Members of the Petersfield Gardeners’ Club enjoyed a very interesting and enjoyable five-day holiday to Lincolnshire in June, based in a hotel near Grantham. The weather was well behaved and remained sunny and warm throughout, allowing us to fully appreciate the delights of all the gardens and houses visited.
On our way north on the first day, we stopped off at Anglesey Abbey where we had time to visit the gardens, including the rose garden of David Austen roses, and house before we continued our journey to our hotel. The itinerary for the week included visits to many contrasting gardens: Kelmarsh Hall (very colourful walled garden), Barnsdale Gardens (created by the late Geoff Hamilton), Doddington Hall and Gardens (stunning Elizabethan house) and Easton Walled Gardens (one of the finest walled gardens in the UK, still in the process of being re-developed after decades of neglect). Visits were also made to the National Trust properties; Belton House and Woolsthorpe Manor, of Isaac Newton and apple fame.
As a contrast to all the houses and gardens we spent a morning in Lincoln where many of the group visited the magnificent cathedral. There was also time to wander around the old part of the city, including the aptly named Steep Street and pop into the grounds of Lincoln Castle.
Our visit on the last day as we journeyed home was to Waddesdon Manor built in the 1870s by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to display his extraordinary art collection and entertain the fashionable world.
The annual holiday, visiting different parts of the country each year – last year’s was to Warwickshire – is a very popular part of the Club with many people returning year after year. It offers a great opportunity to travel to interesting houses and gardens in the company of a friendly group of like-minded people. Many thanks must go to Angela Snow who organised the holiday and guided us through the week. Plans for next year’s holiday to South Devon are already well under way.