Gifts for gardeners

It’s back, the only reasonably sensible list for gardeners of all types, no cashmere pyjamas or pink suede gauntlets here…

These are two of my favourite coffee table purchases of the year. I enjoyed my visit to Le Jardin Plume so much I bought the book. Yes it is in French but you don’t need to be fluent to get the gist of what’s going on. The photos tell the story, and the photos are fab.

I’ve been going to Kew Gardens since I was knee high to a grasshopper but only went into the Marianne North Gallery for the first time earlier this year. All of the 627 paintings - part botanical illustration, part travelogue - are reproduced here. Marianne North visited 13 countries and four continents in the second half of the 19th century and she paid for the construction of the gallery to house all her paintings. A major vanity project? And so what.

Sarah Price’s garden at the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show

Well no list is complete without a ticket to the Chelsea Flower Show. Is it expensive, is it over crowded, is it worth it? Hell yeah. The RHS runs one or two other shows which are all a bit cheaper, a bit less less busy and, well, you get what you pay for….

Looking for an easy way to boost your garden’s attractiveness to wildlife? Just add water. Birds, insects and mammals will all find a small pond very appealing. It doesn’t have to be deep, or have a fountain or even require digging a big hole.

A shallow water bowl or bird bath will do the job. A few pebbles and a couple of plants will finish it off nicely.

West Green House gardens and caff

Who doesn’t enjoy a nice garden visit with a fabulous lunch thrown in? Top of my list is Gravetye Manor (still waiting..), The Newt was fab and the cafe at West Green is a little more modest but no less tasty.

The restaurant at The Newt

Most gardeners are suckers for tools, especially really good quality ones. I’ve mentioned Felco secateurs before, as well as Showa 370 gardening gloves, Silky Fox folding saws, Hayter lawnmowers and Henchmen ladders.

Fab even when not in use

And they also love seed trays, garden twine, small terracotta pots, compost (but so awkward to wrap…), magazine subscriptions, bird boxes, seeds and cake of course.

Cedar greenhouse

But nothing says I love you like a bespoke cedar greenhouse…

And finally, what not to buy a gardener unless they have specifically asked for it - a plant. You have no idea how difficult it is to accommodate a rose that’s the wrong colour, or an inappropriately sized tree, into a carefully curated garden.

The Newt in Somerset

The Newt has been on my bucket list for quite a while, longer in fact than it has been called The Newt.

The hotel

Now an hotel and spa, it has been the home of garden designer Penelope Hobhouse and plant colourists Nori and Sandra Pope who all knew it as Hadspen House. The current owners, Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos bought the house, its gardens and the rest of the estate in 2013.

Apple bobbing anyone?

The house and garden have been redesigned by Patrice Taravella on a seemingly money-no-object basis. There is a huge focus on growing apples with the estate making its own fine cider. Produce from the farm and garden feature substantially on the menus.

View of the kitchen garden

The elliptical walled garden is famous and now features many heritage apples grown as espaliers and cordons within an apple-themed maze. The rest of the garden tells the history of gardening including geometric Islamic garden designs with rills, Victorian formal bedding displays, a Baroque garden to more modern grass borders, wild flower meadows and some flower gardens with colour themes as a nod to the previous endeavours of the Popes.

Islamic garden

I’ve a feeling there’s not much of the garden Penelope Hobhouse and the Popes would have known, with the exception of the Walled Garden. However, you wouldn’t know it’s a relatively new garden. No expense has been spared in using the finest quality materials from oak sleepers, wrought iron railings (miles of it), Blue Lias limestone steps (from Hadspen quarry?), an extremely large, mature cloud pruned yew hedge and mature espalier and fan-trained fruit trees.

Gourd tunnel

A couple of examples of this are the gourd tunnel, designed just to show the beauty of different varieties of gourds and pumpkins (some are netted for safety), and my favourite feature, the aerial walkway through ash and beech trees to a rather nice cafe.

Aerial walkway

And yes, even though we’d had an amazing lunch, cake was eaten - rosewater and pistachio if you’re wondering (we did at least share).

The colour gardens are some of the newer features here, with separate rooms of red, white, blue and green plants.

Blue garden

Red garden

Green garden

It was a chilly grey day in late September when we visited but the grass borders were looking amazing.

Grass garden

And the Cottage Garden was still looking good. The whole of this garden is irrigated so there was no evidence of any drought damage. And neither were there any weeds, amazing.

