The Lakes are ideal for a host of golden gardening ideas
LATER this month I’ll be in the Lake District for a few days, when, I hope, spring might finally be beginning to make its presence felt.
When I booked the break I’d hoped for lambs and daffodils, but now I’d be happy just to see grass and not snow.
Most early plants produce a form of antifreeze which means they can survive being frozen and defrosted multiple times without turning to mush.
However, cold weather does slow the progress of the season although, given a spell of sunshine and milder air, it will quickly catch up so I have my fingers crossed for some good weather in the weeks ahead.
The Lake District is the perfect destination for garden lovers. Not only is the countryside beautiful, but amongst the hills and open stretches of water are some wonderful gardens.
Two of my favourites sit almost side-by-side.
Holker Hall is a grand estate with formal gardens, meadows which in spring and summer are studded with wild flowers, and mature trees of epic grandeur.
One of the most striking features is the use of the local slate, polished until it gleams, to make benches and pleasant seating areas.
This is a garden where no expense has been spared from the Victorian era onwards and the results are stunning.
However the gardens at Levens Hall, just a few miles away, are equally impressive but for very different reasons.
While many great estates fell under the spell of the landscape movement, pioneered by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, at Levens a lack of funds meant that the gardens remained untouched.
Here the topiary yews, fashionable until the 18th Century, continued to grow and be clipped until today they have matured into huge characterful shapes, some upright and correct, others looming at odd angles.
Meanwhile Hill Top, at Hawkshead near Ambleside, is where author Beatrix Potter pioneered the formation of the National Trust which, along with the National Trust for Scotland, has become the custodian of some of the UK’s finest gardens.
At Hill Top you can visit Beatrix Potter’s own garden, complete with the vegetable patch where Peter Rabbit escaped the clutches of the gardener, Mr McGregor.
Today it’s Hill Top’s current gardener Pete Tasker, who has the challenge of outwitting the local rabbits.
Of course no trip to the Lake District in spring would be complete without a visit to Dove Cottage (pictured above) where William Wordsworth famously penned his ode to the humble daffodil.
The flower that charmed him was the native Lenten lily, (Narcissus psuedonarcissus) and just a few weeks ago I cancelled an order for several hundred of these ‘in the green’ concerned I wouldn’t get them in the ground.
It has turned out to be the right decision.