A surprising day

Home now from our week's break, we had a surprising day yesterday. The Brits are passionate about gardening, so we went to Barnsdale Gardens and expected just – well, gardens. Plenty of colour and lovely flowers, but nothing more. Were we surprised! We discovered Barnsdale Gardens were designed and built by Geoff Hamilton, who from there, presented a weekly gardening programme on television for around fifteen years.

They're amazing. There are something like forty different gardens within the main garden, all separated from each other by box hedges or fences or lovely brick walls. Most of the gardens are quite small, so could be reproduced by anyone. There were cottage gardens, town gardens, scented gardens, tranquillity gardens, water gardens, a Japanese garden, etc. And plenty of strategically placed seats for the weary (which we were, since it was hot and steamy and we walked there!) Round every corner there was a lovely surprise.

A perfect ending to our holiday.

Here are some photos to whet your appetite...