RHS Hampton Court - the floral marquee (2)

Here are some more photos from our trip to Hampton Court to gawp at beautiful flowers. The displays shown in this gallery were my favourite. They probably aren't the favourite for the majority of folk visiting the flower show but for me they are more wild and rustic - no roses or rhododendrons in sight!

Manydown Farm

We had a typical British heatwave recently where we ask for summer and get a summer's worth in a few days. It wasn't weather for taking two young children out so when the temperature dipped we ran for our lives to a local farm which opens it's doors in the school holidays and invites children to jump around in the Hampshire countryside.

We ran through a "Maize Maze", visited farm animals in the woods and I rested with Jack while Albie ran free among huge inflatables.

Learnt a thing or two about trees.

While I was checking out the Holly, this little fella turned up! Loving the farm in the woods experience.

RHS Hampton Court - the floral marquee

For my Mum's 60th birthday this year I got tickets for RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. It was such a great day I was in flower heaven!

In the first of a heap of blog posts, here is the floral marquee. It consisted of beautiful displays designed by nurseries and a side table with the plants that you can buy to make it yourself.

I have reduced the amount of photos down considerably but still have quite a large amount enjoy!

The Vyne

We've become National Trust members. It feels good now that when we plan our Sunday trips we just have to worry about petrol and not entrance fees if we want to visit estates.

Our local National Trust site is pretty ace. It isn't just a nice house with gardens, it's set within huge woodlands so I get my tree fix as well as an amazing walled garden which is currently oozing with veggies and flowers.

After a tour of the walled garden and orchard, which I can't wait to see in the autumn, you leave behind all the day trippers who are busy with picnics and house visiting and enter the countryside.

Mark said there was something prairie like about the scene we were greeted with after the lake disappeared behind us so I edited it to make it look even more like the set of Waltons!

We did the long walking route through the woodlands to get away from the more adventurous day trippers (we are social beings really!). The woods gradually become more coniferous and I felt like we had really got away from it all as we walked.

We found a funky shelter full of felled trees which got the toddler who adores climbing very excited and then headed back through more calming scenes of the coniferous kind.

Odiham

A pleasant trip to a local Hampshire village was had on a recent Sunday. We stopped off at a really nice and really expensive farm shop on the way and I swooned at the containers on display at the accompanying flower shop.

In the village there are beautiful cottages with beautiful front gardens. I have a love hate relationship with the county I live, the one that doesn't have mountains or a decent coast but on days like this I am proud of the English country garden type of county I live in.

I was quite taken with this display of indoor plants making a sad empty shop smile.