In Search Of Snowdrops

We've been promising ourselves a trip to Dunham Massey, a National Trust property in Altrincham, to see their wonderful display of snowdrops but there just hadn't been a let up in the rain until last Saturday when we woke to blue skies and sunshine.

We seized our chance and made the journey over the snowy Pennines. As you enter the gardens the heady scent of daphne greets you. A wonderful shrub to grow for winter and spring perfume, I'm looking for more winter interest in my own garden so a daphne has been added to the list.

We've had so much rain just lately that many of the flowers are quite mud-splattered but that didn't spoil our enjoyment of them.

I think the best way to see snowdrops is en masse, a beautiful carpet of white, so as much as I can appreciate the beauty of a single flower it just doesn't take my breath away in quite the same fashion as a whole swathe growing together.

As well as mud, the plants are having to contend with lots of leaves which have been blowing around too. I think they're in just about every one of my photos.

Dunham Massey isn't only about snowdrops though, there's over 200,000 bulbs in the gardens as well as other plants and shrubs so there's plenty to see the whole year round, though it's got one of the largest winter gardens in the UK so it's a great place to visit at this time of year.

Primroses are one of my favourite spring flowers, I just love their delicate, pale yellow colour.

I found irises very short lived when I grew them in my last garden, none ever flowered again for a second year. Perhaps they didn't like the conditions there and I should try them in my new garden.

This one is iris George.

I love witch hazel with their spidery blooms. They're always fun to photograph in the sunshine as the light passes over them.

You couldn't have a winter garden without hellebores, though I always think it's such a shame that their heads bow downwards, they're such pretty flowers.

A beautiful camellia, such a pretty colour.

I was rather taken with this salix Mount Aso, I've never seen pink catkins before. Many people were stopping to admire them.

You don't really get the effect of the snowdrops growing underneath the Himalayan birch trees from a photo, nor do you see quite how white the trunks are, but this area of the garden is stunning.

I have insect houses in my own garden but I love this idea of building a wigwam with cut back material for bugs to overwinter in. It will rot down and can then be raked into the soil and used as compost. It gives a bit of interest to the winter garden too.

I can never resist a photo of a mossy trunk.

Dunham Massey was packed on Saturday, I think everyone was pleased of a break in the weather and decided on a day out. It's such a large property though that there's plenty of space to accommodate everyone. The house is closed at the moment, it reopens again next month.

We had a walk by the pond to see the ducks and swans before taking a walk in the 300 acre deer park. A large herd of fallow deer roam freely and it was lovely to just stand and watch them awhile.

It was a lovely day out, just what I needed after being cooped up indoors because of the rain. I've noticed that the hours of daylight are beginning to lengthen now and the buds are swelling, spring isn't too far away.