Cottage garden

The Newt is just a few minutes from the A303 and a couple of miles from the destination town of Bruton. It would be quite hard to fit in the Hauser & Wirth garden at Bruton if you’re just visiting for the day (we didn’t manage to see all of the garden at The Newt) and having lunch as well.

A casual visit to the Newt is difficult unless you have a very good friend who is a member and/or are staying overnight at the hotel. I’m told the hotel and spa are rather fabulous and worth every penny.

There are restuarants, cafes, a farm shop, home wares shop, cider press, a museum, a newly recreated Roman Villa, more than enough to keep you entertained for quite a while.

A big thanks to Nicola for a fabulous day out, lunch and driving all the way there and back.

West Green House Gardens

This is a garden I have visited many times and it never disappoints. The undoubted highlight of a spring visit is the mass display of tulips, principally in the walled garden.

The colour and form of the tulips is kalaidoscopic to say the least, but look closely and you’ll see there is definitely method in the seeming madness. Many of the tulips are sold by the Gardens, either as single varieties or in collections.

Despite many of the tulips being listed on the website it’s still quite hard to recognise them all.

Tulipa Violet Beauty

This is probably my favourite combination in the whole garden. It’s reminiscent of the Alice in Wonderland tea garden, although it is at the opposite end of the site.

Raspberry ripple tulips anyone?

Tulipa Rasta Parrot

In the vegetable garden the tulips are used as bedding plants. The painted plant supports add some colourful height.

At the farthest end of the garden a former topiary lawn has been replaced by this mass planting of tulips. The remaining box balls are a solid contrast to the flightiness of the tulips.

Not all of the garden is devoted to tulips in spring. The damper meadow areas are planted with narcissi and snake’s head fritillaries,.

The walled garden also contains a lot of box, outlining the formal beds and adding some height and structure. The box seems to be recovering well from box tree caterpillar.

The tea shop has two outdoor seating areas. This is my favourite, a sheltered spot with an Alice in Wonderland theme of red and white. Very nice tea and cake by the way.

Alice in Wonderland tea garden

Although this is a private garden you can enter for free with a National Trust membership card. You will have to pay £4 for parking unless you can find a spot on the road just outside the gardens.

I can’t recommend these gardens highly enough.

https://www.westgreenhouse.co.uk/

Readers' Gardens July 2020

Glenis

Glenis and I have been collaborating on her garden since she moved into the new build in south west London in 2008. Amazingly, it is completely walled. This Rosa Iceberg didn’t do very well in the first year and Glenis took some persuading to keep it for another year. But since then it has flowered prolifically and does a great job filling this corner.

Like many of my clients who have lived in hot countries Glenis likes lots of colour and so the subtle palette of blues and yellows that I started with have gradually got hotter and brighter. We don’t know the variety of these orange Alstromerias but with regular dead-heading they flower most of the summer.

Some of the blues remain though and these Campanula porscharskyana Stella carpet one of the borders.

Glenis is a big fan of planters and is assiduous in watering, feeding and dead-heading them. She has a small collection of these pretty wall-hung pots planted with pelargoniums, ideal for keeping busy in lock-down.

Inger and Peter

Inger and Peter have got a lovely large, private garden in Wimbledon. This is its fourth summer and has really filled out. It’s quite shady due to the large trees in the garden, many of which are protected. In summer though there is a lot of sun and this table and chairs are perfectly placed for a morning coffee.

In the second half of the summer these Hydrangea macrophylla Mme Emilie Moulliere are the stars of the garden. They start off a brilliant white and fade to a lovely pink by the end of summer.

Accompanying the hydrangeas are spots of pink and blue. These Geranium Mrs Kendall Clark have thrived in the rain this June.

A dining table, flanked by Olive trees and Erigeron karvinskianus, is handily placed between the kitchen and the orangery. You can see more of this garden here - https://www.arthurroadlandscapes.co.uk/designs#/wimbledon-common-garden/

My garden

A slight lack of planning means that I’ve run out of readers’ gardens and so have to resort to using my own. Like many people I’ve spent a lot more time in my garden than usual which means it does look a bit better than usual. The weather’s helped too.

As a garden designer I find my self being caught between the endless possibilities of what I could do, what I actually have the time and money to do, and finding homes for random plants that have proved surplus to requirements in clients’ gardens.

