Monday 7 March 2011

Snowdrops at Hodsock Priory

These photos are from a couple of weeks ago... Finally got out between writing numerous essays to enjoy the Snowdrops.

Pheasant rifling through the leaves.

A promising sight as you arrive, lots of Daffodils

Some strange, large animal statues were dotted around…

Very old planter?

Yay, Snowdrops!

Hellebore and Snowdrops

Wonderful twisted Hazel Catkins


More Snowdrops, do I really need to introduce them??

Wider view, not a carpet but still I’d love to have nice patches like this in my own garden

Lots of Cyclamen Coum, I really want some in my garden!

A giant Frog? Perhaps I ought to find out the story behind them…

I’m enjoying this combination of colour!



There were a few Beehives, again I’ve no idea of the story behind them… Sorry… It was drizzly and the place was a quagmire… I didn’t hang around

Winter Honeysuckle, must get some in my garden



Lots of Daffodils coming up

The Winter Aconites were really impressive in this area, I’ve never been tempted by them before but would certainly like to have a carpet like this!






I loved these Daffodils/Narcissi…

Lovely Dogwoods across the lake

The Priory…

And now we move into the woodland walk, which was terrible to try to walk around, but I’ll try not to bore you with my ranting…

This is where the Snowdrop carpets can be found, and they apparently also have Bluebells later in the year which I will definitely want to see!






Note for future: Take walking boots.


Copyright 2011 Liz Arblaster.
All rights reserved. Content created by Liz Arblaster for Gwirrel’s Garden.

19 comments:

Donna said...

stunning sight all those bulbs especially the snowdrops...just how I want my garden to look if I had the room...like a fairytale garden!!

On My Soapbox said...

How pretty! The photos make me want to get some cyclamen to cheer up my dreary yard.

Nutty Gnome said...

I really must go to Hodsock Priory one day!
I must also get a twisted Hazel one day!
Likewise cyclamen!
Ditto Winter Aconites!
*sigh*

ShySongbird said...

A most enjoyable visit Liz with lovely photos. So nice to see all the late Winter/early Spring flowers. I have a few Cyclamen but would love a mass of them like you saw there.

I loved that great big stone frog (not sure if it was a frog though as I thought I could see a tail!!) and the owl.

Hope the essays are going well.

You need to keep a pair of wellies in the car, I do and they are often useful, I don't care about fashion any more :)
:)

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

Hi Liz, how lovely - in places anyway! Worth braving the drizzle and the mud for that carpet of snowdrops, although the aconites come a close second! I'm feeling the need for some cyclamen coum too, not to mention hepaticas. I love contorted hazel when it is covered in catkins but always wind up finding it ugly when covered in catkins. Look forward to your bluebell pics!

Carolyn @ Carolyn's Shade Gardens said...

I loved the tour. Thanks for taking us along. You featured all my favorite plants.

VW said...

Wow, sooo prettty, especially the large areas all blanketed with blooms. And sorry to hear about endless essays. Though I enjoy blogging, I always thought writing essays for school was incredibly painful.

p3chandan said...

Such lovely carpets of beautiful blooms! Fantastic!

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

Agh! I meant "ugly when covered in leaves"!! Oh, and the bridge is lovely but what on earth is going on with that huge leaning shrub thing underneath?!

Liz said...

Hi Donna,

Same here, I'd love to have similar views in my own garden, but it would take years to achieve, unless of course you're willing to plant thousands of bulbs in one year!

Liz said...

Hi OMS,

I intended on getting some coum last Autumn but had to cut down my order because it was just too expensive... And now I'm kicking myself! Can't win, can we :)

Liz said...

Hi Liz,

I've only ever been once and find it hard to believe my parents never took me until I was around 18+ considering it's only the other side of Carlton from us... Must be what? 5 miles maybe?
Ridiculous, isn't it??!!!
I want a corkscrew Hazel too, they've been tempting me recently in garden centres... Think Witch hazel might win though mainly because of their perfume!
Oooh, you are being demanding today! You must have cyclamen and aconties already?? surely?

Liz said...

Hi Jan,

It seemed that almost every tree had a carpet of Cyclamen under them... Not too sure whether they look as pretty in summer though!

There are more stone animals, a Squirrel and some dog/foxes that I didn't post photos of... Not too sure why, but I'm sure there was some history behind them, I'll try to find out next time when the Bluebells are out and hopefully the weather is better.

Essays........ Arghhhhh I haven't breathed for the past three weeks, all I've done are essays. 5 deadlines within 2 weeks of each other. Someone's having a laugh; because that's ridiculous.
I'll be having a stiff drink on Friday when the last one is handed in.
At one point I actually wanted to curl up, go to sleep and have everything disappear.

I try to keep as little in the car as possible because we don't have a drive, although wellies may well find their way into the box in the boot along with blanket and such.

Liz said...

Hi Janet,

Would you believe it brightened up as we were leaving? Oh yes, that's right... It HAS to happen! :D
I don't think I've ever seen the corkscrew Hazel in leaf, they only tend to have them in shops when the catkins are out and all other times of the year you never see them..........

I'm not sure what's going on with the crazy hedge to be honest, but I'll assume they had trouble with snow and it's probably pushed it over... Either that or it's the angle I've taken it at and when walking up/down those steps you don't notice it leaning quite so much!

Liz said...

Hi Carolyn,

No problem, I'm glad you enjoyed the photos :)

Liz said...

Hi VW,

I'm not sure if it's typically a British thing to have carpets like this or do you also get it in the US? Obviously you'll have wildflower meadows and such, but do you have attractions which have Snowdrops/Bluebells to attract visitors?
I know Bluebell woods are typically British, but I would imagine Snowdrops and such would be popular in huge carpets elsewhere.

I don't mind writing essays as long as a) I find it interesting and b) I understand what I'm talking about.
Some of these essays however I have struggled to write because I don't fully understand what I'm saying nor what they WANT me to say. we've had 5 in the past two weeks that there simply hasn't been time for me to properly plan and write them. For some reason the academics decided to have us hand them in ALL at the same time, many of which we couldn't start until we'd had the lectures only in the past couple of weeks so I didn't even have the chance to get a head start on most of them.

Liz said...

Hi P3chandan,
Thanks for visiting, I'm glad you enjoyed looking at the photos.

Nutty Gnome said...

I DID have cyclamen - but I killed it by digging up the huge laurel it was hiding under!

I think I might have found some winter aconites lurking up the garden ...so that just leaves the twisted hazel!

Liz said...

Hi Liz,

Boooooo to digging up Cyclamen, yaaaaaaay to digging up a Laurel.
Hate does not justify my feeling for Laurels, so good on you.

Perhaps if you hint to himself often enough a twisted hazel will suddenly appear approximately the same time as your birthday or Christmas :)