I'm a bit of a tree fan and have planted quite a few in our garden. It ought to be no surprise, therefore, that I'm always keen on visiting an arboretum and, having spent most of this year telling my wife I was going to visit the place, I finally got round to making the trip to Batsford Arboretum.
Batsford is just outside the small market town of Moreton-in-Marsh in the county of Gloucestershire and occupies 24 hectares of the Cotswolds. As well as the gardens there's a shop, garden centre and cafe. Since I was going to be doing a lot of walking, the first thing I did on arrival was to head to the cafe and tuck into some lunch, which included a lovely slice of tea cake.
There are some beautiful clipped dinosaur trees (Ginkgo biloba) outside the main entrance.
Since it is now autumn here the real attraction right now is, of course, the spectacular array of colours in some of the trees as they shed their leaves. Reds, yellows and oranges in a host of shades were everywhere to be seen.
Some of the combinations on offer were even more impressive.
There was, though, a little tropical vibe going on down by the old sheep washing pool.
The Gunnera, that had been growing in the pool, has now been tucked up in bed ready for the chills of the approaching winter.
There is a small church at one end of the site and the cemetery had some unusual visitors.
And at the very top of the site there's a hermit's cave with absolutely no mod cons. By the looks of things there is currently a vacancy to be filled there.
All in all, a most enjoyable day and I'm very glad I finally got round to paying the arboretum a visit. Definitely one to check out yourself, if you ever get the chance.
You can find more info on the arboretum here.