I have been wanting to revisit RHS Bridgewater for some time. I took advantage of the guided tours they ran before the garden actually fully opened to the public, the last one of which was my last day out before the lockdown in March 2020; and whilst I have been very keen to go and see it now it is properly open to the public the opportunity just had not arisen...
and then the opportunity arose. I was going up to Manchester to see a show with my daughter; we planned to visit Bridgewater on the way up and stop off at the pottery factory shops in Stoke on the way back. This seemed a very good plan.
Both days rain was forecast but the first day was a little less rainy and we decided we would take our chances. We were lucky, apart from a very light shower it held off rain until we were leaving to go to our hotel.
We wandered around, remembering bits from when we had visited before but now seeing them as ready for public viewing. It is still though a work in progress, and I like that, it makes me want to keep revisiting.
We remembered things we wanted to find, such as the circule of yew trees that had once been a short ornmental hedge in a long-gone rose garden.
We walked all the way around the lake, which previously we could only walk part-way along of.
There are the ghosts of structures past along the way.
There are hints of a great landscape now being reclaimed. This might have been a folly and might have been on its own small island at one point. This end of the lake is still being worked on and there is much to do.
You can now see more clearly the remains of the grotto on the large island in the lake.
This is currently not accessible but I would love to be able to get closer one day.
We wandered along to the Chinese Streamside Garden, which was a muddy path when we were last here. Now it is planted up with the RHS collaborting with the Chinese community in Greater Manchester.
There are huge plans for this area of the garden where they intend to create a Scholar's Garden.
I got over-excited at the Edgeworthia Red Dragon shrubs. So beautiful to see them growing so well here.
I want to return when the huge 'Victoria Meadow' is at its peak, probably summer would be good.
The Walled Gardens are just magnificent.
and the message of being sustainable and working with local communities was loud and clear.
We nodded to the hydrangea trials that are being carried out here.
and peered into the tunnel of doom. Well, that what I think it is, my daughter was keen to go and explore. It is not accessible at the moment but if it ever is I will wait outside whilst she explores.
We said hello to the cockeral and the chickens.
In the glasshouses we enjoyed the beautifully trained vines and inhaled the scent of the hyacinths. Usually I find the scent too strong indoors but this was clearly a large enough space to make it pleasant.
and I want this pelagonium cordifolim var rubrocinctum though I googled the name on the label and came up with nothing! I shall persist.