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It won’t have escaped your attention that last weekend I was in sunny murky Devon on a blogger retreat, staying in a beautiful manor house called Amberstone Manor. It used to be a rectory and certainly has that grand imposing style of being “the big” house in the village, coupled with a homely and welcoming feel as you close the front door behind you and enter into the hallway.
As I don’t really sleep much beyond 6am these days (despite being desperate to lie in bed and drink tea whilst propped up on pillows as fairies thunder through my to do list) I decided to get up, get dressed, and go for what can only be described as a mooch. The weather wasn’t great but the forecast had suggested that might be as good as it got so I decided it was now or never. As it was the weather did improve and there was time for further mooching in the afternoon.
Every gap in the hedge leads you through a tunnel of leaves into an open space of croquet lawn, tennis court, or swimming pool
A balcony becomes a vantage point for the view, despite the cloud
Where every door could either be the entrance to the garden from the courtyard, into a secret room, into a hidden kitchen garden, or just hiding gas bottles
Where statues brighten up every corner, or patio
A staircase invites you to climb the stairs to discover something you haven’t seen before
A hidden spring and underground pool sit under a balustrade that you wouldn’t normally have looked twice at if somebody hadn’t said “there is a grotto somewhere”.
A gate becomes more than just a gate when three apples are sitting on it, covered in dew
This really is my kind of garden and means I can join in with the How Does Your Garden Grow linky this week.
Hoorah
Yay!
Is it wrong that I scrolled down fast to check for signs of nymphing first and then scrolled back up and started again?!
It was a fab garden wasn’t it? I NEEEEEED a glasshouse in my life. Hmmmm…
Thanks for joining in Tarnyar, or to call you by your nymph name Taryarina of the valley 🙂
Looking through the pics I came across the nymph pics. Might do a stand alone post on those next week. And that greenhouse! That could be a blog post all it’s own. Felt we could have mooched, or indeed nymphed, in that garden for much longer.
great place and great shots. love the ones with the all the green and the sculptures. and i too wish i could sleep in when i can…
Thanks Claudia. I know, aren’t the sculptures great? They were everywhere, I adored them.
What a fabulous place! Seriously spooky potentially.
A bit like the “Lost gardens of Heligan” in a way.
No wonder it induced such wild and wanton behaviour!
I did like the fact that the doors on the outside loos
were differentiated by having different door widths –
this, presumably, to indicate male or female toilets?
Is Centerparcs going to buy and operate the place?
It’s a thought though.
You would have loved it there! Though you would have been been able to tell me what all the plants and shrubs were whilst I was climbing stair cases and being nosey behind doors!! I have a whole load of other pics to share that are just of the greenhouse!
I’m thinking this could be the perfect setting for a Miss Marple novel especially since it is in Devon. I hope all of you came back safely from your blogger retreat safely!
All those secret doors! How exciting! Sounds like a wonderful weekend away.
what a fab place to go for a mooch. are you sure you were allowed to go through all those doors and gates? love the hidden fairy grotto/spring
What a wonderful garden and I could certainly lose an inordinate amount of time in there. I particularly like the doors and want to know what is behind them. #HDYGG