Sunday 30 September 2012

New Treasure for National Trust

The beautiful and historic Duffryn Gardens in South Wales will soon be passing into the hands of The National Trust. I think this is a good thing, I've visited the garden several times and it would have been a tragedy were it to have closed. I just hope The Trust allow it to remain true to itself in its quirkiness. At Duffryn you have it all: a rockery, formal beds near the house, a newly restored kitchen garden and glasshouses, long borders, and a series of garden rooms contained by beautiful old stonework. The mish-mash of styles is what makes me want to visit Duffryn again and again - hopefully The National Trust won't try to 'pull it all together' with homogenous planting schemes. I look forward to seeing how the garden will continue to develop over the coming years. Meanwhile, here's how it looked in August when I last visited.

Formal beds, but not your standard planting


Part of the new glasshouse has been devoted to cacti

The long borders were looking ravishing, so here's quite a few pics of them:










Finally, waterlilies were at their best in the rill.

10 comments:

  1. It's a lovely looking garden, pleased to know it will be under the care of National Trust. I like the metal arches and I'm curious what's inside the new glasshouse!

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  2. There were also fruits and vines in there, nothing too exotic I'm afraid!

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  3. What a stunning garden! I'm not usually too keen on formal beds, but the planting in those is just beautiful, very inspired. As you say, hopefully the National Trust will keep the garden's quirky and individual personality. It would be such a shame to lose it. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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  4. Martin, this garden is surely a treasure! I am so impressed by the long borders. What a work of art. I also love the columns with the metal arches in between to be conquered by climbing roses. Thanks for the tour of this lovely garden!
    Christina

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  5. A beautifully kept garden - if I worked on my own herbaceous border for a hundred years it wouldn't look that good.

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  6. Well, they do have about 6 gardeners...

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  7. A garden which with all it has to offer should appeal to every gardener. The formal garden as you say, just that bit different looks sensational.

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  8. Cheers for stopping by Alistair.

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