Since this is Friday Flowers day I thought I would show you two unique elements of several of the gardens we saw.

The first is the use of small, delicate..but hardy..flowers and vines on stone steps. As Andrew, our tour leader, said several times: these are “redundant ecclisiastical stone.”  Perfect!
Of course the steps themselves are gorgeous with old, worn, often moss covered treads. Just so lovely!
Add to that these small flowers planted in between (and yes, tended very carefully to be sure) and the result is magical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second unique element is the rill.

A rill is actually a small stream, but in garden talk it becomes a “man-made garden canal”. A rill can define areas, it can create new garden areas, it can actually transport (on a small scale) water from one level or area to another.

These images, above and below, are at
Eastleach House Garden
Do go and visit the site as the images of the rill garden are spectacular!
This was actually the last garden on our tour (very sad..) where our tour leader, Andrew,  and the very gracious Stephanie, owner of this lovely estate, had a surprise champagne and Victoria Sponge cake tea for us.

This rill below is in one of my top two favorite gardens of the trip:

Coach House Garden

There was so much to like about this space. The entire garden is only one and a half acres. The owner, Mel, was one of our tour guides and she was “English garden perfection” for me! Gracious, very knowledgeable, warm, full of suggestions… all in addition to her outstanding gardens and property. I will write more about it in the Part III, so stay tuned.

I do hope you are enjoying these travel and garden info posts: let me know you comments?