Autumn Cottage Diarist

Just Another Day in Paradise - 4 - Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum and Gardens

Do you ever feel that bloggers sometimes struggle to produce eloquence in words, when the most eloquent thing that they could do would be to shut up and just let the pictures speak for themselves? I'm going to do just that, as I invite you to walk with me around these gardens in all their glorious early autumn beauty. I hope the images inspire you to go out and take your own walk in the beautiful and ever changing natural world, if you are able to do so.




Beech leaves falling to carpet the ground

The abstract whorls of a Picea glauca 'Alberta Blue'

The last few days of 'Art in the Park' - the annual summer long exhibition

Not your average wall! Very beautiful...

...and very interesting

The lily pond

 

Lilies still flowering

Woven artworks, inspired by the natural surroundings

Pathway up through the year-old Himalayan garden.... and behind the wall...

The splashing of a Sparrowhawk enjoying a bath!

Wonderful, soft colours as the Hydrangeas age

The Centenary Border - again, just a couple of years planted yet looking very abundant and established

My favourite flowers at this time of the year - Echinaceas.

Postcard from Paradise - In the Land of my Fathers

 
The stark black arches of Talley Abbey, Carmarthenshire, South West Wales.

Imagine.

An ancient abbey,

Premonstratensian.

Once a thriving House of God.

Crumbling now, but still

Black arched, a sentinel.

 

Beside which -

the chalk washed church

which grew as the abbey fell.

Stones from one

taken gratefully and practically

to build the other.

('Robbed  out'  too harsh a judgement

on such a natural act).

 

Around the church, the graves,

Grey granite marked, glinting

in the soft Welsh mist

The Ancestors resting in peace. Silent -

save for the call of the two white swans

paired for life upon the nearby lake.

 

When the time comes,

how blissful a place, I think,

to spend my own Eternity;

Serenaded by swansong,

close by a lake,

in the Land of my Fathers.

The Abbey cloister wall

 
The little church of St. Michael

 
The graveyard - with the lake beyond, upon which, two white flecks - the swans.

 
The church alongside the Abbey.




This post is a contribution to Rebecca's weekly 'Postcards From Paradise' at Recuerda mi Corazon. Please visit her lovely site to read other bloggers contributions.

Just Another Day in Paradise - 3 - Longstock Park Water Gardens

I discovered the plant nursery attached to Longstock Park just a few weeks ago, when a dear gardening friend was visiting. I had taken her to Houghton Lodge - which she had never visited...she took me to the nursery, which was new to me.

The nursery itself posesses a beautiful herbaceous border, which is filled at the moment with an abundance of early autumn colour - so a revisit was in order while the weather was still warm and golden.

What I was not expecting was that our visit would coincide with the twice-monthly Sunday opening of Longstock Park Water Gardens, part of the Leckford Estate owned by the John Lewis Partnership. I have heard other friends enthuse about it and was not disappointed with the lakes, islands and burgeoning planting. I was a little disappointed that my camera batteries were not actually charged as much as they should have been - but emergency technology - aka my mobile phone, came to the rescue! I hope you enjoy the visit as much as I did (the cream tea after a visit to the nursery was rather good as well :-) )

On the way to the water gardens - Longstock parish church

The Holy Family

The Victorian church replaced an earlier church on the site - I suspect these carved angels may have been salvaged from that earlier building - though who made the crass decision to place a heater in such close poximity?!

A small ceramic plaque, hidden behind an ugly notice screen

The manicured south side of the churchyard - with the Rectory in the background

A home for lowlier creatures - the unkempt, but more appealing graves on the north side of the church

 

...and just across the road

The main lake at Longstock Park water gardens

Echinaceas in front of a cloud of Verbena bonariensis

Gunnera leaves

A bridge between two of the fifteen little islands on one side of  the lake

Tall mounds of Ligularia dentata

All entrance fees are donated to charitable causes. This day's worthy recipients of the collected fees - Guide Dogs for the Blind

Glorious Gaillardias glowing with the colours of Autumn

Longstock Park Water Gardens are open on the first and third Sunday afternoons of the month, from April to September.