This week I went to the library in the park ....
....then took a walk through the walled garden to get to the woodland area. (Below) At the entrance gate, down the path ahead is the turquoise/green door of the original gardeners' rooms built into the wall, still in use. I went in there once when our local history group were doing a study of the old house and estate. Across to the left is the back entrance of the walled garden set into the wall that's painted orangey red.
Through the arch of greenery is the rose garden.
The kitchen garden - espaliered fruit trees grow along the wall.
herbs in flower
dianthus and trailing pelargoniums
in the old wheelbarrow
rambling roses climb on the walls
lilies grow along the path by the wall
plumbago in one of the greenhouses
dahlias in a raised flower bed
grasses and palm area - a palm in fruit
lavender bushes
and campanulas
just a few of the flowers in the walled garden seen last Monday
Lately I've been engrossed in books about Tudor court life. Watch the Lady is an historical novel about Penelope Devereux, a daughter of Lettice Knollys. I used the non fiction book about Lettice Knollys, Elizabeth's Rival, a lot as a reference book. It's very detailed and helpful with several family trees. I'm fascinated by the Knollys family because of the connection with my Berkshire home town. The Girl in the Glass Tower is an historical novel about Arbella Stuart, a pawn in the ambitions of nobility at the Tudor court of Elizabeth I. Her grandmother was 'Bess of Hardwick' so there's a connection with Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House and Estate in Derbyshire. I shall be reading Tombland, a Matthew Shardlake Tudor mystery during August. I've been waiting ages for my turn on the reserve list at the library. It's some 700 pages plus historical notes researched and written by the author so that should keep me occupied for the next week or two.
Have a good weekend!