Lovely gardens

[Penners]

I'm not often moved to post blatant advertisements, but last week Mrs P and I went with some friends to the most wonderful garden, and I want to make sure that you all have the place on your lists. We do a fair few garden visits, and I think this ranks in our top three.

If you should have some time on your hands and happen to be in Northamptonshire, do go along to Coton Manor: http://www.cotonmanor.co.uk/

The herbaceous borders were looking stunning, there are ponds and streams galore and at the bottom of the garden is a breathtaking wildflower meadow.

The house isn't open, but the gardens alone make a special trip well worthwhile. You can get a simple lunch or a cuppa tea and gooey cake in the restaurant.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

How lovely Penners. If on a national garden tour, then Bodnant in N Wales just has to be on the list:

http://www.bodnantgarden.co.uk/

 

[jocelyn plummer]

A GREEN garden-- wow, what a lovely refreshing garden that is.

 

[robgil]

I have been doing some gardening lately , you are more than welcome to come and have a wonder around Penners , unfortunately we do not have any cafe or restaurant but i do have a few very cold ones in the fridge , a necessity to any budding gardener in this weather.

here you can see all my shrubs.

and of course the ever popular discarded building waste mostly containing dangerous health hazards such as asbestos (broken , of course).

And here we have some good old fashioned gardening being undertaken.

for those interested my gardens are open all year round , they are children friendly and best of all admittance fee is just a days work , so bring tools and ppe gear.

 

[Penners]

Thanks for the kind invitation, Rob.

PPE gear presumably means something like this:

 

[AMc]

Rob, I think your garden would be really enhanced by the addition of a half filled skip and perhaps a battered (cement) lime mixer - mine is in a fetching rusty orange colour?

I personally favour the barren waste ground, empty pallet and crate look. Round the front we've gone for a mound of rubble and overgrowth look offset by the remnants of a gravel drive - God my neighbours must love us

 

[Feltwell]

To finish it off though, you really need a gently decaying vehicle or two.

 

[robgil]

gently decaying vehicle , check.

I do have a pile of rubble but no photos of it i am afraid.i am still learning how to use my new camera so no doubt i will have lots of photos of such things in the near future.

orange cement/lime mixer. check.

this is new , a large pile of clay.

and how about a pallet of bricks?

oh , oh , and guys , not forgetting the vent that terminates in my garden that originates from the earths core itself , or even hell below us.

 

[Penners]

Rob - it's a jolly good idea to garage the Land Rover.

:lol: :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

Wow - geothermal energy. Nice one. :lol:

 

[JoceAndChris]

How upsetting to read about all this mess in people's gardens. If I were your wives I'd be giving you a very hard time about it.

Coton Manor looks exquisite Mr P, I'll be sure to go when I get a chance.

 

[Penners]

If I were your wives I'd be giving you a very hard time about it.

You tell 'em, Joce. You can give them hell from your jail cell*.







*Bigamy being illegal, and all that. :wink:

 

[AMc]

How upsetting to read about all this mess in people's gardens. If I were your wives I'd be giving you a very hard time about it.

I'm happy to say there is no garden in my mess, which cuts down the lawnmowing considerably. Once I've laid the second patio then it will be one last mechanised push to flatten the debris and there is an opportunity for a garden again.

 

[Penners]

I'm happy to say there is no garden in my mess, which cuts down the lawnmowing considerably.

And I'd strongly recommend you to keep it that way. Once any vestige of garden appears, people* start expecting standards.

And what do standards mean? Work. Lots of work. Not enjoyable bashing, mixing, drilling, trowelling, sawing work, but tedious mowing, weeding, tiffling and pruning work.

Love your mess. It's a good friend. :wink:

 

[Feltwell]

Gently decaying? Pfah - that Land Rover looks like it's barely run in. That one has got modern luxuries like coil springs and a heater - it's practically new.

You need to work on that one a bit more - how about this for starters?

View attachment 1

With a bit more time.....

 

[Wren]

Been to Coton Manor gardens and they are very nice. Good range of plants for sale as well.

 

[robgil]

Gently decaying? Pfah - that Land Rover looks like it's barely run in. That one has got modern luxuries like coil springs and a heater - it's practically new.

You need to work on that one a bit more - how about this for starters?

View attachment 1

With a bit more time.....

it is practically new , this is how it looked before i fixed it.

dont old land rovers make exceptionally good garden ornaments?

for those of you who are unwise to what is taking place in these abandoned landy in the garage photos please allow me to explain , a nation wide crisis has hit hundreds or perhaps even thousands of landrover owners nation wide. what happens is this , the proud land rover owner parks , or attempts to park their much loved vehicle in the garage only to find out that only the bonnet will fit. The wife then shouts 'teas ready' so the proud land rover owner switches off his/her vehicle and goes to eat.
Upon returning the proud land rover owner tries to start the vehicle to remove it from the garage however it being on of the most unreliable vehicles on the face of the planet refuses point blank to start. So what? i hear you ask. land rover owners should be more than used to this none starting scenario , well they are , except this time they cannot get to the bonnet because it is squeezed into the mouth of the garage , thus they are unable to repair the broken vehicle.
The proud land rover driver is then forced to go and buy a much superior toyota.
Many many landrovers have suffered this fate , and i am pretty sure many more will follow.

 

[Feltwell]

it is practically new , this is how it looked before i fixed it.

Ahh, the traditional sight of a gently corroding Land Rover bulkhead. That's more like it!

You wouldn't like a Toyota anyway. No "character".

"Character" being another word for unreliability

My new garage has been designed around the size of a Land Rover, as most garage doors are too low for a hardtop model.

 

[robgil]

yes it was gently rusting away , it has since had a new bulkhead , chassis , and , erm , a new everything else as well.

i built it a few years ago with the intentions of kitting it out and taking it down through Africa for a wee drive however after two test runs to greece we decided a swb landy was not the best vehicle for the job and decided to put the trip on the back burner until we are retired and thus would be more suited to a large plastic caravan like camper van.

it was still great fun though.

now the only whiff of adventure it gets is when i load it up for a trip down to the council tip or use it to go and collect bricks.

 

[robgil]

double post.