Garden visiting .... and the snow stayed away

I am pleased to say our friends, Bill and Kaye, visited us yesterday.

We had a lovely afternoon visiting former Gardener’s World presenter, the late Geoff Hamilton’s Rutland garden, Barnsdale. I’d like to have a bubbling fountain like this in our garden.

As you can see, there’s no snow on the ground (for a change). Even the rain held off. The weather was overcast but mild and still, just right for garden visiting.

Bill and Kaye are amongst our oldest friends .... in terms of how long we’ve known them, not their ages! Here they are still acting like teenagers.

That’s better!

This bench looks pretty with plants underneath, we have one like this in our garden, must plant around it. Barnsdale is full of ideas and inspiration.

I like the rusty grill on this ... erm ... not sure what it is, but I like it.

Topiary spirals here are beautiful, I won’t tell you what MTM said their shape reminded him of.

These quite tall white plants were in a semi-shaded area, I'm thinking they would look nice in our garden too.

Bill checking out the bee hive compost bins. Got lots of old pallets we could use to make some like these. 

MTM isn’t showing his age here. The huge smile was down to being absolutely delighted to get a quid concession off the entrance price. The rest of us were far too young to qualify. 

Lovely paviors

Concentric circles of pipe ends make a texturally interesting centrepiece for this circular paving.

A huge mop of black grass, we have two smaller specimens in our garden, the foliage looks stunning with this sedum and heather, contrasts beautifully..

Toadstools, a bee hotel and smoke breathing dragon under the bridge.

The catkins on this tortured tree looks amazing against the red dogwood stems, photo doesn’t do it justice.

Barnsdale’s floral display confirms Spring has definitely and finally arrived. Earlier when we were showing Bill and Kaye our garden (still very much under development) we spotted a big dead tree branch that the river had deposited on the bank. Bill suggested such driftwood gifts from the Witham could contribute towards a nice triangular bed like this ... good idea! 

We have lots of plain leaved arum growing wild in our garden, the lighter veining on this variety is very special, I must try to get hold of some.

Paved path with mixed materials.

We came home with a souvenir plant courtesy of Bill and Kaye’s generosity, couldn’t resist the startling colour of this primrose.

Dinner at our house,  bœuf bourguignon cooked by MTM rounded off a super day. We must do it again soon.