Friday 1 July 2022

Scuppered Plans

When the warm weather was with us, we took to walking Archie early morning and later on in the day, when the sun had lost a bit of its heat. It isn't only Archie who struggles in the midday sun, walking during the hottest part of the day isn't much fun for me either. It's been much cooler this week but we've still been walking at different times to usual.

On Tuesday, we decided to visit Temple Newsam, one of our regular walks. I thought it would be nice to show you the walled garden and how colourful it's looking. We arrived about 5pm and just as we were walking towards the gates we were met with a loud "Closed" from a groundsman who was approaching us to lock up. I didn't realise that the walled garden actually closed. It seems we'll have to revert to walking a little earlier if we want to visit this part of Temple Newsam.

Instead, we walked back up towards the house and decided to take a look around the back, an area we don't often visit on our walks. Archie enjoyed having a sniff around.

This is where you'll find the south garden, a formal 17th century design with beech and box hedges, trained laburnum arches and a pleached hornbeam walk.

It's all looking very green at the moment, not much colour about, but I did manage to find a few flowers in the border directly in front of the house.

I was saying to Mick that I can hardly remember what the inside of the house looks like now, I was just a little girl when I last took a look around.

Temple Newsam has featured heavily in my life. From the time I was two years old, our family home was within walking distance so we visited often, and as I was growing up, because we lived so close, I visited with friends. We'd walk or we'd ride our bikes. There was countryside surrounding the grounds but since then, so many new homes and businesses have been built around the area and there's such a lot of traffic. You wouldn't dream of allowing children to wander around by themselves now, how times have changed. We now live a short car ride away from Temple Newsam.

I just love hydrangeas but it's only a recent thing, they're a flower which has grown on me over the years.

Can you see all the seed pods hanging from the laburnum? I'd meant to visit this garden over the past few weeks as the laburnum walk looks fabulous when it's in bloom but I completely missed it. It's something to put in the diary for next year.

The warmer weather is supposed to be returning this weekend but looking at the forecast, it seems to be missing us. It looks like we're in for a bit of sunshine, cloud and rain. more of the same then.

15 comments:

  1. I've just had a look at their website Jo it looks like a fabulous place to visit, what a pity you didn't get in to see the walled garden, but it's a good excuse to go back. Yes it's showers here today I was hoping to get my decking painted I did half yesterday, maybe tomorrow. Have a lovely weekend. 😊X

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  2. That hydrangea is such a fabulous colour! Wow!

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  3. A most enjoyable post and lovely pictures. That sure is a wonderful hydrangea flower colour. It's look the weekend weather here will continue much as it has done lately. xx

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  4. I too used to go for cycle rides with a friend, not something that young girls do today. A lovely place you've visited, gorgeous gardens and beautiful building.

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  5. It was a shame the walled garden was closed but you still found lots if colour for us to enjoy. It's been quite chilly here although when the sun has been out, it's been a real bonus even if just for a little while. Have a good weekend.

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  6. With gardens like that, I can't even imagine how beautiful the 'closed' garden was!

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  7. Such a shame about the walled garden being closed early, but I'm sure you'll get another chance soon. Love hydrangeas, even as a child due to helping my grandfather in the garden when we visited. That laburnum walk would be breathtaking......not been to that bit of the formal garden. How did we miss it last time we went to Temple Newsam. Thanks for sharing, take care & hugs.

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  8. What a shame the walled garden was closed. You'll have other opportunities to visit, I'm sure, looks such a beautiful place.

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  9. It must have been lovely growing up having such green space on your doorstep to take advantage of. Hope you manage to get to see the walled garden another time and share some photos with us. Yes, I thought the weather had got to start getting better from this weekend but, It's hammering it down here at the moment, hopefully it will be dryer next week.

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  10. Must have been fun being around the house and gardens so much in your growing up years. When I was child Hardings Memorial was like that for me. And as you said, things have changed so with traffic. The memorial was within walking or biking distance from our house and was easy to get to back then. Now, you must navigate lots of traffic and a 4 lane very busy highway with a speed limit of 55...certainly not safe for children to be riding their bikes or crossing on their own. We no longer live in that small town; but occasionally we hope in the car and it takes about an hour to get there. Hope you can see the gardens next time. Pretty flowers!

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  11. What a lovely place, I bet it was extra nice when it was quiet later on. Bertie doesn't get on well with hot walks, he lies down on any shady grass he can find and refuses to move. I end up carrying him home. CJ xx

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  12. It sounds like a wonderful place to go for a walk. I love that it has been part of your life for such a long time, you must have so many happy memories. We have had a drier day than forecast today, I hope that has been the case for you too.

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  13. A shame that the walled garden was closing but you managed to get some very nice photographs.

    We didn't have any rain today but we caught some of the British Grand Prix qualifying from Silverstone this afternoon and it was raining there.

    Enjoy your weekend and have a happy month of July.

    All the best Jan

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  14. My mother and me visited it just before Covid started (we live in The Netherlands). Liked it a lot. Nice to see it again. Tea outside was lovely.

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  15. I'm surprised that the walled garden closes. A shame that you had to miss it.

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