All through England are little villages and towns to discover and Tetbury at the beginning of the Cotswolds is one such. It is full of lovely stone buildings and has a pleasant, get ahead feel to it. I have visited Tetbury fleetingly before, primarliy to go to the Highgrove shop,but this time we stayed and discovered a charming place full of delightful people and some fun shopping.
There are designer clothes shops, antique and second hand shops, a lovely artisan baker, somewhere to get a good coffee!!!! (amazing in England esp in the countryside), and a lovely couple of florists come plant shops. Lots of lovely ideas and inspiration
When searching for food for an evening meal, it can sometimes be a chance event in a new and unknown town. We have been lucky that we have had lots of local input and insider knowledge and we talk to lots of people everyday and ask them for all the local tid bits. So overall we have been extremely lucky with meals and local pubs to find them in.
In Kent, we went to the Castle...which I have already mentioned. We had a fabulous curry made by the South African landlord and wonderful chicken wwith herbs and butter. Sounds ordinary...and really that's sort of what it is...but its delciious and home made and really good basically.
In West Sussex we went to a local pub that had been 'gastrofied'.. the 'Earl of March'......we've all heard of gastro pubs from television and really thats probably more a London thing....but in the country its part gastro. And the food was ab fab. A pint of prawns (that came in a pint glass from the bar) with lemon mayonnaise. The prawns were little and so sweet and we had to peel them and interestingly they were full of tiny orange caviar. Also small game, ham and chicken pies with pye green lentils and salad. Delicious pastry obviously home made.
Tonight we totted off to the Cat and Custard Pot just outside of Tetbury. Don't pubs in England have the absolute best names!!? Apparently, according to local rumor, the young princes drink here when visiting Highgrove on the weekends. Like lots of pubs in England, the decor hadn't been changed for at least 2 centuries, there were lots of friendly genuine locals and there were more dogs than people lounging over the floor, the chairs and anything they thought they could get away with. The ladies next to us who had 4 dogs between the two of them had dropped in for dinner after an hour walking the dogs. The told us all about the locals, the local gardens with nudists to go and visit, and amused us greatly while we consumed our evening G&T and ate our entree meal. Tonight it was white bait and salad off the specials board - only 5 pounds. Argueably the best white bait I have ever tasted....fantastic.
We have also had the opportunity to taste mediocre but certainly palatable wines by the glass from France, Germany, Chile and South Africa . Sav Blanc, Chenin blanc, Pinot Noir, Reisling etc etc. We wouldn't be able to do this in Australia for the price and as easily.
I supppose the moral of the story is....pubs in England may look dowdy and innocuous....but really behind the dusty cover is really good food, lovely company, great locals and the heart of the english countryside and community. Lots of fun!!
Today we went to visit the well known garden Highgrove belonging to the Prince of Wales HRH. It was a little bit of a palarva to get in.....finding it, security checks etc., but we had a fabulous day. I am sorry but there are absolutely no photos.....we had to leave phones and mobiles, binoculars, filming equipement etc in the car. So I can describe it all to you...but that might be a bit boring, but I can't share it with you with any photos. I will say that it totally exceeded all our expectations. It was delightful and basically a real garden, well designed and unpretencious. The Prince created it for himself and really it shows. His philosophy is heavily towards organics, naturalistic ideas and peace and harmony. He quoted us that the garden was created to satisfy the soul, warm the heart, and please the eye. Not a bad brief for a garden really. We also had the most fantastic high tea at the end of it as part of our ticket. Glass of champagne...with a Highgrove label on it....! Beautiful china, silver cutlery, tea cups and enormous delicate tea pot, a three tier plate of assorted small sandwiches, scones and jam & cream, and petite cakes and biscuits on the top layer. Absolutely delightful. I have taken lots of notes and sketches as I went and I think we will write HRH a letter thanking him for the privilege of seeing and enjoying his private gardens.
If you ever get the chance go to Highgrove for the visit....wonderful.
Heres the only photo I have of the front gates that were snapped out of the car window.....
One garden that I was very much looking forward to visiting was Great Dixter, the garden of the late and well reknowned English gardener, Christopher Lloyd. It was the most impressive and stunning garden last time I visited England in the height of summer and even inspired some serious reworking and remodelling of the plants in our own garden when we got home. Well, in the middle of spring, it is still a totally impressive and stunning garden.
Great Dixter is an amazing, beautiful, exciting and inspiring place to go. Its a voluptuous mix of colour and patterns and inspring plant combinations. Its a 'smack you in the gob' round of colour and gaiety everywhere you go. The plants are numerous and squeezed into planting spaces so there is little space to be seen. There is so much to look at. It is absolutely wonderful to wander around and just soak it all in. Its really a very joyful garden. Its full and overgrown and things have self seed as well as being carefully placed. You almost feel like you could go home and do it yourself....but of course they have a lot of gardeners to make this happen. You could certainly do some of it on a small scale as the garden is over quite an huge area. It definitely has the feeling of a garden that is put together by a plantsperson and for the distinct purpose of having a garden that is loved and interesting and to be worked in. While in some ways its a show garden, its not staged. It's carefully managed and worked out in terms of plantings and design...but it gives the feeling of a real garden.
