Sunday 31 October 2010

Open Gardens and a Small Finish

I had a lovely day out today with my friend Lisa.  We have our annual outing together to see the local open gardens.

The day started showery, so we thought we would have a damp day.  However, it soon cleared and we didn’t need our brollies at all.

We started out with the gardens in town.  “Blair Athol” is stunning, having won a National Garden award a few years ago.

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We visit every year and it is maturing beautifully.

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Our next stop was “Bishop Court”, which is a boutique B & B.  The garden is beautiful, but a special feature is the old chapel which is now a delightful dining venue.  We have been lucky enough to attend a dinner there a few years ago.

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Here are some random photos of some of the other gardens.

I don’t know what this flower was, but it was stunning.

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The Koi Carp in this delightful pond were huge.

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This little gecko was sweet on his rock.

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Such a simple thing can look so good.

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My favourite garden is “Hillendale” at Yetholme.  It is a mature cool climate country garden.  This area is about 1100m above sea level and quite often receives snow.

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It was so good to see it in a good season, as the little stream running through the garden was trickling down the hill to the dam.

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The dam was brim full.  Such a lovely change from the last couple of years.

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The Rhododendrons are something to behold.  This was by no means one of the large ones.

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Just look at the size of these peonies.

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Even the vege garden looks stylish.

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Some of the borders were only just starting to bloom as it is so much cooler up there.

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After such a lovely day out I realised that I hadn’t completed anything for OPAM.  I can’t have that.  So, I finished off my Secret Santa Christmas Decoration while sitting in the sun on the back verandah.  This is as much as I will reveal. Phew, at least something is finished.

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I have been doing a bit of Secret Santa sewing, but unfortunately nothing else. 

6 comments:

Cubby House Crafts said...

Thankyou for sharing everthing looks so lovely and green!
Lisa ʚϊɞ

Cardygirl said...

Gorgeous pics. Parents of a friend owned Bishops Court about 20yrs ago & I stayed there a few times...nice to see it looking so lovely! They had a pool table in the chapel!

Chookyblue...... said...

wow I must get there one time when it is open........love going to pen gardens........maybe next year I must go to down........

Unknown said...

Oh I do enjoy going through old homes and gardens. Charmaine

Aunty said...

What stunning gardens.

Bec said...

Beautiful gardens. We saw 'Blair Athol' a few years ago, loved that the garden just kept going when you thought it was finished - garden rooms. The dining hall at Bishop Court is stunning....