Kiftsgate Court Gardens ~ Cotswolds

We got some good exercise when we decided to just stroll over to Kiftsgate Gardens from Hidcote Garden not knowing what the parking situation would be at Kiftsgate. Well…they do have a nice parking area that is free for your information if you decide to visit but we had a goal to walk a lot in England and this day afforded a lot towards that goal.

The story of Kiftsgate is the story of three generations of women gardeners: Heather Muir, Diany Binny and Anne Chambers. Each in her unique way has contributed throughout almost a century to making Kiftsgate the world renowned garden that visitors and gardeners alike have grown to know and love.Heather Muir created the garden at Kiftsgate, which up until 1920 had consisted of a paved formal garden in front of the portico, with a field and wooded banks beyond. Heather was helped and inspired by her lifelong friend Lawrence Johnston of Hidcote Manor. She decided that the garden would develop organically as she was inspired, rather than planning everything on paper. This has given the garden a distinctly feminine feel, almost in direct contrast to the more masculine lines being employed by Johnston at Hidcote. By 1930 the steep banks were tackled and the steps to the lower garden were put in place, along with the delightful summerhouse taking advantage of the views to the west.

From the mid fifties Diany Binny continued to add to the garden by creating the semi-circular pool in the lower garden. She also commissioned two sculptures and began to open the garden on a regular basis.The white sunk garden was also redesigned by her to incorporate a small pool and a well head fountain. Diany was an important figure in the development of Kiftsgate by opening the garden to the public and maintaining the tradition of continuity.

One of Anne Chambers finest accomplishments is the addition of the new water garden that was once the tennis court. This area is now an oasis of calm, where fine white stepping stones give the illusion of floating over the black pool below, leading to a grass island at the centre. To the far end, a double row of gilded bronze philodendron leaves sway gently under a cascade of running water surrounded by a curtain of yew hedging.

Taking up half the space on one side of the Rose Border is Rosa filipes ‘Kiftsgate’. The vigour shown by this rose, which we claim to be the largest in England, produces huge growth each year and three trees have been smothered by its spreading habit. In early to mid July it is a remarkable sight when it is covered in panicles of white blooms and resembles a cascading waterfall amongst the trees.

The view is magnificent from the swimming pool lawn. In one direction the distant hills of Malvern can be seen beyond the Vale of Evesham whilst looking back up the Banks a fine view of the house can allow oneself to imagine being in a Mediterranean setting.

After we strolled through the upper gardens we made our way down to the lower garden and semi circular pool.

I took this next photo with Vee of A Haven for Vee in mind. Not as plush as yours were, Vee.

We had a few fast moving showers while we were at this garden but found good spots out of the rain to wait while the showers passed. There is a nice tea room available right on the grounds. You are never too far from a tea room in the Cotswolds.

All words in italics are from the Kiftsgate web page and not my own words.

Speaking of showers we have had a full day of showers here at this old house with some thunderstorms, too. Things in the bathroom renovation slowed down as we wait on the bathtub to be delivered. It was suppose to arrive today and the plumbers were all set to go but as in any project glitches happen. Tomorrow we should have a full house of worker bees…

What’s new in your neck of the woods?

Hidcote Garden

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.

Banbury ~ Oxfordshire

Continuing on my retracing posts from our time in England, on Sunday July 6th we made a short drive through Shipston-on-Stour to Banbury.
The town of Banbury in Oxfordshire dates back much further than the nursery rhyme dedicated to it.

When our three children were babes we would recite this nursery rhyme to them while bouncing them on our knees. It brings back such good memories that when I found out this statue was erected in Banbury we decided it was worth the trip to see it.

Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross to See a Fine Lady Upon a White Horse

With Rings on Her Fingers

And Bells on Her Toes

She Shall Have Music Wherever She Goes

Nowadays the only cross gracing Banbury lies at the intersection of four major roads – those to Oxford, Warwick, Shipston-on-Stour and the High Street, which leads to the shopping area and the old heart of the town. It was erected in 1859 to commemorate the marriage of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa to Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia on 25th January 1858. It stands 52feet 6inches high to the top of its gilt cross and is of a neo-Gothic design. Originally six niches for statues were planned, but this was later reduced to three.

It was fun to learn all about the history surrounding this nursery rhyme and the town of Banbury.

We walked around town, had some lunch and picked up some sweet treats to take back to the cottage.

The sweet treats weren’t from this Olde Sweet Shoppe but from a bakery in town…

B is for Banbury, Banbury Cross, Bells and Baked goods!

This was a timely post featuring the letter B so I’m linking up with ABC Wednesday which was begun by Mrs. Nesbitt and continues on with the help of the ABC team.

Speaking of B, the bathroom renovators arrived this morning to begin the finish work on our bathroom remodel. In 10 to 12 days it should all be done and we will be done with the construction zone mode and back to our quiet home mode until the next project.

Snowshill ~ Cotswolds

The road from Chipping Campden to Snowshill took us along little lanes bordered by rock walls and hedges. We were able to find a nice parking lot between the village and the National Trust property.

