Open GardensComments from our members

Beautiful house with loads to see inside (takes approx an hour) - huge gardens (more of a park really) - Glass House full of interesting plants & climbers (only downside was not enough of them are actually labelled) - formal gardens - walled garden - lake - usual National Trust goodies in the restaurant & shop. Excellent place to take children as lots of open space to run around in without annoying anybody else - also plenty for them to get involved in inside the house. Dogs also welcome but must be kept on a lead.

Thanks for sharing Bertie.........I would love to visit, if we go this route again, we have been passed Tours a few times....:o)

A pretty and unusual chateau with a traditional French potager. A host of unusual plants and vegetables, including a 20 m tunnel of unusual squashes and gourds. Lots of interesting and quaint architectural features.
Only disappointment is that the gardens are not wonderfully well maintained and some labels are missing or inaccurate. But well worth a visit for inspiration. Admission cost is only 8 euros.

How to get there:-

Travel Information
Car From Central London: Leave the M4 at Junction 3 and take the A312 going south. Drive straight over the A4 and at the A30 turn right.
Keep on the A30, past Hatton Cross tube on your right and over another set of traffic lights until you come to a roundabout.
Bedfont Lakes Country Park is in Clockhouse Lane, which is the third exit off the roundabout. The Bedfont Road entrance can be reached by taking the second exit off the roundabout.

Travelling from the South, West and North: Leave the M25 at Junction 13 and take the A30 towards Central London. Pass through the Crooked Billet traffic light complex and then over another set of traffic lights by Ashford Hospital. Still on the A30 you come to the roundabout where you should take the fourth exit into Clockhouse Lane, or the third exit into Bedfont Road.

There are free car parks at Clockhouse Lane and Bedfont Road entrances.

Bus Route H26 runs between Feltham, Sparrow Farm and Hatton Cross Underground Station. Bedfont Lakes is on the route.

Route 116 operates between Hounslow Bus Station and Ashford Hospital. Alight at Bedfont Green. The park is a short walk from there.

Tube Take the Piccadilly Line to Hatton Cross and then catch the H26 bus.

Train Alight at Feltham Station and then catch the H26 bus.

http://www.bedfontlakes.co.uk/

Piet Oudolf built this four and a half acre garden. It's arranged as a series of hedged "rooms". Some are more appealing than others. There are some beautiful plants and plant combinations, and pieces of garden art, not only stand-alone pieces, but hand-made gate furniture, for instance.
Ideal for plantaholics - you get a plant list to help you identify the more unusual ones.

The flag is as near as i could get it - the address is Quatt, near Bridgenorth. I hope it's OK.
I've been there a few times. Lovely garden and footpaths as well as the hall itself.
Part of The National Trust.

The home of the Sitwell family who personally ensure the high quality of plant and garden care.
A joy in May, the azaleas were nearly over. The handkerchief tree in full 'bloom'.
Plan to visit again in August to see the herbaceous borders, whose skeleton promised great things.
Excellent courtyard cafe, several art and museum diplays.

We've been there many times.....the house is lovely and feels "lived in" unlike some other National Trust properties!!! We particularly like the walled garden and love the walk past the pond/lake where you can get close to the water's edge and watch the ducks and coots etc.,...I might even have some pics; we visited there quite recently.

We visited Heligan 6 years ago & would certainly go again - even without knowing the amazing story of it's discovery you'll be over-whelmed with the 'walk' that takes you right through the the depths of the garden with it's huge tropical trees - children would love it's jungly feel - also walked past the charcoal pits which are still in use - nice shop with lots of things made on the premises. Well worth going but try & get there first thing in the day as it soon fills up with coaches.

Visited Renishaw Hall 2 years ago - lovely fairly formal gardens - the Hall wasn't open to the public at that time but I think it is now - you should make the effort to walk around the lake which was a bit neglected but had loads of wildlife including nesting swans.

A small but beautiful garden to visit one of the best features is the old quarry pit now a large pond fed by the waterfall from the rocks high above home to many bamboo's and other moisture loving woodland plants

I visitedthis garden last wednesday. It is very nice but not worth £3 enrty fee

This is a lovely day out, with lots to do and see for the whole family. There is a large picnic area at the front with lots of space for the children to run around and play, and picnic tables. There's an outdoor sculpture park which is a nice walk to do, and there's a small plant centre where you can buy plants on your way out, and also a gift shop (quite expensive items).

