Once again, John and Brenda Foster put together a very busy four days of garden and nursery visiting for us. We saw a most beautiful private garden, Dipley Mill, on the way. A sandwich lunch was provided while the owner talked to us about the garden. It was very well suited to its site and showed a depth of feeling for the house which it surrounded.  (See  write-up in later newsletter).

Dipley Mill - photos by Chris Davis

(click pic for slide show)

The hotel, where we spent the three nights, was very comfortable and the staff were very cheerful and helpful. |It was rather amusing on the last evening, when John beckoned them to him to accept the collection we had made for them. There had been a minor issue over the selection of desserts, and this had been exercising their initiative somewhat, so, when John beckoned them, they thought they were about to receive a reprimand. You can imagine the smiles of relief!

All the days were sunny and very warm. The hotel had both indoor and outdoor swimming pools , which we looked at whilst sipping our G&Ts. (some people even took a dip).
The gardens will all be written up, (but not in the imminent newsletter), but all had there points of interest. Even Kingston Lacey, which had suffered massive damage during the winter storms, had made huge efforts to get the garden in a fit state for visitors. The Knoll Garden, which advertised itself on its grasses, which didn't particularly attract me, turned out to be a lovely garden, making very good use of grasses, rather than focussing on them. Compton Acres, on a rocky hillside, with waterfalls, was a complete contrast, as was  Abbotsbury semi-tropical garden, which was highly- coloured and even had a terrapin on the base of a water feature, of which there were many. We also visited the nearby Swannery, where the swans and other water fowl are very tame, even with chicks about. We had tea at Athelhampton House before returning to the hotel on Sunday.

On the way home we visited MacPennys Nursery to buy plants to fill the remaining few spaces in Alisdair's luggage space, to a garden centre for lunch in Alton then on to another private garden, Fairbanks, where the knowledgeable owners showed us round and gave us tea and cake before we returned home.

( I have mentioned all of the gardens, but not necessarily in the right order!) Many thanks to John and Brenda for arranging another very enjoyable trip at a very reasonable price. Please send your photos to John Metcalf, if you haven't already done so.

Chris Davies