Those who have been paying attention might recall that on the list of places to visit was the garden of Bomarzo, the garden of monsters. Indeed I have said that this garden was the one I wanted to see most of all.........
....... so where is the post about it? Well, dear reader, we got as far as the car park. I wish I had taken a photograph of the car park, but I was too busy sulking as it became clear we were not going to go in. In fairness, it was late in the day and we had already walked miles and climbed many steps. The garden takes a good hour to walk around and we would have been quite late back for dinner. Reluctantly I had to agree it was probably (only probably) not realistic to go in. I now really do need to return to this area as I still want to see this garden very much. Sadly that is the price you have to pay when on a garden tour, you cannot suit yourself and you cannot make your own decisions about what you want to do. I think it might be quite a while before I try another tour as I am definitely not suited to this sort of regimentation.
On saying that I did have a very good, enjoyable, holiday, I saw some amazing gardens that gave me a lot to think about. I am genuinely pleased that I went. Someone had said to one of our group that we would not like the Italian gardens. Since returning people have said to me that Italian gardens leave them cold. Now obviously that is a bit of sweeping statement and I definitely was not left cold by the gardens we visited. I do, however, sort of understand the comments as they are not gardens I would wish to recreate (even if I had the money, right location etc). They are gardens from a particular time and reflect a particular view of the world and how positions of wealth and power can be reflected through landscape. What the holiday did give me, overwhelmingly, was a greater sense of garden history and more understanding of the influences that inspired the gardens that we enjoy and create ourselves today. This is why I loved visiting the grand villa gardens so much was that they gave me a real feeling of walking through history.
Did I get home full of ideas of what I want to plant and wishing to change my garden's theme? No. Much as I loved Ninfa I am not sure it translates to a Leicester suburban back garden. I have developed an abiding love of stone pines though.
and happy memories of olive groves.