One end of the garden is my attempt at a white garden. It’s been fairly successful so far with some pale pink and pale yellow in it as well. At the other end is a mix of blue and white and yellow but I can’t decide if the purple blob of Berberis in the middle is a good thing or bad thing.

And just in case you were wondering about the shockingly long grass … it was an experiement to see what would happen if I didn’t mow it. The result? Very long grass (no wildflowers/weeds whatsoever) that my camera shy cat likes playing in.

Thank goodness most public gardens are now open.

Readers' Gardens May 2020

As we’re still in lockdown the only gardens I can visit are those sent to me by loyal readers of my newsletter. It’s been a cracking month in terms of weather so everyone’s garden looks immaculate, even my own.

Alec and Sarah

Alec and Sarah garden in the grounds of a tall and elegant Victorian town house in a smart part of North London. The garden is only slightly larger than a postage stamp so every inch matters.

I designed this garden in 2016 and it was built and planted in 2017. It had a rough time with some builders shortly after that so I’ve never seen it in all its glory.

Looks like someone living here has got green fingers, it’s turned out pretty well!

Margaret

Margaret has a surprisingly large garden behind a smart villa in Wandsworth. Aside from lockdown Margaret works from home quite often. When we’re planning any changes in this garden the view from her desk is the most important one.

Margaret and I have been working together on this project for seven years. I did start off with a restrained palette but over the years I’ve been gradually beaten into submission with bright colours.

But I have resisted planting any Rhododendrons in the main part of the garden (so far….).

Susannah and Chris

To an exclusive address in the Surrey Hills now and the grounds of a cool and eclectic 18th century/1970s house.

When Susannah and Chris moved here there was a large swimming pool where this lawn is now. You can see how it used to look here.

This garden is proof that gardens only improve with age. Tiny shrubs and orphaned trees mature into good-looking specimens that give a garden back bone.

Sometimes though it’s the smallest details that give a lot of pleasure, like this Lily of the Valley growing beneath some steps.

Andrew and Hilary

And finally, on the other side of the country, we visit Andrew and Hilary’s garden in deepest Suffolk. I’ve never been here but I’d like to see it one day, especially the black swimming pool I’ve heard about.

Clearly there’s been some serious gardening going on here during lockdown - just look at that vegetable garden. That’s quite a eucalyptus tree as well.

Country gardens are so different to town gardens, there’s so much more space, room for quite different areas. I wonder where this path goes?

Back here maybe.

No end to lockdown in sight, what’s the hurry?

Hunte's Gardens

One of my favourite things about Hunte’s Gardens is the entrance. It’s a bit like stepping out the back of the wardrobe into a tropical Narnia (minus the talking animals). The lady taking your entrance fee emerges from behind a large palm and then melts away again.

I’ve been here a few times now and never tire of it. The gardens are the work of Anthony Hunte, with the assistance of five workers. He started from scratch in a sink hole on an old sugar plantation in 1990.

Steps wind their way down the sides of the sink hole. There are a couple of way points on the descent with seating and water features. Once at the bottom you are struck by the height of the Royal Palms, they have reached a mature height of around 25m.

In classic garden design style, only parts of the garden can be seen at once. Lots of paths lead you on round corners to private seating areas, giving you plenty of opportunities to sit back and listen to the pianist playing in Anthony’s house above.

Where the sides of the sink hole are too steep to plant they are festooned with creepers like this bearded fig, Ficus citrifolia. This is the tree from which it is believed the name Barbados came from.

The range of plants which can be grown here make any northern hemisphere gardener green with envy. Whilst we can grow hibiscus in the UK, they can’t compete in terms of size and colour with those grown in the tropics.

The gardens are decorated with many different water features, in particular large bowls filled with water lilies and lotus flowers. Orchids are dotted around like jewels.

I’ve always found it’s best to come here early, mainly to avoid a deluge of cruise passengers. Not all of them can manage the stairs however.

If you do visit Barbados on a cruise just hop in a cab and come straight here, by-passing visits to other gardens.

And don’t be put off by any rain, it’s much easier to take good photos when there’s no bright sunshine to contend with. And anyway, the rain never lasts long.

Refreshments are available and include Anthony’s infamous rum punch. A few gewgaws can also be bought here.

Even if you could get there, like pretty much everywhere at the moment, Hunte’s Gardens is closed until further notice.

Hunte’s Gardens doesn’t have a website but you can find them on Facebook and Trip Advisor.

