The Pleasure Gardens at Trentham Hall

We are back at the gardens of Trentham in Stoke-on-Trent.  This is our 4th or 5th visit.  This huge estate has many things to do and is geared toward family visits but has many elements of a true Pleasure Gardens.  Lots for the kids but even more for the gardener.   With big names like Piet Oudolf, Tom Stuart-Smith, Nigel Dunnett,...Capability Brown lake and old trees. We enjoy seeing this garden at different times of the year.  This time it is June.

This is the vast Victorian Italianate parterre designed by Tom Stuart-Smith.

At first I was appalled and distracted by the mix of gravel but the more I look at this photo I do like the patterns. 

Large golden Irish Yew still have their springtime yellow livery.

It is hard to show the size of this garden.

And onto other parts of this enormous estate.  We didn't walk around the lake this time.

It is not a proper English garden without a Chinoiserie bridge.

Or a Wellingtonia or Sequoiadendron from California, probably planted 150 years ago.  I will do a post on just Sequoiadendrons I see in England.  They are a beautiful tree that gets me going.

Now onto the River of Grasses garden.