We arrived in London on May 28th and a train ride to Oxford to pick up our car and we drove to RHS Wisley on June 1, 2024. This is an overview of our trip, one photo for each of the 28 plus gardens we toured. A blog post for each garden will follow in the coming weeks. This is just a teaser.
Our second visit to Wisley in over 10 years and lots to take in.
My past visits to gardens, in England and elsewhere, were always curated to show the beautiful, curious or informative. First photographs excluded people or other garden visitors. Focused only on the plants and their vignettes. Then It was the celebration of how many people (mostly English) were at these gardens especially the flower shows. This past visit I filmed more in video rather than still photos. I was trying to show how movement plays into experiencing these gardens in person. The subtle movement of the air or a sequence to show perspective and other physical attributes.
This is all the gardens Frank and I saw during our travels this summer to England, particularly East Anglia, the Midlands and the Cotswolds area of great beauty. A quick summary and archive of the post of each garden, park or landscape roadways that caught our eyes.
We landed at Heathrow Airport at 7 AM, dropped off our luggage at our accommodations and headed out to see London. First stop Saint Peter's Cathedral.
Reflection Garden - London St. Paul's Churchyard
It’s finally here. Headed to SFO in a couple of hours for our flight to London. Frank and I have been planning this trip since February and we both excited the time is here. Below is a rough outline of our path staring in London, then to Oxford to pick up a car, couple days scouting food in the Cotswolds, then a loop East to Suffolk and Norfolk. Then up to Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham and back to Oxford where we change car for van and pick up our guests in Bicester. Our formal five day tour of the Cotswolds gardens starts. Based out of Deddington, we will be visiting Broughton Grange, Hidcote, Kiftsgate, Rodmarton Manor and Rousham. After the tour, we head back for a couple days in London and return home in San Francisco.
So here it is. I've been queried about my trip to England for the past three weeks and what are my main take aways from the trip. What did I learn and make me inspired to try something new? One of the reasons I love these trips is the introduction to new ideas, styles and plants. But the one thing that I really like about the English and is another reason I travel there. They appreciate, as a nation and culture, their love of nature. Where that intersects the individual Brits own garden space is wonderful to experience. I love how they have made gardening an art form.
The list below is our itinerary and a short description or thought about my visit. Click on the titles or photo to see more photos of that location:
Burgundy lysmachia and apricot geum was the most interesting color combination for me.
2016 trip with Dino, Frank and Jeannine.
Click on the Garden Title to show more photos:
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - London, England - July 31, 2016
Here's the start of our 2014 tour of English gardens. Click on the garden title to see more photos.
Garden Museum Gardens - London, July 4th