Loseley Park

Loseley Park, home of the eponymous icecream, has been lived in by the More-Molyneux family for over 500 years. The house, set in 400 acres in Surrey, was built in the 1560s. Its walled garden was set out in the 16th century, re-designed by Gertrude Jeckyll in the 19th century and was redesigned again in 1991.

Of course there's a rose garden, with over 1,000 roses, and a vegetable and cut flower garden.

But in high summer it's the various flower gardens that really grab your attention. The Flower Garden is designed with hot colours in mind, but these only develop in late summer. Now there is a tasteful palette of blue and yellow.

I like the way the plants are packed in, those with looser structures like Geranium pratense and Cephalaria gigantea scramble through evergreen Buxus and Euphorbia, with the frothy Alchemilla mollis skirting the floor.

Sissinghurst is not the only white garden in the country. The one at Loseley Park is based around a tranquil pond. It's no surprise this is a popular place for weddings.

One of the things you notice about the White Garden is that not all the plants are white. There are creams, silver, pale yellows, pale pink, dark greens and plenty of variegated leaves.

One of the more unusual features at Loseley Park is the moat. It's not clear what function it has served but it's now planted with water lillies and Gunnera and home to at least one mallard family with no less than seven ducklings.

From the moat there's a short walk through the Rose Garden. At the end of June most of the roses are in full bloom. There was a sculpture display there when I visited. The overall impression was marred somewhat by the sorry-looking box hedge. I couldn't tell what was causing the problem but they have my sympathies, it's getting harder and harder to keep box looking good.

The Tennis Court Border would have been easy to miss as it's a bit out of the way.

Again there's a blue and yellow theme here, with the full range of Verbascums, from the statuesque V. bombyceferum to the more delicate V. chaixii. It can't all be in good taste though as these poppies were unlikely to have been blue or yellow.

The stone walls make an attractive backdrop. I was surprised there weren't more climbers in the garden. There is a magnificent and ancient Wisteria but it was obviously not in flower now. There are a couple of roses but really there is the potential for so much more.

There are tea rooms aplenty here but unlike these two I didn't have time even to taste the icecream let alone sit down.

Loseley Park - http://www.loseleypark.co.uk/

You need to plan your visit. There is a tedious diversion in place to get there until the end of July 2018, and the house and gardens are not open on Fridays or Saturdays.

Return to the Hungry Cyclist's Garden

It's a treat to go back to a garden you've fallen in love with and see it anew in a different season.

Last time I was in The Hungry Cyclist's garden it was, literally, blazing June with many of the flowering perennials at their peak

Now at the end of September its the turn of later flowering plants, fruit and trees.

The low light early in the morning (8am rather than 5.30) filters through the wilting flowers and grasses, highlighting the dew and cobwebs.

The stalwarts of late summer include Sedums and Persicarias, whilst Lavander and Perovskia are just about hanging on to their faded blue stems.

The fruit trees are fully laden, the changing leaves are drifting towards earth and a deep mist hangs across the valley after a night of heavy rain.

It's tempting at this time of year to get into tidy-up mode. But if you do it now you face a long winter of stasis

This is when you might be glad of a little more structure in the garden, like these rough square beds, creating views across the garden.

At the other end of the day the light is softer.

Early evenings in autumn are a real pleasure in good weather, a good time to enjoy the view.

And the fruits of nature.

The Hungry Cyclist/Gardener.

A big thanks to Tom, Chris, Desna, Nicola, Rob, Sarah and Susannah for a fab week. And finally, the real star of the garden - Mirabelle

The Hungry Cyclist - www.thehungrycyclist.com

Return to Allt-y-bela

Unable to resist another invitation to see Allt-y-bela, I trogged down the M4 in the pouring rain.

Last time I was here it was raining too. But, like then, the sun did come out, briefly. In late July this garden is all about the cottage garden and the vegetable plot. In early June it's all roses and wild flowers

It's the wild flower meadows that help the garden merge with the surrounding landscape. Of course they're not really wild in the sense of always having been here; they haven't, they've been planted and sown in the last ten years, but you wouldn't know it just by looking.

But even old wild flower meadows need to be managed - mown at the right time to allow seeds to fall and germinate, the flowers not allowed to lie in situ after mowing but be picked up so the soil fertility doesn't increase and additional species planted that may or may not be typical wild flower meadow plants. Like these Trollius.

