Forde Abbey October 2nd. 2011

[David Nicholson]

With a few days to ourselves for a change and continuation of some beautiful weather we took ourselves off to Forde Abbey for a few hours.

Forde Abbey is in South Somerset (and very nearly in West Dorset) and is an estate of some 30 acres of gardens and woodland surrounding a lovely house. It was founded by Cistercian monks over 800 years ago and it became one of the richest and most learned monasteries in the country. After the dissolution (Henry VIII) in 1539 the Abbey lay empty until 1649 when it started to be transormed into the house as it stands today. The house and estate are privately owned with income raised from visitors ploughed into the running of the estate.

The gardens consists of a walled garden (veg and flowers) with much of the produce being served in the tea room; mixed borders of some length and parkland. The tea room is quite good but staffed by "Sunday girls" whose customer service skills approximate to Rudolph Nureyev's rugby league skills!!

Some pics:-

The House.
Two views of the walled garden
Five general garden/parkland views.
As a founder member of the DPAS (Drain Pipe Appreciation Society) I had to show you these two! Bet this is a Forum First

[David Nicholson]

Some more:-

I wouldn't want to cut the hedges on this estate, there seems to be acres of them. One bit here.
A representative Border shot-mixed borders throughout with one border given over to Dahlias.
A 30 foot (9 meters) high fountain I thought was probably worth two shots.
Three Dahlia close ups- a shot of the whole Dahlia border just didn't do it justice.
Nerines-on account of my total inability to grow them.
Cyclemen hederifolium

[David Nicholson]

..... and yet more:-

A Salvia I hadn't seen before-Salvia dombeyi
In the bog garden some Candelabra Primulas were in full flower
Could some one ID this for me please (foliage in final shot) a pretty little thing

Fini

[Maggi Young]

What a super place.......I must stop looking at these threads as though they were Estate Agents details, though.... it is too tempting and I really can't afford it!


 I think your cute yellow plant is a californian poppy, David... Eschscholzia californica

[Gerdk]

What a super place.......

.... indeed    !   ....  and the Salvia is very interesting. David, was it in a
container or growing in the open ground?

Gerd

[David Nicholson]

Thanks for the ID Maggi.

Gerd, Salvia dombeyi was growing in the ground in a border backed by a high brick wall and surrounded by other shrubs. They even had small plants for sale in the Plant centre. I didn't buy one, it wouldn't last five minutes in my windy garden.

[David Nicholson]

Just been re-checking my pics as I thought I had made a mistake (but I hadn't) and noticed that the greater number of views had been made to my Interesting Drain Pipe pics. Can we form a sub-group of the DPAS Maggi?

[Maggi Young]

Just been re-checking my pics as I thought I had made a mistake (but I hadn't) and noticed that the greater number of views had been made to my Interesting Drain Pipe pics. Can we form a sub-group of the DPAS Maggi?

Just goes to prove that photos of people or of something quirky are usually of the greatest interest to readers.... shows that the folks reading these pages are intrigued by so much more than flowers alone.
I contend that is a sign of a well rounded mind 

[Tim Ingram]

I haven't been to Forde Abbey for years but it used to have a superb nursery associated with (run independantly I think) with all sorts of unusual plants and a fantastic variety of crocosmia. Just shows my priorities!

[David Nicholson]

I haven't been to Forde Abbey for years but it used to have a superb nursery associated with (run independantly I think) with all sorts of unusual plants and a fantastic variety of crocosmia. Just shows my priorities!

As far as I know Tim it's still run independently.

[AndyStuart]

What a nice way to spend a day

The pictures look lovely, but I can imagine caring for such a large scale project can be a complete nightmare!

[David Nicholson]

Yes, it was Andy. All the much nicer because I didn't have to worry about maintaining it

[mark smyth]

I thought the Salvia was a Fushia

[David Nicholson]

You know what thought did Mark

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I had missed this thread earlier on David !
What a superb landscape garden it is !!  Thanks for showing it !
One to put on the never ending list...