Snowdrops and cake 2013, Sun March 3rd at Benington Lordship

[ChrisD]

Hi everyone - it has been a busy week and I have only today managed to sort through my photos of last weeks gathering.

Bennington Lordship is an interesting garden as it seems to effortlessly combine so many different things. The formal garden in front of the house is surrounded by the moat which is a carpet of snowdrops. There is a very old looking tower (which is actually a folly) , the double borders leading down to the lake, and the walled kitchen garden which houses a good number of the nearly 200 different snowdrop varieties that Richard grows so well. There is also a lovely informal lawn where the hens scratch arround and seem to "naturally" distribute the snowdrops!

Despite all these different areas they all seem to flow into each other very naturally.

So some photos (I hope they were worth waiting for)

1 Snowdrops on one side, lawn on the other! (The moat is behind the wall on the left, The house is over to the right)

2 View of the house from the start of the moat

3 Main border with the kitchen garden wall on the right

4 The group at the end of the moat (John, Gail, Victor, Alan, Richard, Simon, Ali)

5 The stragglers (Arthur and Jennie); not sure what they had been up too

[ChrisD]

And some of the drops that caught my eye.....

6 Elmley lovett (looking a little floppy)

7 Benhall Beauty (supported by some sicks and wire)

8 Merlin

9 Twinkletoes, not sure what makes this one worth naming but it appealed to me.

10 Less than half of Richards new Mighty Atom hedge (Wow!!!!) Sorry about the poor quality of the photo, but you get the general idea. I think the fence is to keep the chickens off whilst this area gets fully established.

Thanks again everybody for making it such an enjoyable day, and for the snowdrops. In particular thank you Richard for being the perfect host.

Chris

[Brian Ellis]

9 Twinkletoes, not sure what makes this one worth naming but it appealed to me.

I think you probably answered your own question there Chris

[RichardW]

just back from my Nepal trip, exhausted  but had a great time (will put up some pics in general forum soon) thanks for posting those Chris.

[Maggi Young]

Welcome home Richard - the weather has been pretty awful while you've been away so you shouldn't have missed too much in the garden !

[RichardW]

Still got varieties in flower, must have been nice here. Nepal wasn't all good, I saw a cloud one morning 

[Gail]

Welcome back Richard. Glad you didn't get eaten by a tiger but did you see any?

[ChrisD]

Yes Welcome back Richard. Not surprised you still have some in flower as there hasn't been much in the way of warmth to take them over. I guess it was a bit warmer where you were 

I will look out for the photos.

Chris

[RichardW]

Welcome back Richard. Glad you didn't get eaten by a tiger but did you see any?

Sadly not, On one of our walks a ranger found some huge prints which he said were very fresh, so they decided we should follow them.... A slightly odd but exhilarating experience, particularly when monkeys ahead started alarm calling and we all froze 

Chitwan national park was amazing, I really didn't want to leave so am going back for longer in a few years.

Was mid 80's whole time I was there.

[Alan_b]

March 4th and 5th were warm sunny days and it has been chilly and miserable ever since.  If you got acclimatized to temperatures in the mid 80's then I don't envy you coming back to this weather!

[RichardW]

Consider myself quite hardy  but walking the dog in the afternoon yesterday was a bit of a shock!


Still nice to be home 

[chasw]

 Pleased to hear that you had a good time Richard

[Maggi Young]

Sadly not, On one of our walks a ranger found some huge prints which he said were very fresh, so they decided we should follow them.... A slightly odd but exhilarating experience, particularly when monkeys ahead started alarm calling and we all froze 

As far as I know, we've never had a Forumist eaten by a tiger..... but that's not to say that caution isn't good......

[art600]

Glad you enjoyed the trip and had good weather.

Hopefully it will be much warmer when we see you in June.

[RichardW]

As far as I know, we've never had a Forumist eaten by a tiger..... but that's not to say that caution isn't good.....

It's certainly something I won't forget, it felt a little like standing in a huge animal enclosure and really shouldn't be there, but the ranger had a bamboo stick so it was all fine 

I'll sort out dates for snowdrops & chips next week, will have to be a weekend, preferably Saturday.