets are fairly safe because although there are audio stations around the garden where you can hear his explanation of the relevant features, they don't always chime with the listener.

Sir Roy was a great cat lover and memorialised the cats after their death 

I'm not sure what this was, but it reminded me of a piece in Swindon Museum and Art Gallery of a goat's head 

The Belvedere was erected in 2018 and gives one panoramic views over the garden and landscape beyond, although I didn't manage to capture the landscape beyond, it was great to have a raised platform.

The Laskett Gardens are well worth a visit if you enjoy gardening, although it's not what I would do with 4 acres of land, it's so interesting how Sir Roy Strong gardened in his original way.