West Green House

Regular readers may remember that I quite often visit West Green House in nearby Hartley Wintney. It's one of those properties so full of interest that even though it is not enormous, there is always something different to see. Jane and I went there yesterday.

The most famous feature of the gardens is undoubtedly the Moongate, and my post today would be incomplete without a photo of it!

 The bridge to the islet in the lake is also very well known:

My favourite feature today was the water feature with the trees, each on its own little island.

The clumps of white Wood Anemones around the base of each tree were stunning in their simplicity.

The Magnolia trees are looking good at present too, and West Green has lots of them.

Fortunately for us, the weather was glorious, giving me this opportunity for a photo of a Magnolia branch against clear blue sky.

The Daffodil season is not far from over, and at West Green some of them have already been dead-headed, but some varieties were still looking very special:

 Underneath the trees there are still swathes of flowering bulbs. At present the white ones seem predominant.

In amongst the fading Daffodils are huge numbers of Snakeshead Fritillaries - probably the most I have ever seen in one place. Sensibly, the area where most of them are was closed off to prevent damage, so this photo is a clipped piece of a photo from a distant vantage-point.

The Tulips are not yet at their best, but the ones that are in bloom were certainly enjoying the sunshine yesterday though.

Some of the best bits of the garden are the least formal areas, many of which are currently awash with Celandines, Violets and Primroses.

Another favourite of mine is the Hellebore. In fact I think that seeing so many of them in the gardens at West Green is what inspired me to start growing them in my own garden. What do you think of this green one? It was a huge plant!

There are so many plants in the garden at West Green that it's obviously impossible for me to show them all here, so I'm not going to attempt that. I'll finish with a few more of my favourite photos from this visit:

Finally, what about this for the venue for a very special meal...?

It's inside one of their glasshouses!