Tag: archways

Whitlenge Nursery and Gardens – an NGS opening

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date May 9, 2019
1 Comment on Whitlenge Nursery and Gardens – an NGS opening

One of our first NGS garden visits this year was to Whitlenge Garden and Nursery near Kidderminster in the West Midlands. The gardens were show gardens for the owner, a garden designer/landscaper, but we still enjoyed parts of it, including some plant combinations and some landscaping ideas mostly. being a designer’s show garden it didn’t have a coherent feel to it and it lacked flow. But there were so many ideas for visitors to pick up on.

Here I will share our wanderings around the garden with you for you to enjoy.

Please click on the first photo and then navigate using the arrows.

Tags archways, designer gardens, foliage combinations, foliage plants, garden paths, National Garden Scheme, NGS, NGS gardens, pathway, plant combinations, water features

garden arches garden paths pathways pergolas

Garden Entrances and Archways – Part 5 of this very occasional series

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 2, 2019

It has been a while since we visited this series so here is a new selection of my photographs of entrances and archways we have discovered in several gardens during our visits.

Tags archways, garden arches, garden gates, garden paths, gates, gateways, pergolas

architecture buildings Church architecture photography

Lichfield Cathedral – a three-spired cathedral

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 10, 2017
4 Comments on Lichfield Cathedral – a three-spired cathedral

We haven’t shared a visit to a cathedral for quite a while now so a trip to Lichfield recently allowed us just that. A religious place of worship has existed on the site for more than 1300 years and the current cathedral now draws not just worshippers but also tourists who come to admire its architecture and artifacts.

We visited on a return journey after a weekend in Leicestershire visiting our son, daughter-in-law and our new granddaughter. We have driven past signs for the city so many times and have been determined to visit one day. This is the story of that day.

As we approached the cathedral green we found this “speakers’ corner” on the approach to the bridge. The cathedral was visible in the mist with its spire disappearing. There is sadly no place from which we could see its three spires.

The cathedral’s stonework was dark and well-eroded giving it an untidy finish, and pollution had darkened it in places to black. We were confused to find a carved tomb and a statue on the outside wall which we presumed were perhaps at one time inside the building in a part since demolished.

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The main entrance was up several stone steps and the doorways arches were beautifully carved with complex patterning. Equally impressive were the carvings on the doors themselves.

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Once inside we were surprised at how dark it seemed and how tall. There was colouful stained glass, beautiful columns and amazingly shaped ceiling structures.

The chancel was impressive because of its high vaulted ceiling and medieval painted walls. We were lucky to visit at a time when there was a display of artifacts from the famous “Staffordshire Hoard”. We were amazed by the beauty of the objects and how tiny but detailed they were.

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There were so many interesting things to see and take photographs of that I have far too many to put in this post so I have created a gallery for you to enjoy. Please click on the first photo and then navigate with the right arrow. We hope you have enjoyed sharing our visit to Lichfield Cathedral.

Tags architecture, archways, cathedrals, church architecture, Lichfield Cathedral, sculpture

colours garden design garden photography garden ponds garden pools garden seating gardening gardens gardens open to the public hardy perennials Shropshire water in the garden

Return to a favourite garden – Wollerton Old Hall

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date January 27, 2017
4 Comments on Return to a favourite garden – Wollerton Old Hall

We are lucky living where we do with the choice of top quality gardens for us to visit and enjoy. The counties of Shropshire, our home county, and its neighbour Herefordshire are home to some real gems from tiny back gardens to large parklands. One of the best Shropshire gardens is Wollerton Old Hall, a garden we have visited many times as it is one of the best gardens in the UK created in the 20th century. We decided we were due another day there in 2016. Wollerton is a great garden all throughout its open season but it peaks in late summer and early autumn so we decided to visit on a bright day in September.

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Two elements make Wollerton such a charismatic garden, the strength of its structure and the originality and quality of the planting. Wollerton’s many garden rooms are linked by pathways, gateways, arches and alleyways inviting the visitor to make choices to help guide their route around the garden.

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Box cut into shapes and hedges of box and yew give strong bones to the garden and help lead the eye and focus on important elements.

The borders at Wollerton Old Hall are full of exciting planting combinations and exciting plants.

The Hot Garden is the most exciting planting as it shines and glows in the slightest hint of brightness. There are so many strong plant combinations to enjoy. This patch can brighten the dullest day and bring a smile to the saddest face.

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It has been fun sharing our love of the gardens at Wollerton Old Hall with you. It is a garden we take friends and family to so that we can share our enjoyment with them. Perhapps we will visit in the spring or summer of 2017 and we can show you what a good garden it is then too.