A Fete was going on in the village center and some locals recommended that we go there before going to Snowshill Manor and Gardens which is a National Trust Property. Because we took that advice we missed the last opening for viewing the Manor House but we were still able to walk about the gardens.

The church was in the very center of the village and on a high point of the village.

The walk from the National Trust Manor property entrance to the Manor had some beautiful vistas to enjoy.

The Manor grounds are beautifully landscaped.

This is a view of the back of the Manor.

On our way back to our cottage we stopped at the beautiful fields of lavender.

Our visit to Snowshill ended our first Saturday in England and our first full day in the Cotswolds. On Sunday we had plans to take a little trip out of the Cotswolds to “see a fine lady upon a white horse”.

A Fortnight Ago…

…we enjoyed re-discovering Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. We shopped at the butcher’s, the green grocers, and a few specialty shops along the main road through town. We bought sausages, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, butter, bread, and Cotswold cheese to take back to Fox Cottage.

We found some gifts to bring home for our girls.

We enjoyed the beautiful architecture of the churches in this town. When we got hungry and thirsty we stopped in at…

Pubs have come a long way in England and they are very family friendly and have some good selection of food. Some of course are better than others and we happened to find some very good ones where the wait staff was great and the food was exceptional.

On this day the Eight Bells had sardines on the menu as a main course or appetizer. Since we’ve never, that we can remember, seen sardines on a menu we decided to try the appetizer. They were quite good with a lovely sauce.

This was my proper pie with all the trimmings. The description from the menu: Chicken, Ham and asparagus short-crust pastry pie (with top and bottom), white wine sauce, new potatoes and peas. It was delicious. We had a fun conversation with our waitress on “proper pie”. She was appalled when she ordered pie at another establishment and it came to her with no upper or lower crust but just a round piece of pastry propped up along one side of the filling. It was cute when she exclaimed “how can they call that pie?!”

We also had many of my questions answered by one of the bartenders at Eight Bells. We discussed what was going on at the World Cup in Brazil and talked about futbol in general. Many pubs feature a good selection of beer made at local breweries. After eating and quenching our thirst we were brave enough to venture out on the narrow lanes again.

From Chipping Campden we made our way to Snowshill and I will devote a whole post about that quaint little village.

Exaggerate ~

Represent (something) as being larger, greater, better, or worse than it really is:

We arrived early for our flight from Heathrow due to all the hype that was put out in the news about the batteries in electronic devices being checked. We were told and alerted by our airline to make sure all our batteries were fully charged as they would be subject to confiscation if the device did not turn on properly.

The reality for Dear and me was that none of our devices were checked to see if they would turn on. We made it through security lickity split and had a relaxing wait for our flight.

Here’s a little travel tip for you when traveling to and from Heathrow airport. Souvenir type items can be bought at the terminal and they seem to be priced lower than the street vendors and stores in London. There are several shops to choose from. We came in and out of terminal 3. I’m pretty sure terminals 4 and 5 had more shops than teminal 3. The Harrods shop you see in this photo had items clearly marked as less than their store in Kensington. The Starbucks at the airport had mugs from several locations in England, Scotland and Wales and the mugs were just under seven pounds each. Her’s the one I chose this year.

Since we were in Wales on this trip and once before I thought it a good choice. The mug on the left I purchased at England’s version of T.J. Maxx called T.K. Maxx!

Here’s something we can’t overdo or exaggerate, being thankful to God. We are thankful for His watch care over us during our whole trip and everyday of our lives. This sign was on the doorpost of The Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, on High Street in Windsor. We walked around this church on our last full day in England.The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8

When you travel abroad you really should make sure and walk into the magnificent old churches. I will be doing a post in the future with the surprise that we were treated to by visiting this church.

So we are home and enjoyed a good rest in our own bed last night. Our son Josh picked us up from the airport where going through customs was a breeze. He took us to our favorite Mexican haunt on the way home for a little taste of Mexico that we had missed while in England. Today we are working on getting a little organized, washing up some clothes, and getting over jet lag. Hopefully by tomorrow we won’t resemble this…

Gargoyles are so interesting and creepy. More from England coming soon when my thoughts are more coherent. Have a wonderful weekend.

Cheers From England ~ The End

Today Wednesday July 16th was our last full day in England. Tomorrow we will head to the car rental agency to return the car and to Heathrow.

We leave here noonish on Thursday and arrive home at 2:30 in the afternoon on Thursday. So weird.

We enjoyed an early walk on the property where we are staying and then headed into central Windsor to see about catching a boat ride on the river Thames. We arrived in time for the first 40 minute boat ride of the day which meant we weren’t packed in like sardines and enjoyed a relatively empty boat. We met a couple from Australia and exchanged our travel experiences.

This was our turn around point. To go farther on the river we would have had to wait for the locks.

On our way back to the dock we got a great view of Windsor Castle.

We did our last minute shopping in Windsor and enjoyed our last very English meal at the Duchess of Cambridge.

A steak and ale pie on top of a bed of mashed potatoes and peas smothered in gravy for me and fish and chips for Dear.

