Open GardensComments from our members

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.

This is undoubtedly the most disappointing visitor centre I have ever visited. The staff are unhelpful and disinterested and the facilities are unclean and untidy.

The greenhouses are full and interesting but lack informative displays and descriptions.

On the whole, not worth the visit.

the mansion was built in 1730, and it seems was originally a convent. In 1774 it was purchased by a Mr. Archibald Little, a British merchant whose family owned the house until 1854, (thereby the name Little's Place, in Spanish SITIO LITRE).
in 1856 the property was bought by a Mr Charles Smith whose family have owned the house right up until 1996.
Many famous personalities have spent time in Sitio Litre, either as house guests or simply as guests at the numerous garden parties given in the magic garden.
Amoungst the most famous house guests were William Wilde, the father of Oscar Wilde, but possibly the most famous of all was Marianne North, the well known botanical painter, who lived in this house for two months in 1875, she is remembered in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where all her 832 paintings are on show.
Many of her Tenerife works were painted in this garden ( "Mr Smith's Garden")and are displayed here to show that even after so many years the garden is practically the same.
Party Guests were numerous, but to name only three, we can mention Sir Richard Burton, who passed through Tenerife on two occasions between 1860 and 1863. Many years later Agatha Christie and her daughter Rosalyn were on holiday in Puerto de la Cruz, the year was 1927 and she had just divorced her first husband, she was so inspired by the gardens that she wrote one of her novels, basing the plot in Puerto de la Cruz "The mysterious Mr Quin".
The first of all these guests should not be forgotten, he was one of the worlds most famous discoverers and botanist. The Famous German explorer Alexander Von Humboldt, he was the guest of honour at a party given for him on June 23rd 1799 by Mr. Archibald Little.

The house is still a private residence, but the owners have decided to open the garden to visitors, so they can savour this "Vision of Eden", and view the largest collection of Orchids in Tenerife. Sitio Litre now hosts an English run Cafe where it is still possible to enjoy real English Tea and a home made Scone in the shade of the oldest and largest Dragon tree in Puerto de la cruz.
Visiting Sitio Litre is a must for all who venture to the Canary Islands.

thanks Elke pitty u so far away.;-))

Sandra - just to let you know the link above for the garden website doesn't work, as it ends in .org. However, I used the other address www.pembrokeshiregrowers.co.uk address and that worked fine. Lovely place you have.

I would like to visit this garden. Amazing variety of plants, beautiful natural features.

hello again from me...our next open day will be on
Saterday 13th june
11am--4ish
£2 entry raising funds for our local hospital.

This Elizabethan house has views of the Quantock Hills and glimpses of the sea. It has a woodland garden with many different Narcissi in sheets of colour, together with massed Anemone blanda, Fritillaries and Cyclamen coum. It is open under the NGS and again for the Red Cross. The house is also open on particular days for guided tours.

Wonderful National Trust property. A fabulous mansion set in beautiful parkland with miles of walks, woodland, wildlife hide, ponds and a stunning hidden walled garden. The house contains pre-Raphelite paintings and a collection of dolls houses.
The National Trust describes it thus, "Dating from 1688, the house was home to many generations of the Blackett and Trevelyan families, who all left their mark. The restrained Palladian exterior gives way to the magnificent rococo plasterwork of the interior, which houses fine ceramics, paintings, needlework and a collection of dolls' houses. The Central Hall was decorated to look like an Italian courtyard, heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, with a series of scenes of Northumbrian history by William Bell Scott. The original formality of Sir Walter Blackett's 18th-century landscape, influenced by 'Capability' Brown, who went to school in the estate village, underlies the present surroundings. There are walks through a variety of lawns, shrubberies and woodland, enlivened with water features, lakes, buildings, sculpture and a wildlife hide. The beautiful walled garden has varied collections of plants and a well-stocked conservatory. Longer estate walks encompass wooded valleys and high moorland, including land around the recently reacquired Folly at Rothley Castle. "
A must see for any visitors to the region.

Writtle College is an agricultural college 4 miles west of Chelmsford and is a partner of University of Essex. The college participates in the NGS open gardens scheme and was open on 15th March 2009 and will open again on 12th July. It is well worth a visit. There was a lot more to see than I anticipated with a glasshouse which is very well planted and well established, various gardens including ',hot and spicy', Centenary garden which was designed in 1992 by one of the students(to commemorate 100 years of the college., an acid border, Hill on the Green with lots of winter interest(ie Cornus, Narcissus, Hellebore etc, North Lawns with some superb trees (including various acers and the Giant Redwood as well as lots of wildlife areas including homes built (presumably by the students) for insects etc., a garden centre, restaurant and more. Well worth a visit on open day, and of course, being part of the NGS scheme it helps charities!

Just a small nursery made up of 6 poly-tunnels.
She has the most wonderful array of unusual plants and of course Crocosmia.
We visited her yesterday (25th Feb 2009), well worth the visit.

The Botanical Gardens in Oxford are well worth a visit they are the oldest Botanical Gardens and the there is a wide variety of different plants . The best times to visit are the Spring and the Summer but to visit althrough the year there is always some thing new to see as the bedding and the themed gardens are changed on a regular bases and if you take a camera the are lots of photo opportunities