Monday July 7th was a two garden day for us in the Cotswolds. The first garden was a National Trust property. Our one year membership had not expired yet so we got to go in without paying the entrance fee. We visited this garden with our daughter Katie back in 2004 but I wasn’t aware that this was an American’s vision.
This quiet American’s name was Major Lawrence Johnston. He began to create the garden in 1907. Over the space of 30 years he transformed a field containing just a few trees to one of the country’s great Arts and Crafts gardens.
During the 1920’s Johnston traveled the world taking part in many plant hunting expeditions. He carefully selected only the finest plants to bring back to his garden.
The sweet bird decided to sit long enough for a photo-op. We enjoyed our stroll through Hidcote and quenched our thirst with a Ginger Beer from the cafe. One nice thing about most of the National Trust and other museums and such that we visited were the nice cafes and refreshment options that were available on the properties.
From this wonderful garden we walked down the drive to the road to visit a garden just across the road from Hidcote. I’ll share the photos from Kiftsgate Court Gardens soon.
Back in the States:
During our bathroom renovation I feel trapped here since I’m not comfortable leaving the house while worker bees are busy inside my home. As the saying goes “this, too, shall pass”. We are recovering a little each day from our jet lag and are able to sleep a little longer each day. Dear went back to work on Monday and was pretty wiped out when he arrived home. He had a hard time keeping his eyes open past 6 p.m. We have had some overcast days here and we were happy to hear that a little rain fell in the areas ravaged by brush fires here in the State of Washington. Hoping the thunderstorms predicted don’t cause any problems for the firefighters.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
Beautiful photos … especially love the last one … thank you so much for sharing your wonderful journey with us.
Love it!
Beautiful countryside and photos of it.
Glad you are home, safe and sound…and,yes, it takes awhile to get over an extended fun time away from home. When it got almost one hundred degrees today and I was nearly melting, I wanted to go back to the mountains in Colorado. 🙂
Those vile fires…so many without homes…sigh. Hope that the rains put it out for good. I had no idea that Wasington was in any kind of fire danger this summer.
That first sign was quite intriguing…” a quiet American’s…” must investigate.
Beautiful photography! Exquisite garden…
Love all the pics… esp. the cute birdie. 😉
Such a beautiful garden! And that little bird was a treasure!
You really captured the heart of an English garden – interesting that it had American Roots.
Beautiful Pictures, Ellen – that’s a gorgeous red Lupin!
You certainly took in a lot of sightseeing…Nice! I love the bird..
What a gorgeous garden! I especially love the view through the open gate photo.
Those photos are gorgeous… I noticed a favourite flower in your photos, the balloon flower!
The Costwolds! How I long to be back. I love the photo of the gate.
Really beautiful. Thanks for giving us a tour!
Arched garden gates and entrances are always my favorites, no matter what garden it may be. Looks like you found some lovely views around every corner.
So beautiful.
Beautiful!! I especially love the picture of the iron gate with the purple clematis climbing on the post – frame worthy for sure!!!! Hope your bathroom reno gets done soon – it will be SO worth the wait.
I’m with Rosella … as I look through your photos I choose those to frame … and this is one!
There is something about the gates, doors and stone pathways drawing you in.
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Gosh, this is gorgeous, but it just makes my task of adding to our landscape that much more daunting!!! I have no idea how to create something even a fraction of this scale!
Every photo is just beautiful!!! You really know how to capture the essence of nature to share with us!!
Absolutely breathtaking!
How how how did you tear yourselves away???