The meadows are in fact quite a bit of work, but definitely worth it I think.

The roses were over by the time of my visit last year but this time they were just getting into their stride. I'd love to be able to tell you the names of them all but I found myself a bit distracted.

As the garden is in a bit of a valley the scent is captured and remains in the air, even on a wet day.

Often I have clients say they don't want any roses in their gardens. Memories of municipal monoculture or a faint whiff of the crematorium perhaps? But when planted amongst other shrubs or perennials they can really shine when in flower and disappear into the background when they've finished.

And roses' ability to climb makes them doubly useful, especially if you are short of space or have a few old apple trees that might not be looking their best.

Having a beautiful house does give you a bit of a head start in the gardening stakes. It does take a degree of bravery to turn an off-white ugly duckling into an uskan orange beauty (yes the typo is deliberate).

And when garden designers witter on about good bones and structure this is what they are refering to - good quality hard landscaping that has a beauty and a purpose and fantastic evergreen plants.

Or purple ones.

Cobblers Cove Hotel

Every year the Barbados Horticultural Society manages to persuade some of its members to open their gardens to the public. The last open garden of the year was the Cobbler's Cove Hotel in St Peter.

Every year the Barbados Horticultural Society manages to persuade some of its members to open their gardens to the public. The last open garden of the year was the Cobbler's Cove Hotel in St Peter.

his boutique hotel is owned by the Godsall family. The garden is as much of a draw as the luxurious rooms and beautiful setting on the coast

The garden has undergone a gentle upgrade under the eye of garden consultant Niki Farmer. From my conversation with her it has been an enjoyable job, despite the fact the owner doesn't like yellow flowers or variegated leaves.

All the rooms and suites open out onto or look over probably the most immaculate garden I've ever seen.

There are many tropical and meditteranean plants and flowers familiar to us in the UK, usually as house plants, such as Bourgainvillia, Brugmansia and dozens of different palm trees.

Some are less well-known, as plants anyway, such as this Ylang-ylang tree, whose flowers are used in many perfumes.

One of the guests had not checked in but was making himself at home anyway. I was just dying for this green monkey to nip in to the room and help himself to the hotel soap, but he was very well behaved.

The green monkeys are not native to Barbados but come orginally from Gambia and Senegal. Over 75 generations they have developed different behaviours and characteristics to their ancestors.

Its amazing to think this garden is just a few metres from the beach. Shelter from the prevailing winds, plus plenty of sunshine and rain, makes Barbados gardens lush. Large trees can reach maturity in just 25 years.

Brightly coloured flowers can co-exist in close proximity with shade-loving ferns, something that's almost impossible to achieve in the UK.

Of course there were refreshments. Tea, naturally, iced-coffee and, rarely to be found in an NGS garden, rum punch. The icing on the cake was a plentiful supply of fresh Bajan fish cakes, so hard to find after the strange disappearance of the world famous fishcake stall from Speightstown.

Cobbler's Cove Hotel - http://www.cobblerscove.com/

Niki Farmer doesn't have a website but I'm guessing she can be contacted through the Cobbler's Cove Hotel.

Allt-y-bela

Allt-y-bela is designer Arne Maynard's garden in Monmouthshire. Initially, it was Arne's intention to make a simple garden using his favourite components - roses, topiary and wildflower meadows. There was no garden here when Arne bought the restored medieval farmhouse five years ago, just a few outbuildings set across an ancient drover's road.

The topiary, mostly set around the house, is huge and dramatic, and seemingly randomly placed.  His gardener, Steve, said it was not unusual for Arne to receive deliveries of large pieces without much forethought as to where they would be placed.

None of the pieces are alike and there is no attempt at placing them in a formal pattern. The larger pieces are a mixture of yew, hornbeam, purple beech and box.  Low hawthorn hedges have just been planted to create rustic edges for the few formal borders.

There is a pleasing lack of formality to the garden as it is the designer's intention to blue the boundaries between the garden and the wider landscape.  Beyond the immediate vicinity of the house the garden is surrounded by wildflower meadows.  At the end of summer the flowers have all faded but in spring thousands of bulbs are in flower, designed to make the meadows look as though they've been there for hundreds of years.

In keeping with the house's agricultural history there is a productive and beautiful Kitchen Garden.