It is so very different is spring to my last visit in summer and talking to people while there it seems you can visit anytime (and probably should visit at least 4 times per year) and find the plants and colours and happenings different each time. Foliage and the colours and texture of foliage plays an enormous role as well as the colour of flowering plants.
This is still my favourite. Absolutely stunning!. I wish I could go back and see it again the next day all over again.
Of course as soon as one sets foot in England, we suddenly are besieged with garden stores. We came across this one full of interesting bits and peices on our first night right next to our hotel. Every garden or attraction we visit has a garden store as part of their souveniers. I don't see many in the rest of Europe and in France it was more about beautiful florists that also had plants and containers and special things. Its quite lovely to have garden stores to look at everywhere we go.
I must also put in a good word for the English B&B. When one thinks of B&B's in England, it tempting to think lumpy beds, chintz, dark low ceilings and wingeing poms. But B&B's are a lovely revelation in England and especially around the English countryside. Do a little research and you always come up with great priced B&B run by lovely people, with feather pillows, great hot breakfasts (a good English breakfast means you don't eat again all day!), well appointed rooms and even great bathrooms. Really you couldn't ask for more.
When you stay in the countryside you get to see wonderful veiws and go for brisk walks in morning...and yes the sun is shining again today...but you also get to go to the local pub for dinner. Last night was hilarious. The bar hadn't been redecorated for the last 30 years, the place stank of dogs which were lounging all over the floor and the locals were delightful. We enjoyed the conversation and the jokes and thanks to our landlord, they were expecting us so we were very well treated. Really like straight out of a Sunday night English TV program. And just to finish it off the meals were superb....no stodgy English cooking...just really good fare.
Although we do miss French bread...just lumpy squishy stuff here - suppose you cant have everything.
We have just visited Sissinghurst castle...one of the most famous english gardens set in the countryside of Kent. Its such a well known and well documented garden that one has such great expectations of what it is going to be like and when I visited Sissinghurst in the height of summer a few years ago, I was slightly dissappointed. I found the plantings a little light on and the emphasis then was on the design, the structure making the garden rooms and the hedges that actaully mad the garden come together. But this time is was muxh more interesting. This time, I found the emphasis was all about the wonderful plants. There were lots of lovely species that I was familiar with but even more that I hadn't seen before. Certainly read about in books but hadn't seen flowering before. Being mid spring, all sorts of interesing things were in full bloom. Granted the planting was still a bit sparse in some places... but am I being a bit hard.....? Of course like everywhere else, the roses were beautiful. The peony were just starting to really bloom......unlike in France where they were in full blazing finishing of blooms....a bit warmer in France I think The overall feel of the garden was beautiful, peaceful, wild, gentle and rather countrified. There were views and vistas and walks and arbours, well proportions garden rooms, colour and interest and wildmeadows and countryside. Overall conceptually quite lovely with areas of lushness. So a very different garden in the springtime.
Of course the palace has an older and much more complex history and is more than just about Henry VIII, but this is who I know the most about really. We spent the time to see both the garden and some of the palace. Both are quite enormous. In the Palace we visited Henry the eigths apartments and the gigantic kitchens that serviced and fed everyone. We also wandered through the apartments of William III and Mary II. The palace isn't lived in by any royalty anymore - in fact its not really lived in by anyone anymore. The apartments and decorations are all restored to certain periods and are quite different depending on the era. Well worth the look, but you could spend days there just to see everything.
The gardens are on a huge scale and actually really enjoyable but aren't complex or overly ornate. They are surprising simple and while not ordinary, certainly somewhat plain at which I was slightly surprised. They are however lovely to walk through and have lots of areas that are sectioned from each other to give quite different themes and ideas. The rose garden was quite spectacular. It was in full bloom and the smell was fantastic - I think it is safe to say that if you go to a garden in Europe in May, it will have an amazing rose garden. There were perrenial boarders and wilderness and formal pond gardens and lime and yew walks. Some of the gardens that were viewed from windows inside suddenly made sense. They seemed ordinary when in them, but looked spectacular when seen through the windows. Obvioulsy were designed to be looked from the inside...voila!.
We were lucky enough to be there when there was an exhibition on about how and who designed the gardens and in what era and which purpose....so that made the gardens much more relevant.
Suddenly it drizzling...what is it with this English weather. We are having our first wettish day and having to get our coats out...and of course we are wingeing about it. Hope for a fine day tomorrow.
