Hort Soc Garden Tour to Derbyshire
We all climbed aboard our coach on a clear Sunday morning, eagerly anticipating our annual garden tour to the Peak District Town of Buxton. As always, we had our friend and coach driver of many years, Derek Mulligan who drives us around safely and manages to get us over bridges and through gaps which makes us all gasp! Our en route stop was Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens in Northamptonshire. Kelmarsh was delightful and their English Heritage Grade II listed garden didn’t disappoint. The Walled Garden was just gorgeous. As always, we managed to find a sunny spot for a cup of tea and some delicious home-made food.
From here, we headed up to Buxton to The Lee Wood Hotel which was going to be home for the next four nights. Once everyone had settled into their very comfortable rooms, we met up for a glass of wine followed by dinner in their delightful conservatory, surrounded by greenery and flowers.
On a fairly overcast Monday morning, after breakfast, we set off for Lyme Park which is a National Trust property in Disley which is just over the border in Cheshire. Famous filming at Lyme Park has included Pride & Prejudice, The Forsyte Saga, Brideshead Revisited and many more. Most of us wandered around the very interesting house and the lovely gardens before ending up, inevitably, in the tea room for coffee and cake!
From here, we headed back to Buxton for a leisurely afternoon in the town or if people preferred, return to the hotel for a rest before dinner!
Tuesday dawned pretty wet and miserable which was a shame as we were scheduled to visit RHS Bridgewater in Salford. However, being the intrepid bunch of gardeners that we are, raincoats to the ready, we set off. Many of us did manage to get around quite a lot of the garden and it was really good to see the latest RHS garden even in the rain!
Our next stop was a canal trip on the Bridgewater Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal. Still raining, we boarded the boat and saw many familiar sights, including much of the ITV and BBC television studios, including some recognisable buildings used for Coronation Street. Passing through the Pomona Lock was quite exciting. We were treated to a very nice cream tea and the cakes just kept coming…!
Wednesday would be our last full day before heading home and, luckily for us, the weather was kind and we saw plenty of sunshine. We set off in the morning for the village of Eyam (pronounced ‘eem’) which became famous after the Black Death of 1665/1666. An outbreak of plague was contained when the villagers decided to isolate themselves from the surrounding community. Many
people in the village died but some of the population seemed naturally immune to this deadly disease and there are still descendants of this line in Eyam.
From here, we travelled the short distance to Chatsworth House where we were free to visit the house and garden. With so much to see and do, we could have spent a couple of days here! The famous waterworks include the 300-year old Cascade, the Willow Tree Fountain and the impressive gravity- fed Emperor Fountain. The Rose, Cottage and Kitchen Gardens were beautiful and full of colour and the Rockery was a definite ‘must see’.
Perhaps we need some sustenance before we set off! There’s such a lot to see!
Back to the hotel for our last dinner together and get ready for our departure the next morning.
Our garden visit on our way back to Ash on Thursday morning was to the delightful Felley Priory in North Nottinghamshire. Just half a mile from the M1, this tranquil garden is definitely one of Nottingham’s best kept secrets. The 2.5 acre garden is truly beautiful and an added bonus was the fully stocked plant nursery! Still room under the coach Derek?!!