My Six on Saturday is planting in parks in Oviedo, and my last offering from Northern Spain. These plantings are in the Park of San Francisco in the city of Oviedo. I enjoyed a walk through the park every day and it was also well-used by local people who strolled there during the day. In the evening people dressed up and did the paseo; children played after school in the late afternoons; and it is a pleasant route from the top of the hill down into the old town. There are lots of large trees in the park but I have picked out some of the smaller plantings.
It has been a chilly, damp, grey day in London, one of those days when you don’t really want to do anything but know you ought to take some exercice. So I took myself to Greenwich Park to compare progress with the London Garden.
It is a long time since I posted here! In the inbetween monthsI have been to France, undertaken house renovation, and prepared for a photography exhibition which is just two weeks away now. I have been iimmersed in the Breton Church Closes and will be returning to Brittany soon to continue with the project.
Rainham Hall was built in 1729 for Captain John Harle and is adjacent to the Church of St Helen and St Giles in Havering. Next to the Hall are the stables and Lodge. Captain John Harle (1688-1742) was a Master Mariner, ship owner, and who traded in building materials, coal, and foodstuffs around the UK and as far as the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. He invested in Rainham by dredging the River Ingrebourne so that ships could access Rainham from the River Thames and his ships docked at Rainham Wharf (now gone) close to his home.
This year has been a scramble from the beginning – photography exhibition, two weeks in Brittany, a working trip to NorthernFrance, and volunteering and photographing with Open Garden Squares Weekend in London. Blogging is out of order, but posting on Brittany is next and I must share with you the wonderful gardens at the Chateau of Trévarezwhich is situated on a hillside overlooking the Aulne Valley. I was in Brittany to photograph the Churches but took a day out to visit these gardens – and I plan to do the same next year!
The Chateau of Trevarez
The Chateau of Trevarez
The stables of the Chateau of Trevarez
The original Chateau was built in the 16C and 17C. Today’s building dates from 1893-1904 and was commissioned by James de Kerjégu, a politician The domain of Trévarez covers over 85 hectares and in the vast parklands are a classical regular garden, an Italian style garden, a picturesque garden with cascades and a recently planted contemporary garden. Trévarez also has a heather collection of national importance, apparently. The gardens feature different plants during the seasons: camellias from November to April, rhododendrons (National Collection) in April and May, Hydrangeas and Fuchsias in the summertime...’. The Chateau was occupied by German forces during WWII and bombed by the RAF, but has been restored and both the Chateau and parklands are open to the public at advertised times.
The Camellias were just going over when I visited in early May, but I found a few, hidden in the bushes. The collection was started in 1970s and now includes, incredibly, hundreds of varieties.
The rhododendrons were glorious! Flowers of all colours – along the walkways, hidden in the woods, in clumps in groves – unbelieveably beautiful.
I think this was the ‘Romantic Garden’, built in a quarry and with a waterfall and river. Steps from the garden lead up to a more formal vista and leat leading to the Chateau.
The long vista above the quarry garden
The woods are … beautiful
And alongside the Chateau…
Do visit this bautiful parkland if you are in Brittany – I will be returning in the autumn, and again in the spring next year!
The Obesa Nursery in Graaff Reinetshould be on every gardener’s ‘must-visit’ list! This extraordinary succulent and cactus nursery occupies a vast site behind the main street in Graaff Reinet and is a wonderland of strange shapes and colours. I suspect you either love it or hate it – no time or space for hesitation here. If I lived in the town I would be a daily visitor with my camera.
The Thabor Gardens, a wonderful 10-hectare Park/Gardens, is in the centre of Rennes – a must-visit! I wrote about the Gardens on the travel blog and here I would like to share the dahlias, which were in full bloom and quite simply spectacular.
The Jardins Romantiques is the second garden in the Parc Botanique de Haute Bretagne and, as in 2015, I spent a lot of time in the Garden of the Rising Sun. But this year we walked through Le Bois Décisif and round the opposite side of the lake.
