Sculptures & Horticulture at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens (Part One)

As it's a miserable spring day, and my chores are complete, I thought I would sit down (on my sofa - naturally!) with a cuppa and write a short post on a recent visit I made with a couple of friends to the beautiful Sir Harold Hillier Gardens near Romsey.  I've called this 'Part One' because, with 180 acres I'm not sure it's possible to cover it all in one visit, so I will be making a return trip at some stage in the not too distant future!

This giant fir cone is one of five botanical willow sculptures by Tom Hare currently on display at the gardens.

These were beautiful - in 3 or 4 different colours - the white ones were my favourite.

We turned round and spotted these 2 cute chickens perched on a a post!

This Eucalyptus tree was quite striking - and very tactile (see where lots of people have rubbed their hands over the bark on the right hand side!)

The pond area was so tranquil.  The were a couple of sculptures here too.  Hard to see on the picture below but this piece in the middle of the pod caught the wind and changed direction like a shoal of fish - beautiful!

Ferns just beginning to unfurl in dappled shade.

This was one of a series of lovely coloured glass and mirror mosaics (shame about the cable ties securing it to the tree!).  This one alluded to Gaudi (its actual name escapes me) but the style of the roses also reminded me of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The new leaves on these trees were so pretty!

The 'wisteria season' is almost over, but not quite!

Near Jermyn's House there are a few white Carrara marble sculptures ............. 

After walking up through Magnolia Avenue, we crossed the road and went into an area called Spring Walk which was packed full of fantastic rhododendrons in every colour!  There were also camellias in that area, but they were just about finished when we visited.

Some rhododendrons were just waking up .........

.........whilst others were a bit further on

This reminded me of the Flambouyant Tree in Antigua -
I love the orange against the blue sky!
Mother Nature does it again!

And some, like this one below, were scented - who knew?!

Snow Drift

Finally, a few more sculptures ........

And it's still raining!  Time to rustle up something hearty and warming I think - it's not barbecue weather unfortunately ............

Thanks for stopping by!

My Own Home - Cloakroom

Quick update because it's the smallest room in the house and there's really not very much that can be said!  Here's a reminder of what it looked like before ......

 

Not actually that much wrong with it but I was just a bit fed up with it and we had the ceiling skimmed at the same time as the hall, stairs and landing and put coving up so it was time for a change! 

The walls are Zoffany Dove

Zoffany Dove

We put a wood venetian blind in there, the wall tiles were from Homebase and the towel good old M&S!  The mirror was from Cox & Cox.

  

Thanks for stopping by!

A Weekend in Warwickshire .......

....... and an interesting discovery!

So, last Bank Holiday weekend we went up to Warwickshire to see our son and visit a few National Trust places in the area (having exhausted all the houses near us).  On our way up we stopped off at Charlecote Park - a beautiful 16th century country house set in a deer park.

Charlecote Park

For some reason I didn't take many photos inside the house but I couldn't fail to notice the beautiful pietre dure table in the entrance hall - here's just the corner.  It really is stunning!

Also pictured is a lovely ceiling..... 

After lunch we went to Upton House (near Banbury).  Currently, this house has been transformed back into a bank and it will remain 'dressed' for wartime until sometime in 2017.  During the Second World War the owners of Upton House (the Bearsteads), vacated the house and relocated the senior employees of their family owned bank (Samuel & Co) to Upton House.  For the duration of the war, they ran the bank from Upton House - it's a fascinating story and we only had a short visit but I think we'll go back! 

The Banking Hall

















I'm pretty sure my grandad had this green china!

Wow - I love the fabric on this chair!   I'm not sure if this is the original fabric but Zoffany's Bargello weave is almost identical (I feel a flamestitch post coming on!) ......

There is also a fantastic art collection at Upton House and beautiful gardens.  When we visited, the tulips were amazing!

 

Day 2 and (after a hearty breakfast!) we set off for Packwood House - and this is where we made our interesting discovery!  This house is gorgeous - it's a much restored Tudor house stuffed full of fabulous textiles and treasures.  Apparently a visitor in the 1920's said of Packwood House:

"It's a house to dream of and a garden to dream in."

We wandered round, admiring the house and its treasures (more on those later) and had an  interesting chat with a man doing a deep clean in one of the rooms - he explained to us that they literally go over every inch of every room to inspect for signs of woodworm, damp etc - painstaking work!

Entrance Hall - with welcoming fire

The long hall with beautiful tapestries on the walls





































So, we wandered round the ground floor and made our way up to the first floor and walked into a room (the name of which we didn't know because we weren't paying attention!) and read this:

 

We did know about this because my husband's cousin had researched the family tree but we had completely forgotten about it!  It  would appear that the house was in the family until 1876 - it would seem that I married into this family 110 years too late!

Lord of the manor!

Excitement over, we carried on walking round (feeling much more "at home!") - here are some of my favourite finds:

The grounds were pretty special too .......

Auricular Theatre

After that, we went to Hatton Locks - a flight of 21 locks and quite spectacular!

Our final port of call was Farnborough Hall which is still a family home so, although we were free to look around a lot of the house, we weren't able to take photos.

Watch this space for a post about flamestitch fabrics and wallpapers .......

Thanks for stopping by!