Gardens of the Lake District 6-9 May 2024 (Photos below)

---

Date: 5th October 2023

Place: a bus stop in Abbots Langley

Out of the blue, as we waited for a coach to take us to Beth Chatto’s Garden in Colchester,

Jo asked me if I’d like to organise a trip away for the Gardening Society. The last

such trip I’d organised was to Northern Ireland, about 15 years ago!

Date: 6th May 2024

Place: a bus stop in Abbots Langley

A group of 28 of us boarded a coach taking us on a new adventure – The Lake District.

This trip was organised for us by Brightwater Holidays: We had discussed where we’d like to go and what we’d like to see and decided that the first ALGS trip away post Covid should be somewhere in the UK – for some of us this would be their first holiday for a while.

We wanted to visit Tom Stuart-Smith’s new Paradise Garden at RHS Bridgewater on the way up to The Lakes, and we wanted to include a visit to Sizergh Castle, so with these particular places ‘in the hat’, Bridgewater Holidays were approached to give us some options.

We came up with a final itinerary that ticked all the boxes and Brightwater sorted the hotel,

transport, the visits and the timings. As having our own tour guide would have cost each of us an extra £100, we agreed that we would take on this role. Having said that, our coach driver, the self-styled “Fabulous Phil”, did a lot of this side of things: counting us in and off the coach and sometimes sorting the entry paperwork.

1st stop: RHS Bridgewater

We travelled equipped for the customary deluge of rain, but the threatened thunderstorms didn’t appear.

We were escorted in via the VIP entrance, like royalty! After a brief introductory talk, we had a beautiful afternoon walking round this new RHS addition to their gardens.

A lot of the garden is either newly completed, such as the Paradise Garden, or is under development, e.g. the Chinese Streamside Garden. By the time we had explored most of the gardens and had lunch, we needed sun hats and sunscreen.

It will be really interesting to return in about 5 years’ time to see how these gardens have grown and become established.

RHS Bridgewater is obviously already a favourite with the local population as the good weather had brought so many families out to enjoy the wonderful plants and paths, and the children were having a great time running freely and picnicking on the many grassy areas. There was an abundance of benches to rest on and gaze around, whether you were in the walled garden, or by Ellesmere Lake or on the terrace by the café looking out over Moon Bridge Water.

We arrived at our hotel, The Skiddaw Hotel, Keswick, in early evening sunshine after driving through heavy rain, in time to unload, unpack and have a very quick drink in the bar before a lovely dinner together in our own dining room; The Greta Room – we all thought of you, 

Greta Mowat!

Date 7th May:

So on day 2, after a good breakfast we boarded the coach to Dove Cottage, Grasmere, home of William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, and later his wife and children. They were not wealthy and rented this very modest cottage constructed of the local stone.

The tour started with a short film of their lives with actors playing an imaginary lifestyle; setting the scene well with beautiful images of the local landscape.

The garden was very steep, with only those with the agility of a mountain goat managing to reach the top.

We were too late in the season to see his renowned daffodils, but a ‘host’ of pottery daffodils were in the hillside to be sold for a local charity.

Alongside Dove Cottage is a modern museum housing details of local history and geology as well as details of the life of the Wordsworth family. This is also built of local stone and blends into the landscape and old buildings.

We then travelled to Rydal Mount, Wordsworth’s home from 1813 till his death in 1850. He

was able to afford this large house and grounds as he had taken the job as ‘Distributor of

Stamps’ which made him financially secure.

This garden is on steep hillsides densely planted with azaleas, rhododendrons and other perennials. Two full time gardeners look after the gardens helped by Dora the ginger cat who held court in the picnic area. She attacked a visiting dog who got too close (dog was shaking with fear).

The house has wonderful views over the hillside and is still owned by the Wordsworth family.

In the afternoon we travelled to Blackwell, an Arts and Crafts house overlooking Lake Windermere and Coniston fells.

The house, designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, was for the wealthy Sir Edward Holt. The original iconic arts and crafts design remains throughout the house, which is more an art gallery than a home. There are wonderful views from the windows and terrace. Sadly, very few plants to be seen but we did admire the newly born black Herdwick lambs (their coat changes to grey as they mature) in the adjacent field.

We returned to the hotel weary from day 2.

Date: 8th May:

The schedule has been pretty busy so far, but we’re not flagging!

Our itinerary had undergone a change a couple of weeks before our trip: the Beatrix Potter

Gallery had unexpectedly closed and we were now going to Beatrix Potter World in

Bowness-in-Windemere.

While the exhibition of models of the author’s characters were more for a much younger audience, the small garden exhibition (a gold medal winner at Chelsea) was interesting.

There were plants referenced in Beatrix Potter’s books, displayed on various levels either in pots or in vegetable plots.

This was just a quick stop, with time for a bit of walking round the town and finding a coffee shop, before heading to Hill Top, the 17th century farmhouse where Beatrix Potter wrote many of her stories.

The roads are generally quite narrow, but for this leg of the tour we needed to disembark our coach to go via minibus for the last couple of miles – another very last minute and unexpected change to our itinerary. Hill Top is still a working farm and retains a sense of the enormous influence Beatrix Potter had on the whole of the area.

It was she who introduced the very hardy Herdwick sheep from Scandinavia, and many of the lake-side fields were full of hundreds of beautiful black lambs. We were lucky to be at The Lakes during lambing season as the sheep go back up onto the mountains once the lambs are big enough, to spend the rest of the year in the hills.

Back on our coach after another minibus transfer, and we were off to Coniston Water to pick

up a launch to take us to Brantwood – John Ruskin’s house and gardens.

The launch took us in a circuitous route to show us various points of interest, especially referencing the ill-fated world speed record attempt by Donald Campbell in his craft, Bluebird, that has recently been restored and put on display.

The lake was black – being very deep and reflected the surrounding Fells, and luckily it was smooth, so our journey was really enjoyable.

Brantwood is a must-see place, with so much to see and learn about Ruskin’s many ideas

on social reform, environmental issues, and amazing gardens designed by the great man

and his sister.

We returned to our coach by launch and set off back to our hotel for another lovely dinner.

Date 9th May: Sizergh and Homeward Bound

Sizergh Castle, a National Trust property, is near Kendal. Built originally in the Middle Ages

by the Stickland family, who still live there, it has extensive gardens, and stunning views over

Morecambe Bay and the Lakeland hills.

Some of us had time to look round the castle, and others wandered at their leisure round the beautiful gardens. It would have been easy to spend a whole day here and several of us commented that we wanted to come back one day.

Back on the coach, and we headed home. It had been a very busy few days with so much

to see and do. We were exceptionally lucky to have enjoyed good weather; the hotel was

excellent with comfortable rooms and lovely food; the scenery, as we made our way from

garden to garden, was picture-postcard perfect with the Fells, the lakes, the bluebells and

wild garlic along the roads, and many fabulous rhododendrons and azaleas at their very

best.

Fabulous Phil had been the best coach driver we’ve had to date. He was cheerful and

witty, and managed to negotiate some very difficult roads, traffic, gateways and parking

places.

Whether a skilled or professional gardener or just a keen admirer of others’ gardens, many

of us were getting out our phones to try and identify plants on our apps; some of us came

home with plants as gifts or for our own gardens, and all of us came back having made new

friends and having had an opportunity to get to know our Gardening Society friends a lot

better.

Everyone was so kind and caring, looking out for each other and enjoying each other’s company.

Where will the next adventure take us?

Kate and Jo.