By the time we'd wandered round to the huge, walled kitchen garden at Clumber Park, it was raining heavily, which was a shame as it was the most interesting bit (to me). We had a quick walk up the main path, through the beautifully colour-graded herbaceous borders, to the vast glasshouses. It was too wet to explore the vegetable gardens and orchard though I understand that, like most of the National Trust properties with gardens, the produce grown there supplies the NT café on the site with fresh fruit and vegetables.
There are stores and offices behind the glasshouses, some used by the current gardening team and some set out with old tools and pots to suggest how they would have been used in the glory days of the estate. It was nicely nostalgic, bringing back memories of my grandfather (who was a keen gardener) and my dad, who was more a dutiful gardener than a keen one but who used to supply our family with potatoes, beans, rhubarb and suchlike from the plot at the back of our home.
It does look like someone just up and left. Its very well done. The gardens and glasshouses look fabulous. Shame it was raining.
ReplyDeleteAha! There's our old kitchen table, though ours was scrubbed almost white over the years revealing every detail in the wood grain. A nostalgic reminder for me too.
ReplyDeleteKeep the great house -- what I dream of is a walled garden and a glass house.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenny - love the title - clever! What a gorgeous place ... you must have had lots of fun walking round ... despite the rain. My Ma was our gardener ... such treats having fresh from the garden veg ... and the NT do do great things with their produce. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteA lovely garden. My parents planted vegetables at the back of the property, mainly things that weren't always readily available elsewhere, to be placed in the big basement freezer for eating over the winter. My dad was more dutiful than keen on gardening those vegetables, particularly as time went on.
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