A visit to Bluebell Cottage Gardens

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This morning was just meant to be a quick whizz.  Karen and I had arranged to visit Lodge Lane Nursery run by Sue Beesley and just forty five minutes from here.  We had met Sue briefly at the Malvern Show and have communicated on Twitter and read each other's blogs.  I realised that I had visited the nursery under its previous ownership.   I liked Sue's blog.  We liked her plant list.  We thought we would just go and have a look.  This is easy for me from here but a bit more of a challenge for Karen who needs to travel for a couple of hours to get even to my house. But suddenly it all came together.  We could go, today, not for long.  Karen could stay overnight with her mother so we could get on the way early.  I could have a morning off from elder care.  Let's go.

And it was just the best morning ever.  Sue was lovely.  The garden was amazing with that perfect combination of the beds that make you gasp with delight and the bits that Sue is planning to change and the bits that have some stunning plant combinations and some that have got charmingly away and some that just need a kick up the arse (Sue knows all this.  I fear she might know everything) .  The nursery was full of things I wanted and everywhere had the energy and the fizz that come from people doing what they love to do.  I took my camera but I was too busy having fun to use it.   There was of course the moment or series of moments when I was just so overwhelmed by the distance between the whole place and my scabby field with its collection of sticks and nettles that I just wanted to slit my wrists.

But I came home and my garden still felt like my own passion and Karen came up with some stunning ideas for the bits that had been bugging me.

Just the best morning.  Thank you Sue.  Thank you Karen.

Comments

  1. Victoria Summerley23 June 2011 at 23:23

    Ohhh, I'm so jealous. I would have liked to have gone too! It sounds like a fabulous day. I owe Sue a huge debt for finally converting me to peat-free compost.

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  2. Irene23 June 2011 at 23:25

    As long as you came away fulfilled and wiser than you were before, it must have been a successful trip. I can't wait to see what you will do with your newly garnered wisdom. I live vicariously through your garden having none of my own, but I think I already told you that. How is the tree walk doing and how is the wildflower meadow?

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  3. Anna23 June 2011 at 23:31

    So glad that you did not slit wrists but told us about your visit instead . So sad that I was not able to join you - I'm only about fifteen minutes away from Sue's nursery. Next time hopefully :)

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  4. Sue Beesley23 June 2011 at 23:32

    Aw, thanks Elizabeth - I'm glad to have been an excuse for a trip out, you seem to me to need and deserve it. Glad you've gone home with a renewed love of your own plot :-)

    Really lovely to see you both here - hope the long journey didn't put either of you off a return trip some day.

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  5. Karen - An Artist's Garden23 June 2011 at 23:36

    Thank you Elizabeth - it was just a perfect little jaunt, It was fantastic to meet Sue - her enthusiasm is wonderful and the gardens were a real visual treat. It was also a joy to meander around yours in the afternoon and it is not, I repeat not a scabby field with sticks and nettles, you have done an amazing amount in the short time I have known you and your vision is true and honest for your place.
    K
    xxx

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  6. chrisartist24 June 2011 at 03:10

    I find a day out in a garden so inspirational.
    We attend open garden days here in Tasmania.
    This weekend il be pruning roses.
    Chris

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  7. Esther Montgomery24 June 2011 at 08:20

    This is how it should be. A day out. Glad to be home. Appreciate your own after all.

    Esther

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  8. Anonymous24 June 2011 at 09:09

    Your garden isn't a scabby field full of sticks and nettles. It's an amazing, huge undertaking. It sounds wonderful. Now I have to find Sue's blog...

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  9. Unknown24 June 2011 at 09:34

    Sounds fantastic! Sometimes these visits can provide such a bolt of renewed energy and vision can't they? It is wonderful to be able to talk to an artist about what they are creating with a passion - so life-affirming somehow. I love coming away from an experience like that with my mind buzzing! We are both trying to create a garden from a field, what an adventure it is, and how wonderful to have inspiration along the way!x

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  10. Marcheline24 June 2011 at 13:49

    Glad you were able to get away - aside from the garden aspect, just for some "you time". Good thing!

    I know what it's like, that feeling of seeing someone's house/garden and then thinking of your own in comparison... for me it's a question of never having enough money to do what I know needs to be done to make it just the way I want it. Ideas I have a-plenty, but no bread to fund the projects. Frustrating is not a good enough word.

    Sorry you didn't use your camera, would have loved to see what you saw... but you can post pics of the ideas you use in your gardens! Looking forward to it!

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  11. rachel24 June 2011 at 16:06

    Sounds wonderful - please keep us posted on how this develops!

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  12. The Weaver of Grass24 June 2011 at 19:40

    Don't worry about it elizabeth - we all get moments like that when we visit absolutely fantastic gardens. I think we know the weaknesses of our own plots and know where the weed are, whereas in beautiful gardens designed by someone else we tend to see the whole picture and miss the weeds and the bits that don't quite work.

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  13. Dobby24 June 2011 at 20:48

    Umm. I'm just wondering who I can visit so that I can make a side trip to Sue's. So glad you both enjoyed it.
    As for your scabby field, I didn't see one when I visited. Is there a bit you didn't show me? All I saw was a wonderful work in progress that will be totally amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. H24 June 2011 at 22:21

    Funnily enough, most people's gardens make mine seem unloved, but I do love it really!

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  15. Pondside25 June 2011 at 00:05

    Well, Elizabeth, every time I look at a photo of your beautiful garden I despair of ever managing to develop anything half as lovely.

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  16. Pomona25 June 2011 at 18:28

    Glad you had a good trip out - it is always good to get out of your own garden and get a bit of inspiration elsewhere!

    Pomona x

    ReplyDelete
  17. Pam 26 June 2011 at 23:38

    How very lovely.

    I don't know what slugs are for either. To feed hedgehogs, possibly, but when did I last see one of those?

    And snails. I have the national collection of those.

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  18. Pipany27 June 2011 at 12:49

    I can hear your excitement in your writing. How lovely to come away feeling so inspired Elizabeth x

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  19. Esther Montgomery5 July 2011 at 17:25

    Hey, ho, you ok? Hope you are happy as well as busy.

    Esther.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Around My Kitchen Table6 July 2011 at 19:48

    I love gardens but somehow my fingers refuse to turn green! Even so, there's nothing nicer than sitting in my garden in a summer evening with a glass of wine, a good book and the smell of honeysuckle wafting in the air.

    ReplyDelete

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