Views around the grounds and Walled Garden - 26/06/12

I changed my day to visit and volunteer at Wallington this week. With it being a Tuesday the House is not open and it is usually quieter. The weather forecast was for rain to come in from the west late afternoon. The sun was shining as I left home and the sky was very overcast as I reached Wallington.

My task for today was to edge the grass on the Lower Terrace of the Walled Garden, with the rain and warmish  weather, the grass is growing quickly and it is needing a great deal of attention. Up to lunchtime I managed to get the large area of grass edged and the border weeded and forked over where I had been working. 

After lunch I moved towards the Yew circle and did the same to the Railway border. There were a few visitors walking around the Garden and a First School party were making a visit. The rain kept off all day and it only started when I left the car park at 3.40 p.m.

The following photographs were taken before I started work this morning : 

The view along East Drive.

East Lawn and House Entrance.

View across the parkland on the south side of House.

Colour on East Drive.

Lower Terrace of Walled Garden.

View of Railway Border looking towards the Yew Circle.

On the Lower Terrace looking up to the Owl House.

View of Railway Border looking up towards the Mary Pool.

The Blue and Yellow border.

Beside the Cut Flower Border.

Multi-coloured leaf in the Winter Garden.

Fish Pond.

Looking up the path beside the Plum Border.

Walled Garden Planting.

The Blue and Yellow Border.

Beside the Peach Houses on the Upper Terrace.

Upper Terrace of the Walled Garden.

Views around the grounds and Walled Garden - 20/06/2012

Looking at the weather forcast for the next two days I made my visit to Wallington today. The next two days are going to be very wet and windy! I made an early start after getting my jobs for the day. We had two borders to weed and fork over at the entrance to this historic site.

The property open at 10.00 a.m. and even before this the cars were streaming into the car park beside the two borders we were working on. It was a bright and very sunny morning and it continued into late afternoon. The temperature was certainly higher than we have experienced of late and it looked like the ice cream stall in the Courtyard was doing a lot of selling.

We had finished one of the borders before we stopped for lunch. I was full of weeds and the rabbits had been eating some of the plants. The ground was still quite wet and it was fairly easy to dig over. After lunch the sun was still shining and the cars continued to come into the car park. I think people must also have looked at the weather forecast and decided to visit when the sun was shining. We continued to work on the second border, larger than the first one so we did not get it finished. We concentrated on the parts that were visible to visitors. Other volunteers will hopefully finish it off or we shall finish it next week.

It was good to work in the dry weather and not get covered in mud. 

I took the following pictures before I sarted work this morning:

The Clock Tower.

Clock Tower and Courtyard.

Lime Avenue leading to West Wood.

Wallington Hall from West Lawn.

The Parkland on the south side of the House.

Looking along to West Lawn.

Rhododendrons on East Lawn.

Colour in the East Lawn Borders.

China Pond.

Garden Pond.

The Neptune Gate - entrance to the Walled Garden.

Pale Border.

Upper Terrace statue.

Beside the Nursery.

Views around the grounds and Walled Garden - 13/06/2012

It stayed dry today at Wallington. The sky was grey and overcast and there were some bright sunny intervals as I worked all day around the borders of the House. My first job was to edge the newly planted Red, White and Blue border. The rabbits have been attacking the new plants, they seem to like the Lobelia, as all of the tops of the plants have disappeared.

Once completed I moved to the borders either side of the House entrance, edging and weeding. There was a steady stream of visitors going into the House this afternoon and I was asked many questions about the work that we do and the planting and trees around East Lawn. The rain kept away and I manged to get all of the work completed beside the House and moved to East Lawn for the last 30 minutes of my day at Wallington.

I took the following photographs before I started work this morning:

Clock Tower

House entrance and East Lawn

The Griffin Heads on East Lawn

Rhododendrons in East Wood

Garden Pond looking through to Portico Walk

Rhododendrons in East Wood

Beside the Mary Burn in the Walled Garden

Lower Terrace of the Walled Garden.

The Railway Border on the Lower Terrace of the Walled Garden

The Blue and Yellow Border in the Walled Garden

Bumblebee

Honeysuckle in the Plum Border

Colour in the Walled Garden

Colour in the Walled Garden

Beside the gate to River Walk

Views around the grounds and Walled Garden - 06/06/2012

The aftermath of the four day Jubilee celebrations were still in evidence here at Wallington. It has been a very busy last few days for all of the staff and volunteers. The numbers of visitors are still being calculated, but at least 8000 were at the property on Sunday! The work still continues and the next events are in the process of being planned and organised. Morris Minor cars will be filling the Courtyard on Sunday, as all remnants of the last event are removed.

Rain was forecast and this made us work in the Edwardian Conservatory for the whole of the morning. The conservatory got a general tidy up and the plants were sprayed, watered, dead headed and some replaced. There was a steady stream of visitors coming into the Conservatory.

After lunch it was dry enough for me to get out in the walled garden and do some badly needed edging of the grass. Mid afternoon saw a rapid rise in temperature and the black clouds rolled in from the west with some loud rumbles of thunder. It was not a surprise when there was a heavy shower of rain that lasted for about 10 minutes. I took shelter under a group of trees next to the railway border. It moved away to the east and it remained dry for the rest of my time in the garden.

Even in the rain, the garden saw a large number of visitors and I spent sometime answering questions and explaining the history of the Walled Garden. 

I took the following photographs before I started work this morning and throughout the day:

Clock Tower from the Courtyard.

The Red, White and Blue newly planted border.

Colour in the rain in East Wood.

Colour beside Garden Pond.

Garden Pond.

Lower Terrace of the Walled Garden.

Wisteria on the Lower Terrace of the Walled Garden.

Overlooking the Mary Burn on the Lower Terrace.

Colour and raindrops.

Lower Terrace of the Walled Garden.

Blue and Yellow Border.

Upper Terrace.

Fuschia in the Edwardian Conservatory.

Railway Border on the Lower Terrace.