My latest Wednesday wandering was to the fabulous gardens at Coton Manor in the village of Coton, which is in Northamptonshire in the English Midlands.
It had been many, many years since I had last paid a visit and, with the weather being so great, I was really looking forward to returning. However, the combination of sunny weather and the garden's excellent reputation did mean that a lot of other people had had the same idea as me, so the place was pretty busy, especially for the middle of the week.
It is spring here in the UK, which meant most of the herbaceous plants were still emerging from the ground, but there were still plenty of wonderful examples of spring flowers to be seen, starting with some really impressive tulips.
There are traditional, formal parts to the garden, that sit wonderfully well against the backdrop of the ironstone manor house.
Water features play a key role in the garden, of which the largest is this formal pond overlooked by the manor house.
There are also come playful statues to be found in the garden, including this one of Pan and the second of a pair of frogs, that put a smile on my face.
Of course, one of the reasons for visiting other people’s gardens is that you often find exciting new plants that might suit your own garden. Paeonies were in abundance at Coton Manor and these two, in particular, caught my eye. First of all, emodii and then Mlokosewitchii. Try saying those when you’ve had a drink or two!
I was also lucky enough to find a small clump of tulips complete with name plate. I have some of these in my own garden but had long since lost any note of their name, so it was a nice to be able to re-establish their identity, Tulip Ballerina.
In the bog garden the soon-to-be enormous clumps of Gunnera were well on their way to emerging into the sunlight.
Whilst the small beech wood off to one side is currently filled with a fabulous carpet of bluebells.
There is also a sizeable plant nursery on site where you can stock up on plants, plus a cafe selling a good range of food and I noticed they hold talks there throughout the year, so picked up a leaflet with details of those.
All in all, a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon and I plan on returning later in the year when the garden will be at its peak. It will be interesting compare and contrast it with what I saw on this visit. If you’d like to find out more then check out their website https://www.cotonmanor.co.uk/