We walked by this next shop and decided to attempt a Selfie which is not easy with a big Nikon camera and a 4 inch lens on it. Are you suppose to look dorky on a selfie?

We are really enjoying this last spot we chose and have had some good relaxation before we head home to the reality of a lawn that needs mowing and renovation work that begins full swing on Monday. Thanks for following along with us in real time. Your comments are always encouraging to me. The next time I post will be from Pacific Time. I have so much more to share from England. Cheers for now from Jolly Old England!

Don’t Cry For Me…

…Argentina Fellow Bloggers!

After my rant about the hotel we stayed in last night I wanted you all to see our new home away from home for the next two nights. Do not feel sorry for us. We are truly content and blessed as we wind down our trip to Jolly Old England.

No roads outside our hotel window and a nice green lawn down to the river Thames. A wonderful way to end our time here and to forget about the last hotel we stayed in.

Here’s Dear having a little shut eye in the shade at the rivers edge before we check into our room. We also enjoyed the peaceful time watching the boaters and rowers glide by.

We are enjoying this roomier space with chairs that are in good shape…

as opposed to these poor worn chairs at the last hotel.

A nice king sized bed instead of our smaller sad bed last night. The only thing we hear outside with our windows open here are birds, an occasional boat horn, and distant planes leaving from Heathrow. We are steps away from the river Thames and a few hundred yards from the main road.

Today before we checked in here we spent a few hours in Windsor including a tour of Windsor Castle. While in Windsor we happened to meet a family from Argentina and talked with them about the disappointing loss to Germany at the World Cup. We ate lunch close to the riverside and then headed back to our hotel to check in. One more full day before we head to Heathrow early on Thursday to deal with all the new security checks.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

It Was the Best of Times…

…it was the worst of times.

I’m diverting from my regular “Cheers” posts slightly today for a little reality check when traveling.

We are now in Henley on Thames after traveling for 2 hours this morning. We are staying overnight in the city instead of the country. Our hotel seemed idyllic on-line, situated on the river Thames. What they don’t show you is the one way 2 lane street below our window which seems everyone needs to use to get out of town, including buses. So I sit on my bed and look out and see rowers and quiet boaters go by along the river while listening to buses and diesel vehicles rumble down the street below our window.

Don’t feel sorry for us because there is so much beauty to enjoy it overshadows the noise of the city. I’m thinking I’m more of a country mouse with a city near by kind of person as opposed to living in the middle of the city kind of person. The photo above is the view out our window while I’m sitting on the bed.

When I stick my head out the window and look down this is the view of the two lane road that the trucks and diesels rumble along with the compressed air from the brakes being released. You know that loud swishy noise.

Time will tell if we are able to sleep tonight. No air conditioning so we have the window open. They have equipped the rooms with fans and maybe that will work like “white noise” for us tonight.

That’s our room above with the window open. Now that you’ve seen the worst of it I will leave you with some of the best. Henley on Thames really is a lovely little city to visit. The town shops and restaurants are very nice. They just got done with a regatta this past weekend. We visited the rowing museum today and they have a wonderful area illustrating 3 dimensional scenes from “The Wind in the Willows”. I’ll have a post or two about all the good things this city has to offer.

See, I’m a happy camper walking along the river Thames thinking about The Wind in the Willows.

An aside…stop reading if you don’t care to hear about my love for soccer and skip down to the next paragraph. I’m also wearing my Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer shirt celebrating their win over the Portland Timbers last night with Clint Dempsey scoring a goal fresh from his return from being Captain of the U.S. World Cup Soccer team. I know most of you don’t really give a rip but I need to keep things historical for my memory bank to make it easier to remember the timing of my travels. Now back to some great Grahame quotes!

“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

“Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that’s always changing!”

And yes, we are off to our last lodging spot tomorrow for two nights and then we will fly home on Thursday.

We are hoping the heat wave in the Seattle area will be mostly over by the time we arrive home on Thursday. Dear is already making plans to sleep in the cool basement if it’s still blazing hot! How’s the weather where you are?

Cheers from England ~ Day #10

After today we only have three full days left in England. It’s moving day on Monday again. On this Sunday we had our first bad planning travel day. We traveled to Hereford to see the cathedral and the Chained Library and the Mappa Mundi but alas those rooms/exhibits are closed on Sunday. We were able to walk around the Cathedral so all was not lost.We are considering changing our route to Henley-on-Thames on Monday so we can travel back to Hereford to see the Chained Library and Mappa Mundi.

Dear is representing the home team jersey in honor of the Seattle Sounders playing the Portland Timbers this evening in Seattle. While in Hereford we walked to the River Wye and crossed the Wye Bridge since we hadn’t seen the river since arriving in Ross-on-Wye and traveling to Hay-on-Wye.

This old bridge has some history of it’s own.

Heading back to the Spiral Cottage via B4224, a road with a white stripe down the middle, thank you very much, we had to stop at the Bunch of Carrots Inn for a little refreshment.

We really have been blessed with some great weather while we’ve been in England. We are in for the evening and we will be watching the World Cup Final game on the telly. Hope your weekend is coming to a good end.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Travel