Someone Else's Garden.

We went for a fabulous day out this week with our Village Gardening Club to the Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury, home of the famous 'Naked Gardeners' (though thankfully they were tee-shirted and be-shorted.)

The gardens, in the shadow of the Abbey Ruins, are  really gorgeous, and a great tribute to the Pollard family, who only went to live in the historic Abbey House in 1994 and have absolutely transformed the gardens.   These form a series of 'rooms', with everything from a superb rose garden (JUST beginning to come into flower), knot garden, herb garden, Lady Chapel Garden, spectacular herbaceous borders, laburnum tunnel, and much more.  Unusual water features, and impressive statuary together with clever plantings and very imaginative touches, all made us realise that these gardens are the product of a true artist's eye. 

I just managed to photograph one of the fish about to grab its dinner!

Behind the beautiful old house the land drops away steeply down to the River Avon, here just a quietly flowing stream.   It is truly amazing to think that this extensive area was inaccessible in 1994, covered as it was with everything from brambles, nettles, dead tree limbs, and much more.    Now it is really pleasurable to wander along the many paths through a huge variety of trees and shrubs down to the river, which can be crossed with stepping stones taking one to a whole newly developed area of fishponds such as those originally dug my the monks, where the spoil from the excavations have been used to form a flower covered mound.  A Japanese-style structure sits atop this pretty pile, from where there is a wonderful view of the rear of the house, which apparently Turner sketched when he visited Malmesbury.

We picniced in one of the quiet garden 'rooms' on a day filled with sunshine.   We even had time to visit the Abbey, and take a look around Malmesbury itself, a Cotswold gem.  We MUST go again - a perfect place to take people who come to stay with us.