We were on our way to a garden center last Sunday when we spontaneously decided to deviate away fro our intended route and go to a nearby English Heritage property instead which is Wrest Park.
Now this is not the usual sort of garden or attraction we go to nor gets featured in our blog but the interest in heritage properties and landscape is there (it's just that we don't talk about it that often) so it wasn't that hard to make such a spontaneous decision. And on top of that we signed up to become members too, deciding right then and there. Which means we must make an effort to visit more English Heritage sites to make the annual membership fee we paid worthwhile. Which means more period and historical properties will probably make its way to our blog over the next year or so (maybe...).
Wrest Park is a country estate with a grade 1 country house and a sprawling grounds with formal gardens and outbuildings, some of which were constructed during the Baroque period, reflecting the style distinct of that era.
As much as I enjoyed our visit I wasn't feeling inspired to take lots of photos, instead just content exploring the place without being snap happy. So excuse my not so symmetrical photos but it will give you ideas what the property looks like.
They do however have a small glasshouse that gave a little flavor of the exotic to our visit.
Musa basjoo
Dahlia imperialis
They need to update their labels! (Cordyline australis)
It was interesting to see that a lot of the plants there can actually grow outside all year round at least in the southern part of the UK. Although the planting inside were well maintained its not really a serious sort of glasshouse with a discerning collection of exotica but rather just to demonstrate the function and intent of the structure. Still it was nice to see and made me think...
I loved this one!
Cercis siliquastrum - Judas Tree trained on a wall and has large leaves
I may not even fathom to start desiring a manor home but I can certainly desire a glasshouse as big as that, if not bigger.Who knows...
Mark :-)