By the way, the house was white when Arne bought it. I don't know how he came to choose orange as the right colour to paint it but it makes a stunning backdrop to the garden, mainly because green really stands out against it.  And when you've got an orange house you need a few orange flowers.

Next to the Kitchen Garden is the Cottage Garden, full of flowers to be cut for the house. The paths are made from stone found around the house and are angled to provide interesting glimpses of other parts of the house. These foxgloves are Digitalis ferruginea gigantea.

Despite his best intentions Arne has been unable to resist the urge to go beyong his original brief. The stream behind the old granary has been canalised with local stone and divides the stage from the terraces that form the Garden Theatre.

The gardens immediately outside the house are more complex, though still informal.

The Courtyard Garden at the front is enclosed with a pleached hedge and filled with smaller pieces of topiary and cottage-style planting, making for an interesting view from the kitchen.

One of my favourite spots in the garden is at the back of the house. Box hedging reaches out towards the meadow.

It is here the roses are most in evidence. Although by late summer they are mostly past their best they must look and smell amazing in June.

Back towards the front of house, next to the granary, is Arne's latest project, the Lattice Garden. Low hedges of hawthorn frame herbaceous planting and topiary.

espite being a two-time gold medal winner at Chelsea, there's still room a little whimsy in the garden (or was it there already when he bought the property?).

Little of this garden would be possible without full-time gardener Steve Lannin. Although the topiary is only trimmed once a year apparently it can take weeks to get all the way round the garden.  Steve was a warm and knowledgeable host on our visit and really brough Arne's design ideas to life.

t is difficult to explain how much I enjoyed this garden; it's quite different to any other garden I have seen. There really is a blurring between the garden and the wider landscape and the huge topiary adds unexpected scale and drama. I didn't feel as though I were in a garden in the normal sense - there were no boundaries  - just endless possibilities of walking round the garden with different views at each turn.  Quite an achievement.

The garden at Allt-y-bela is not open to the public but group visits can be arranged. Alternatively, you can stay in the house as a B&B and have the garden all to yourself.

Allt-y-bela - http://arnemaynard.com/portfolio/gardens/my-garden-in-wales/#.V8bC9aJM1YU

Steve Lannin's garden diary - http://arnemaynard.com/journal/garden-diary/?tag=Steve%20Lannin#.V8bDcaJM1YU

The Hungry Cyclist's Garden

I've just returned from a fab five days in Burgundy, staying at the beautiful Le Moulin Prunier, home of the Hungry Cyclist, Tom Kevell-Davies. Restoring the old mill as a guest lodge, running cycling tours, cooking, brushing up on his wine knowledge (for research purposes only) has been a labour of love for the past four years.

The Mill is set in five acres of land, including a stream, mill pond, orchard and nuttery and a garden. Unusually for me I was up most mornings at 5.30am and I finally discovered why most garden photographers think this is the best time of day. The light is soft, the shadows long, there is still dew on the ground and, most importantly, no one else is around.

The English Border, as I like to call it, was initially dug over by wild boar. The perennials here are mostly gifts and swaps with a few purchases.

At this time of year there is a predominance of soft blues, purples and grey

Stunning when back-lit against the early morning sun.

At the top of the garden is the mill pond. It was fascinating to see how this changed with the different light and weather conditions.

Early in the morning, before the sun falls on it, the water is a deep and cool green. A kingfisher uses this bird house as a fishing perch apparently.

After a huge thunderstorm the water level rose nearly a foot in height. Most of the plants became submerged and the water fully reflected the surrounding foliage.

Successful country gardens reflect and draw on the countryside around them. Tom's garden is no exception, with views of the vineyards that surround the village.  Pinot noir and chardonnay, if you're wondering.

Tom's other passion is collecting - cycling memorabilia and bric a brac. The garden contains a few well-placed pieces of furniture, including this old bench.

This bridge across the stream is made from an old wine barrel, quite a large one by all accounts.

I couldn't work out if this collection of pieces was deliberate or random in its placing, next to the cellar.

During my stay I was lucky enough to borrow a macro lens for a day. It was quite tricky to get the hang of (more practice needed), but some beginner's luck resulted in a few good shots.

Tom is aided and abetted by the delightful Mirabelle.

Really the best thing about being up this early is that someone else has made breakfast, ready just when you need it.

A big thankyou to Tom, Desna, Susannah, Sarah, Chris and Rob for a fab holiday.

The Hungry Cyclist Lodge - http://www.thehungrycyclist.com/