Whitcombe House, a lovely private garden in the Cotswolds, England I

The first private garden that we visited this year on our vacation in the Cotswolds in England was Whitcombe House and it was an immediate hit. Located in the beautiful village of Overbury, the garden is completely surrounded by a charming stone wall and therefore seems to be very protected. The size is supposed to be only an acre, but it felt much bigger to me. It contained a pleasing mix of roses, perennials and flowering shrubs carefully arranged in pleasing color combinations surrounding an equally beautiful house. One special feature of this garden was, that there is a small stream flowing directly through the property. The gentle bubbling sound of the water gave it such peaceful atmosphere.

This is the first view that you get when you enter the garden gate. A walkway leading up to the house in a straight line surrounded by charming borders on both sides. The plants are encroaching into the gravel path loosening up the strict symmetry and giving it a more informal cottagey look.

The green door framed with two stone columns and a triangular stone arch is very pretty and the climbing rose growing by its side so very English.

A little closer look at the rose.

And a close- up of the same rose. Love the pastel pink color.

I have a crush on stone urns and this big one was a particularly pretty example.

A bed kept in soft pastel colors in a somewhat shady corner of the garden.

A shot of the house from a different angle. Do you see the dog sitting in the window? Well, that is not a real dog. It is a cardboard dog. Quirky, isn't it?

Looking down the pathway from the entrance of the house back in the direction of the garden gate. You see that there is a lot of symmetry in the design of this garden.

I loved this magenta colored rose, which I believe is 'Charles de Mills'. The fragrance was pretty strong in this one. 

It was so nice to see these children innocently lost in their play.

Uuups, there is even a hidden third one.

Back to 'Charles de Mills'. Isn't this rose absolutely stunning?

I just couldn't take my eyes (and camera!) off this rose bush.

There was another beautiful Old Garden Rose with a fantastic fragrance: 'Rose de Rescht'.

The playing children caught my attention again.

I couldn't help thinking how lucky they are to be growing up in an environment like this.

So cute!

Again, back to the roses. There was another stunning light yellow one, that was very charming.

I always fall for roses that are so fully petalled.

Looking over to the very left side of the house...

...and then to the very right. In the foreground, there is another rose that looked to me like an Old Garden Rose.

Lovely intense blue campanula!

To the very right of the house, there was a small addition with a wonderful ornate metal bank in front of it and other lovely rose to its side.

Of course, the English lawn can't be missing in a true English garden.

'Rose de Rescht' with friends.

The photo shows the symmetrical layout of this part of the garden very well.

A look to the opposite side of the photo above. I love, love, love hand-stacked stone walls. They add so much charm and character to this garden.

This is a close up of the rose that you see on the left side in the front of the photo above. 

I don't know the name of this delicate beauty, but whatever it is, it is so very pretty!

One post can't cover this whole garden so there will be a part two. Please, come back and explore the rest of the garden with me in another entry.

Wishing everyone a very nice weekend!

Warm regards,

Christina

I am linking up to 
My Soulful Home - Sunday at Home  //  Angie The Freckled Rose - Dishing It & Digging It  //   Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home - Amaze Me Monday  //  Everyday Living - A Garden Galore  //  Between Naps On The Porch - Metamorphosis Monday  //  Cedar Hill Farmhouse - The Scoop  // Sweet Sensations - Celebrate Your Story  //  Savvy Southern Style - Wow us Wednesdays  //  A Delightsome Life - Home and Garden Thursday  // Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson - Share Your Cup  //  21 Rosemary Lane - Share Your Style  //  Vintage Mama's Cottage - Thursday Favorite Things  //  French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday  //  Rattlebridge Farm - Foodie Friday and Everything Else  //  Shabby Art Boutique - Create, Bake, Grow & Gather  //  How Sweet The Sound - "Anything Goes" Pink Saturday  //

Nafford House, A Lovely Private Garden In Worchestershire, England I

My husband and I are back home from England since about one and a half weeks now and I can't believe that I still haven't posted about one of the many private and public gardens, that we have visited during our England vacation. And oh my gosh, did we see incredible gardens this time!

I came home with wonderful memories full of the beautiful gardens that we have toured, tons of inspiration for my own garden, and literally thousands of photos. I hope, I can find the time in the following weeks and months to share at least some of them with you.

The very first garden that we visited the day after our arrival in the UK was Nafford House, located in Eckington, Worchestershire. It is a private garden, owned and cared for by Janet & John Wheatley, that opened in the context of the National Garden Scheme (NGS).

I was in heaven the moment when my husband and I walked through the garden gate and saw this beautiful white house conquered by climbing wisterias and the lovely garden beds framing the gravel path leading up to the front door.

The planting style in parts of the garden was what I would call wild romantic. Unfortunately my photos don't do these flower beds above and below justice. They look almost a bit weedy on the pictures, but in reality they were just packed densely with roses and many small plants that were allowed to spill over the edges into the gravel path. 

The abundance of late spring!

This rose caught my eye and I asked Mr Wheatley about the name. Kindly he went back into the house to ask his wife. Upon his return he said that it is 'Penelope'. The rose, a Hybrid Musk, had a very subtle intriguing coloration and a lovely, distinct scent. 

Getting a glimpse of the surrounding gardens to the left. 

Besides gardens another thing that makes my heart sing: Dogs! This one, who lived at Nafford House, greeted us and brought a toy with him to play. Doesn't he look like he is happy?

In this garden many planters and containers of different styles have been used, which I loved. With all the rain that they get in the UK, I guess it is a little bit easier to keep them watered and looking good than here in Southern California.

I found these petunias particularly pretty. As far as I can recall, they were a bit more lavender in reality than on my photo, though.

Liked the contrast between the informal flower beds in the background and the more formal planter and its circular flower bed in the foreground.

I would be interested to know what kind of tree this is with the chartreuse colored leaves. Does the leave color stay like this or is it just the case in spring? Anyways, at the time the photo was taken, it picked up the yellow hues in the flower bed to its feet perfectly.

I realized that in this garden they made great use of interesting flowering shrubs and beautifully colored trees.

This clematis was particularly pretty and looked great growing on the rustic climbing structure.

I have seen these cerise red flowering plants often in England and believe they are a kind of gladiolus.

Does anyone know the name of these beauties?

This pale pink flowering shrub was just stunning. I think it is a kind of weigelia.

Here is a close up of the blooms.

Another example of the flower beds filled to the brim. 

This burgundy colored shrub/tree is such an eye catcher. It looks really great together with the pale pink flowering shrub in the background and the chartreuse tree further to the left and the other burgundy tree to the right.

Another neat planter.

The overhang protecting the front door. So beautifully done!

Not only were the flower beds packed densely with plants and flowers, but the containers as well.

The foxgloves looked like they were allowed to grow where they had planted themselves. This informal style gave such a romantic feeling to the garden. The delicate white garden furniture go very well with this atmosphere.

A rose that I could not identify. When I asked the friendly Mrs Wheatley about the names of a couple of her roses she replied, that some have been already planted by her mother and the names have long gone lost. How wonderful must it be to take over your parents established garden and continue on to further develop and care for it.

As you can see on this photo, the garden was quite large. In one of  my next posts I intend to show you the long border in the center of this image a bit closer and also different parts of the garden, that we haven't visited, yet.

Thanks for stopping by on my blog today! I wish everyone in the US a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

See you in the garden!

Christina

I am linking to

Saturday Show Off, Rose Garden Malevik