Coleton Fishacre 15 May 2011

[David Nicholson]

Coleton Fishacre is a National trust property and was formerly the country estate of the D'oyle Carte family, of Opera fame. It's situated on the coast just to the south west of Brixham. Although we didn't go into the house today it's well worth seeing as an art deco masterpiece both in building style and furnishings. The estate comprises of the house with most of the garden, formal and woodland, following the cliff down to the sea and ends in a small cove where the family used to bathe. The garden is well worth seeing with a small formal area; a rill garden; woodland down to the coast; back towards the house a number of "hot" borders full of Australian, South African and African plants particularly worth seeing in mid-summer. Throughout the garden was the pungent smell of wild garlic.

Excellent tea room with some magnificent cakes, where, although we arrived at lunch time, we consumed a couple of gigantic Devon cream teas (jam first, followed by cream on the basis that jam sticks to cream and you can get more of both on!). Later in the afternoon we adjourned to our favourite ice cream van where 99 cornets were the order of the day. Tea time in the Nicholson household has been a very quiet affair

Many of the pics are unnamed species wise but I'll mention them first before the actual pictures to aid any future searches.

The bathing beach
Sea View
Woodland 1
Woodland 2
Garden View 1
Garden View 2
Down the rill
Acer 1
Acer 2

[David Nicholson]

Some more:-

Wild Garlic
Dactylorhiza 1
Dactylorhiza 2
Mecanopsis
Wisteria
Rhododendron
Clematis
Poppy
Convolvulus sabatius

[David Nicholson]

.... and yet more

Iris 1
Iris 2
Iris japonica
Libertia
Libertia close up
Wasn't sure about this but Maureen said Protea and I know not to argue!
Embothrium (Chilean Fire Bush) three lovely specimens in the garden
Can anyone name this please?

[David Nicholson]

last lot.

Rock Rose
Leptospermum spetroculum
and again, up close
Erigeron wall
Tulip tree, not quite in flower-Liriodendron tulipifera

[Maggi Young]

What a super place... the name is a bit like something from P.G.Wodehouse, isn't it?

Wasn't sure about this but Maureen said Protea and I know not to argue!

I'll say this quietly.....
The big one in the centre is a Chamaerops humilis (Mediterranean Fan Palm) and the red spiky ones are cordylines, I think......

[Maggi Young]

Anyone tell me what this is Rs.jpg

Looks like a yellow Bottle Brush.... a Callistemon  don't know the species.

[Roma]

[

Wasn't sure about this but Maureen said Protea and I know not to argue!

I'll say this quietly.....
The big one in the centre is a Chamaerops humilis (Mediterranean Fan Palm) and the red spiky ones are cordylines, I think......
[/quote]
If you look closely there is a small protea in front of the Chamaerops and another with a bigger flower behind.

[Maggi Young]

[

Wasn't sure about this but Maureen said Protea and I know not to argue!

I'll say this quietly.....
The big one in the centre is a Chamaerops humilis (Mediterranean Fan Palm) and the red spiky ones are cordylines, I think......

If you look closely there is a small protea in front of the Chamaerops and another with a bigger flower behind.
[/quote]
 By jove, Roma, you are quite right... they're the spindly things with the red bits!  I've got my glasses on ,too, so no excuse.... hope David hasn't told Maureen!

[David Nicholson]

Many thanks Maggi and Roma. It was indeed the larger flower (I hadn't noticed the smaller one until Roma mentioned it ) that I thought was coming out of the structure Maggi named as Mediterranean Fan Palm. Good Lord, that means Maureen's right (again!) I'll never live this down and I bet her double or quits on the cost of the ice cream that it wasn't Protea.

Thanks for the Callistemon ID Maggi.

[Lvandelft]

Thank you for showing this garden David!
It  was on our list to visit and we were quite nearby but time was to short

we consumed a couple of gigantic Devon cream teas (jam first, followed by cream on the basis that jam sticks to cream and you can get more of both on!). Later in the afternoon we adjourned to our favourite ice cream van where 99 cornets were the order of the day. Tea time in the Nicholson household has been a very quiet affair Grin

I hope you both won't have a gigantic indigestion this night 

[Tim Ingram]

David, it's really nice to see pictures of Coleton Fishacre. We visited there many years ago late in October and I always remember it being one of the loveliest gardens I have been to. Partly this was because it was very quiet (it was late in the year!); also it is quite isolated, it takes a longish drive to get to it and that adds to the romance. The house and stonework are very fine and the plants very exciting. We may have some great gardens in the south-east but they don't sit in the landscape as many of those in the west, and I imagine Scotland.

[David Nicholson]

Glad you enjoyed the pictures Luit and Tim. No indigestion problems Luit, only an expanding waistline!

I forgot to say that Coleton Fishacre has it's own micro-climate. It was a lovely day with a clear blue sky but a sneaky cool breeze. When we were down at the bottom of the cliff the temperature must have been 5C warmer than it was at the top so much so that I thought about taking my jumper off. This normally doesn't happen until temperatures are equatorial. If I lived in Scotland I'd wear a fur coat (faux of course) and knickers to match all year round