A return visit to Melbourne Hall

It appears it is seven years since I last visited Melbourne Hall, this hardly seems possible!  I would have said it was probably four or five years, but no, shame on me.

I was there for the Garden Museum Literary Festival, which delightfully was a mere forty minutes from home.  Whilst I gained in not travelling far or having to pay for a hotel, I lost in that I had to have a meeting in the morning.  Usually I would have been away for the full two days but proximity made me vary that rule.  So I lost the morning talks unfortunately.

The day was incredibly hot, the height of that current heatwave, which meant it was not the best weather for doing much.  But, there were fans and they did their best to try and help us stay cool.  The talks, as usual, were excellent.  I never go into detail about the talks but as usual I came away with a list of books to explore.

I took the opportunity to explore the grounds, always a big draw of the Literary Festival is the chance to spend a lot of time in a great garden.  The gardens are not the largest you will find yet they pack a lot in.  The Birdcage above is their great treasure, built by Robert Bakewell in the early 1700s.

I wrote previously about the use of vistas here, which lead you on and through the gardens.  On such a baking hot couple of days I was there it was good to be drawn to the shady walks.

The cooling sounds of water was much needed on this baking hot day.

I loved the glimpses of streamside colour.

I followed paths,

and made discoveries

and the sun shone and shone.

They have a new rose garden which I made a point of seeking out.  It is still all a bit new and shiny but it will soon lose that edge and the roses will grow and be wonderful.  It is worth seeing now and will only get better with age.

Meanwhile in the garden there was a ruckus going on, the cherubs tired of being statued together starting exchanging blows,

and thwacking each other with foliage.

It was getting rather out of hand......

Thankfully peace was eventually restored.

which meant that Scotty by the door did not have to get involved - phew.

I had the best of times at the festival, it was a joy to spend time in such a glorious garden.

Take care and be kind.

For more from the Blackberry Garden follow me on Bluesky Twitter X  Facebook Instagram and Substack