Nottinghamshire 20 - Underwood /Felley Priory Gardens/some very unusual plants and topiary peacocks


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July 24th 2020
Published: July 24th 2020
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Day 125 - yes you read it right . Nottinghamshire rather than Derbyshire . Underwood instead of Chesterfield . We are out and about . It is Friday . Non working day. Walk done and coffee drunk . It is time to get out on the road and do something . After yet another abortive viewing yesterday we need a change . When the viewers came they seemed less than interested . A fleeting five minute viewing . I guessed they were not interested and it turns out they don't want a bungalow . They want a house . I did mention downsizing to them but ....................... So where are we ? Are we in Gabby? No Gabby has moved not one inch . Her wheels still stand on the drive . They need pumping up but that means moving her. Perhaps tomorrow . That is a job for Saturday.

We are driving just a few miles down the M1. A journey we have undertaken many times . We are escaping . A few hours away from thinking of Covid . A few hours out in a garden. Roll back the clock . February 2020 and we were going up to Northumberland . We had plans for weekends away in Gabby . Covid was a player in someone elses nightmare . I had planned trips - most local . Something to do once a week . This is where Felley Priory came in. I checked it out and found out that they held a snowdrop fest in the Spring . Cancelled due to flooding. The snowdrops were under water and the paths unwalkable. Move on a month March or beginning of April Daffodil Sunday . An opportunity to aid the National Garden Scheme pay our £6 to see a rare daffodil orchard. Cancelled flooding and Covid . Bluebell Wood Walk - cancelled . I was not having much luck .

Well finally I noticed that the priory was open again. Just a few days during the week . No cafe open yet but the gardens were open . It was too much to resist .

So come on - off with me - let us go and find this hidden gem, a tranquil garden just half a mile from the motorway . If you listen you can just about hear the cars on the M1 in the distance. The garden is described as one of Nottinghamshires best kept secrets . Well I had never heard of it so it must be a secret . It nestles in beautiful rolling countryside and is only 2. 5 acres so quite a small garden . At £5 entry fee for wrinkleys as Sion calls us it was a reasonable price to pay to see what was described as containing both rare and unusual plants . So far so good.

We arrived and approached the priory. No brown sign. Nothing to guide you in. We almost missed the entrance . You were not looking either were you!!! A short drive took us to the gate. Locked . Shut . Impossible . I had only rung up on Tuesday and they told me they were open . As we stopped and were just on the verge of reversing the gates swung open . The car park had four cars in it . We almost had the garden to ourselves . Just us and an elderly lady with her daughter . We overtook them and tried to find the way in . Into the nursery . No paying desk just milling about people looeking at the plants . Eventually we found the cash desk. A plastic screen separated us from the cashier cum nursery worker . We paid up and talked about masks . "You dont need to wear one in here " she said . "I wish they would make them mandatory" . We nodded in agreement .

So come on . We have paid and we have a short walk past the stables with the clock and bell hanging high up. Into the courtyard - the house was in front of us . Originally the priory had been founded in 1156. Dissolved in 1535 it was partially destroyed with some of the stone used to rebuild a new house and the rest to build walls in the garden . Part brick and part mellowed stone it looked a lovely house to live in. The house was plundered during the Civil War . What houses escaped ? It became an army garrison and a Royalist stronghold. The house was added to in 1860 and a lovely terraced garden area.

With the house behind us we walked down the steps into the garden . The borders were stunning . Some of the most beautiful I have seen. Fill of colour and thick with flowers . The scent was heady. The roses had gone over as had the clematis. But what was there - well I found myself going wow - look at that . Have you ever seen lilies as pretty as those . Turks Cap lilies in shades of red and yellow. Tall spikes of the orange red hot pokers . The borders were crammed with flowers . Many I had never seen before . Some the sort of flower you see in any garden. Two borders lined the grass with the house as a backdrop. Through the hedges were glimpses of the fields and woods beyond. Arches and arbours were everywhere . Around each corner was another bed full of flowers .

Then the topiary . One yew hedge allowed to grow and cut and shaped to look like a many tiered wedding cake . Another two hedges being slowly formed into peacocks . A rose pergola which would have looked lovely a few weeks ago . I got the impression this was a garden that gave at every season . It was called a garden for every season after all.

There was a pond . Full of white water lilies and tiny coots . We had the pond to ourselves and managed to stand for a while watching mum feeding the chicks . Dad had gone off with another chick and was nowhere to be seen . Yellow candelabra primulas lined the waters edge . It was so quiet, I was glad we had finally made it here . The paths led into the fields . Magnolia trees must have looked a treat earlier in the year . Even now there was a certain charm to the wildness .

Some parts of the garden were a riot of colour. Other corners were devoted to a couple of colours. White , blue and mauve. Tall spiky delphiniums, tiny white and mauve violas. But my favourite part of the garden was the white garden. Small but perfectly formed. Two tiny gardens fenced in facing each other . White Mignonettes, white corn cockle, white mihsts of gypsophlia. Every plant was white . Whether it was something low and spread on the ground it was white . It was climbing the fence it was pure white. By the time we had wandered all round the garden my head was full of digging up the grass and planted herbaceous borders . Buying shrubs , lilies and planting dahlias. I even contemplated a white themed garden .

What an amazing find . Just up the road and I never even knew it was there .


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