Blue Daisy Blog

Earlier this month I visited Hidcote Manor Garden, a National Trust property based in Chipping Campden in Gloucester.  The gardens were designed by Major Lawrence Johnston, it has many 'garden rooms' each with their own theme which is quite typical of the Arts and Crafts style.

Having never been to RHS Wisley before I wasn't sure what to expect, I was hoping it would be pretty amazing and inspiring - it was that and a whole lot more!  After a full day there we'd only really seen half of it so we just had to go back the next day!!  I know, you're probably thinking how on earth did it take you so long to get around it....well plain and simple for me, there was so much to see.  I could easily write lots on the different areas we walked through but instead I'll just tell you my three favourite areas.

Well, I thought I’d start my blog with Painswick Rococo Gardens.  It’s a garden we visited with college last November on a particularly rainy and miserable day but luckily for us the rain held off for the most part during our visit.  We were greeted by the Garden Director, Paul Moir and he talked to us about the garden’s history right through to present day.  Painswick Rococo Gardens is in a 6 acre setting situated in a Cotswold valley and has a rather flamboyant and frivolous nature to the design which is typical of its time.  I believe it is one of the only surviving gardens of this period of garden design history i.e. between 1720 and 1760 and has been documented as a time for the Georgians to have fun and generally let their hair down!

The home page of the gardens in my opinion really sums up the essence of the gardens well, it reads “a magazine article of 1753, describing this style of garden, finished with the line .......”You are taken to a pompous and gilded building, consecrated to Venus for no other purpose that the squire riots here in vulgar love with a couple of orange wenches from the local play-house”.”....need I say more?