There is a large adventure playground for the children, with swings, zip wire, swing boats, climbing frames, miniature fort, swinging tyres, sandpit, and water play area (not a paddling pool but a paved area with water spurting out at various points - younger children will love it, take a change of clothes and a few towels!). Within the play area there is a stretch of water (maybe 3 feet deep?) that is used for small pedalos and a raft that will take several people and can be "driven" up and down between two jetties. It's great fun, but watch those smaller kiddies. There's also a miniature train which all the children, including the grown up ones, will want to go on! Last train ride was 4.30 pm, and it lasts around 10-12 minutes. There's a railway gift shop with small pocket money type things for the kids to buy, and an ice cream booth.

The gardens themselves are lovely. There are lots of different areas to explore, from large herbaceous borders filled with colour, to secret walled gardens with benches, to follies and covered walkways dripping with flowers, and lots of nooks and crannies to stop and rest. Even our ten year old enjoyed walking around the garden.

We've visited Newby Hall several times over the years. This time we didn't have time to go into the hall itself, but from what I remember it is well worth a visit - however, it is by guided tour only, you can't just pop in and browse on your own. The tours last an hour - might be a tad boring for younger children. Last entry into the house is, or was on the day we visited, 4.00 pm.

There is also a coffee shop cum cafe - we didn't go in so I don't know if they serve full meals or just snacks. There are at least two sets of public toilets in the gardens, and once you've paid your entry fee the activities are free apart from the train ride which costs extra.

I would thoroughly recommend a trip to Newby Hall, we always enjoy ourselves. If you go with children, who will want to spend an inordinate amount of time in the play areas, then do allow a full day in order to see everything, especially if you do want to go into the hall. We went for the afternoon and it just wasn't long enough!

This is where i buy most of my plants Louise has a fund of knowledge and specializes in wall shrubs and lesser grown herbaceous plants, Unfortunately i haven`t taken any pics will do next visit. The gardens have lots of secret corners, follies and a tower, its from the tower that they hold a music evening where you take your own chairs or blankets and picnicWhen you enter the nursery be careful as there are chickens and ducks scratching and wondering around. All in all its a wonderful experience. you can get a good idea of it from their website.

The Driver is a gastro pub in the increasingly trendy area of King's Cross, London - but what makes it of interest to us is the vertical garden designed by the world renowned designer Patrick Blanc who has designed gardens in Paris, Dehli, Belgium & Spain.His vertical gardens are designed around species that will happily suit their environment, survive without much soil and act as natural cooling and air purifying systems. www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/

Having spent the last week in London during one of it's hottest periods (June 2009) - Regent's Park is a major oasis of calm, peace, fresh air right in the middle of one of the world's busiest cities.

The 487 acre (2 km²) park is mainly open parkland which supports a wide range of facilities and amenities including gardens, a lake with a heronry, waterfowl and a boating area, sports pitches, and children's playgrounds. The north-east end of the park contains London Zoo and the headquarters of the Zoological Society of London. There are several public gardens with flowers and specimen plants, including Queen Mary's Gardens in the Inner Circle, in which the Open Air Theatre is located; the formal Italian Gardens and adjacent informal English Gardens in the south east corner of the park; and the gardens of St John's Lodge. Queen Mary's Gardens in the Inner Circle were created in the 1930s, bringing that part of the park into use by the general public for the first time. The site had originally been used as a plant nursery and had later been leased to the Royal Botanic Society.

The Park is built on land belonging to the Abbess of Barking and was bought by Henry VIII as hunting land, later leased to the Duke of Portland, and eventually granted to the Crown. John Nash, the architect, was hired in 1811 to create the most elegant of all London's housing estates drawing up plans for 56 villas (of which only eight ever got built) and classical crescents built around two circuses in the 487 acres of parkland; to be named in honour of the Prince Regent (later George IV in 1820). The Park was fully opened to the public in 1841.

There is a wonderful collection of named roses in Queen Mary's Garden (ideal if you want to check out the scent, colour and vigour), some very inventive bedding and planting (some of which you might only get away with in London's micro-climate), and the recreation of William Andrews Nesfield's (a major Victorian garden designer) plans for the Avenue and English Gaardens is a delight.

This is a public garden space in which you can find peaceful corners, the sound of the city vanishes and can be inspired by some very traditional planting as well as some exciting original ideas. Well worth a visit if you are in London.

www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/regents_park/

I am spending a week in Derbyshire and would like to visit this garden Is it open every day

My goodness this brings back so many memories for me. When I was a young girl in the 70's I used to go horse riding at Normanbay Hall one of the riding instructors had a hook for a hand and when I first started riding I was forever falling off so he was forever picking me up by hooking me in the back of my trousers to put me back on the horse! I did get better though! ;0) Hel.xxx.

Have been here many times before and it never fails to amaze me, lovely park and gardens and a complete pleasure to view.