Tags archways, garden arches, garden structure, garden structures, gardens of Shropshire, hot border, hot borders, hot colours, hot garden, September, Shropshire, Shropshire gardens, Wollerton Old Hall

garden design garden furniture garden photography gardening

Garden Entrances and Archways – No 1 of a very occasional series.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 1, 2016
3 Comments on Garden Entrances and Archways – No 1 of a very occasional series.

This will be another occasional series, similar to my “Are you sitting comfortably?”series which has been around for quite a long while now. Here I shall share with you those little features in gardens which entice us to take a particular routeway through a garden, enter a garden room or tempt us to follow a path or open a gate.

These features can be a beautifully crafted arch of metal or wood, perhaps even with a seat included to encourage us to sit and ponder what lays ahead ……………

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….. or simply a path framed by trees or borders to entice you onward …………..

……. or even just a gap between two beautiful apple trees or a narrow pathway to a comfortable seat.

Tags archways, garden arches, garden gates, gardening, gardens, gates

architecture buildings Church architecture

Three Cathedrals – Wells Cathedral – Part Two

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date February 27, 2015
2 Comments on Three Cathedrals – Wells Cathedral – Part Two

Welcome back to Wells Cathedral. In part two we will be looking at an amazing staircase and some recent features.

The staircase is wide and gently rising and even more gently curving. They have a design that has elements of modern ideas.

Truly modern design exists in the wooden furniture used by the Bishop and his cohorts. Clean lines and pale wood create beautiful sculptural pieces. Fine examples of beauty working with function.

Another modern item is this fabric hanging in delicate shades of blue and purple. Every breeze adds movement and each fold catches the light.

In contrast let us look at a few of examples of work wrought by ancient craftsmen, in stone, metal and glass.

At the top of the stairwell we looked at earlier we discovered the Chapter House, a place of quiet and peace. Whenever visitors such as us entered this room they sat and talked quietly to their companions or else just sat alone looking around them. They looked upwards at its complex vaulted ceiling and the striped columns rising to meet it, or read the scripts found on the brass plaques around the walls.

We shall finish off this look at the cathedral at Wells with a few shots of its famous archway shaped like a number 8, which is called the Scissors Arch. It is beautiful and as far as I know unique, but there is such a simple reason for being there. It is to prevent the collapse of the central tower.

Whilst at Wells we wandered around the Bishops Garden which we enjoyed immensely. Look out for a post about it coming soon.

Tags architecture, archways, cathedrals, church architecture, Somerset, Wells, Wells Cathedral

architecture buildings colours garden buildings gardens gardens open to the public Italian style gardens Wales woodland woodlands

Portmeiron – the work of an eccentric.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date September 4, 2014
5 Comments on Portmeiron – the work of an eccentric.

We always enjoy spending the day at this crazy, quirky and totally exuberant “garden” on the Welsh coast near Portmadoc. Portmeiron is a village and gardens created by the eccentric Clough William-Ellis who bought the site in 1925 and then spent the following 50 years developing it into what we can visit and enjoy today.

The village is a collection of buildings reminiscent of an Italianate style. Every wall is brightly painted in an array of extravagant colours. Some are hotels or holiday cottages, others restaurants and cafes while others are shops and galleries. It is a busy little place sitting on a strip of land below the Lleyn Penninsula and it fits snuggly between the beach and a wooded slope.

In between the collection of crazy buildings a team of gardeners work hard to maintain patches of colourful gardens. The soil is both shallow and full of stones and the land is on a steep slope so gardening here is a tough challenge. So come through the towering gateway and wander around with us.

Although the Italianate style of the buildings that fascinates at first glance after a while the interesting juxtaposition of colours begins to catch the eye. Colours that you would not think of putting together when choosing paint for your home actually work beautifully.

Although the bright colours dominate every scene once your eyes and mind adjust to them interesting details come to the fore, such as these bright blue ironwork, a relief sculpture alongside a ring, classical figures, the beauty of this stone archway and the vintage petrol pump.

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We took a break from the colourful conglomeration of buildings and ambled along through the wooded slopes above the village itself. Here we discovered ancient trees native and cultivated and an atmosphere of peace, with restful greens and relative silence, broken only by the calls and song of birds.

We followed the woodland path until we found ourselves close to the cliff tops and followed it down towards the shore, where the buildings began again. This time they had a maritime twist to their architecture with white and blue colours dominating.

As the road way climbed upwards we returned to the brightly coloured buildings of the village.

We were fascinated by the interest of some visitors in particular buildings which it appears were featured in a TV series from the 1960’s, The Prisoner, which still has a strong cult following. It adds yet another layer of interest to this utterly fascinating “one-off” place.