Garden Tour 2025 based in the Surrey Hills

 I think this year's Garden Tour was the 7th one organised with Lyn Davies. We had planned to visit gardens in Norfolk this year but when I looked at the distances involved to get there, we both decided to visit somewhere closer to Swindon, and settled on the Surrey Hills. Nearby gardens to visit included Polesden Lacey,  Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden, Borde Hill, Wakehurst and Standen House. We stayed at Bulmer Farm in Holmbury St.Mary. The accommodation was very comfortable and within 5 to 10 minutes walking distance to two pubs both serving food. Here's a link to Bulmer Farm: HOME | Mysite It's worth bearing in mind that we visited these gardens at the beginning of August when we hadn't had any proper rain since February and weeks of very high temperatures so we weren't expecting the gardens to look as good as a more average year.

On the first day we went to Polesden Lacey in the morning. It's a National Trust house and garden with good plant sales and a cafe. I do like a round window in a wall as seen above.

There are long borders

and some lovely wild flower banks on the walk to the house

There are some excellent raised planters

but the best bits, I thought were the beds around the house which were delightful. Above you can see the cup and saucer plant, Cobaea flowering profusely

and above a mixture of morning glory and an aster

I love these hydrangeas, this one above might be Vanilla Fraise, why haven't I got one in the garden? I like Annabel but maybe need a Vanilla Fraise.

Gorgeous Cosmos 

Rather a nice bit to walk around with Verbena bonariensis doing well

This Salvia was so floriferous, I thought I'd take a photo of the label. It's Salvia nemorosa 'Ostfriesland'

This Eucomis looked fantastic

And it's always lovely to see how people deal with sheds and pots and dried flowers. I thought this was beautifully presented

It's good to find a reliable and interesting nursery to visit on the way. Rotherhill Nursery near Midhurst can always be relied upon to offer a great selection of perennials and also specialise in cloud pruned shrubs in pots