It’s August and ‘School’s out for Summer’

There were families queuing to come into the garden the other day and I overheard children moaning about wanting to go to the beach. Half an hour later I passed them running down the woodland path with shrieks of delight as they searched for fallen Pine cones, dead leaves and even commenting to their parents about the size of the Cobolt blue Hydrangeaflower heads. Another lovely comment overheard was that the hairy trunks of Trachycarpus fortunei looked like daddy’s legs!! I took the steep path up to view out over the Chesil Beach, firstly to check on the progress of the Magnolia avenue, and once again I couldn’t help eve’s drop on visitors comments as they admired the stunning views out to Portland Bill. “The best view of the Jurassic coast they have ever seen and well worth the effort of walking up the hill”. There are so many different aspects and dimensions to this garden that even the non gardener will delight in the secret vistas through the woodland as if seen in a remote Himalayan glade, or admire the colourful roaming Golden Pheasants, and even feed the fish in the Lily ponds. I bumped into the family again as they began to exit the garden for the Colonial Restaurant. The children were clutching sticks and pheasant feathers, and by now had burnt off some of their never ending energy. The family all stopped in their tracks to wonder at the distant call of an unfamiliar sound, the call of the “Laughing Kookaburra”, a memory I’m sure they will all cherish from the day’s outing.

PS: We have surplus ‘Cheer Pheasant’ chicks for sale this year.