Cottage gardens
The creators of these riotous gardens are absolutely passionate about flowers. They’ll squash in all the old favourites and so many more you’ll wonder how they managed it.
Sweet peas clamber up willow wigwams, whilst clematis scrambles over the thatched summer house in the cottage garden at Rosemoor in Devon. Throw in a drystone wall, a profusion of roses, geraniums and lavenders, and the Royal Horticultural Society have captured the essence of cottage gardening. Powerful scents work their magic power, evoking the timeless quality of hot summer days.
Garden writer Margery Fish created perhaps the most famous cottage garden of them all at East Lambrook Manor in Somerset. For 32 years she lovingly gardened and wrote of her favourite plants here. Today the National Collection of Hardy Geraniums flourishes beside her crooked stone paths. The plants are still the stars.
Shakespeare courted Anne Hathaway at her family cottage long before the garden made an appearance. Today Anne Hathaway’s Garden in Warwickshire is still a sea of flowers every summer, just as in the Victorians’ day. The thatched cottage roof bobs above brightly-coloured lupins, penstemons and loosestrifes. Pergolas and arches drip with roses and clematis. Old varieties of peas, beans and cabbages flourish in the vegetable patch. This is cottage gardening at its best.
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For any of you garden lovers or those planning a history or heritage themed trip around Britain, the essential "buy before you leave" product is the Great British Heritage Pass. Providing free entry into over 600 castles, gardens and stately homes across the length and breadth of Britain, it really is the key to unlocking Britain's secrets.
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