NEW FOREST, WISLEY & FURZEY

[Stephenb]

families visiting (especially) need to know how much an outing is going to cost.

Some more from the New Forest and the coast before we venture to the Hillier Gardens and Wisley ...

You should know that I'm getting all homesick up here in the north seeing all these places from my childhood in Hampshire! Glad you are, despite the title, popping in to Hilliers - I grew up just a stone throw from there....

[Ragged Robin]

Cliff, a throughly enjoyable trip with you through Hampshire and the New Forest - the area is so wonderfully English!  I've seen many NF ponies and foals on the commons and cricket matches but never donkeys - real characters 

Your action shots of birds in the wild are remarkable and so natural looking - I especially love the Oyster Catcher running in the water; birds I could watch and listen to endlessly with their haunting cry.

[Paddy Tobin]

Cliff,

Great set of shots. Your "idyllic Hampshire" remind me that on two occasions a few years ago my neighbours cows went into the river and I was the one who had to swim after them with a rope to put round their necks so that they could be pulled from the water by tractor. Getting out through the mud was the worst part.

Paddy

[ranunculus]

Many thanks folks ... your kind comments simply spur me on to post more (so you know who to blame everybody)!

During the first weekend of our break we stayed with my sister in Hook in Hampshire which, fortuitously, is home to the Bartley Heath nature reserve where the Marsh gentian is still flourishing (unlike in many other parts of the U.K. where the heaths are being mismanaged or, in some cases, simply drained).  We were fortunate to catch some early flowering examples of this pretty little gentian - Gentiana pneumonanthe - and I will post just four images to show you all just how lovely they are.

GENTIANA PNEUMONANTHE

[David Nicholson]

Lovely pics Cliff from one of my favourite counties (spent the last five years of my working life in Hampshire).

[Maggi Young]

Thank goodness there are at least some places left where gems like the marsh gentian can survive and delight us.
In a time when there is so much talk of holidaying "at home" I do think that the Tourist board is missing a trick in not employing Cliff to extol the virtues of an English holiday......why, if I thought for a moment that the food matched the scenery......

[ranunculus]

Oh Maggi ... we ate like lords every evening, in fact the food was so good in one particular hostelry that we ate there for three consecutive evenings until we HAD to come home ... bloated but happy!

Sorry to make you use that 'w' word again David ... I must try harder! 

[Maggi Young]

Oh Maggi ... we ate like lords every evening, in fact the food was so good in one particular hostelry that we ate there for three consecutive evenings until we HAD to come home ... bloated but happy!

Gerraway! Really? I am pleasantly surprised.... one hears such awful things about the cooking in some country places - might have known that an accomplished piglet like yourself would snuffle out some gourmet grub!

[ranunculus]

Back to the photos ... today we will visit the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens two miles north-east of Romsey.  A quick tour of these lovely gardens capturing random (many untitled) images including some butterflies that crossed our path ...


HILLIER GARDENS - HAMPSHIRE
ACER PALMATUM
EUCOMIS BICOLOR

[ranunculus]

Next batch from the Hillier Gardens ...

We were walking down the wide lawns between the lengthy herbaceous borders (some of the longest in Europe) when I heard a distinctive and much loved voice stating; "This is another of my introductions from Yunnan".  It seems the wonderful Roy Lancaster OBE VMH was guiding a party of very fortunate RHS students around the gardens.  I wish I had had the gumption to pause the great man in full flow and remind these students how incredibly lucky they were to have such a venerated tutor.
Roy is a patron of these gardens (he does, of course, live in this neck of the woods - quite far from his beloved Bolton in Lancashire).
A very pleasant aside to a lovely sunny day in these beautiful grounds.

ROY LANCASTER OBE VMH

[Brian Ellis]

Most enjoyable, thanks Cliff for a reminder of good times we have had in Hampshire.  What lucky students indeed.

[Maggi Young]

What lucky students indeed.

 I do hope those students have some inkling as to the stature of their guide...... Roy has such incredible knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for the wirld of plants. He is surely one of the best horticultural broadcasters we have ever had and it pains me that he is so seldom seen on screen these days. Anyone who has heard his talks will know that he is eqaully inspiring "in the flesh", too.

The icing on Roy's cake, as far as I am concerned, is that he is also such a charming fellow- approachable, charming,friendly and eager to share his skills.
 Pity there are not more like him!

[Paddy Tobin]

The Americans have their "Dirr" and we have our "Hilliers", our standard reference book for trees and shrubs. I have never been to visit the arboretum and would love to do so. A great whetting of the appetite, Cliff. Great shots, as always.


Paddy

[ranunculus]

Thanks Paddy ... and Maggi, I couldn't agree more.

Hilliers are staging a special 'Art in the garden' exhibition from May to 31st October this year featuring over 150 craft works and sculptures dotted around the gardens.

My personal favourite is depicted in 12A below.

GLADIOLUS DALENII
... AND IN CLOSE-UP

[ranunculus]

Some more images from the Hillier Gardens ...