My ride today was to an open garden on the edge of Odiham, which opened at 2pm. I have been twice before to Beechenwood Farm, but of the ladies who joined me today, only Gill had been. Infact the majority of today's route was new to most, which was nice. It's a 50 mile round trip from Wokingham, which I did with a few friends last year, but starting at Mattingley is much more relaxing! It was a cool start to the day, but by the time we met up at 12.45, it was a beautiful day.
Route photo of map at the end.
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| The pretty cottage next to Mattingley Church where we parked. |
We set off via Rotherwick, and through the grounds of Tilney Hall, dropping down to Newnham X Roads, where we turned right dropping further downhill. A couple of very quiet lanes took us to cross over the A30 and Andwell, where we peddled alongside the River Lyde, passing the brewery. A little climb took us over the M3, then the gradual climb continued on quiet roads to Up Natley.
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| 10 to 2 as we pass Odiham Church. Perfect timing. |
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| Pretty house next to Odiham Church. |
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Wwe left Odiham on Cementry Hill, to climb up to pass the Oast House on Roke Lane.
( we would see it later from the garden views) |
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Getting priorities right. Tea and cake before we looked around the gardens.
We had the place to ourselves at this point. |
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| Roses starting to open now, as we wandered through to the more wild area of garden |
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| I'm not a fan of Monkey Puzzle trees but this one seems to work. |
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| The dappled shade was lovely and we were happy to have some shade. |
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This picture window quite difficult to photograph with
the exposure difference of light to dark |
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| A name for Gill. Allium Nectaroscordum |
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| Tall White alliums amongst the box balls look great to echo their shape |
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| The pathway through here was tiny but nice to be amongst the plantring |
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More visitors arrived as we now made our way to the next part of the garden.
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| Pink spires of Persicaria Superbums. |
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| Love the light on these Welsh poppies. |
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| heading to the "view point". |
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At the viewing platform, looking back to the Oast House.
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A visitor kindly took this shot
Sandra, Amanda T, Gill, me, Amanda O, Jean, Amy. |
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| Another view. |
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Making our way back to the main part of the garden.
(Sandra later reported that she picked up a tick today! Might have been here.) |
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Loved the back lighting on the Crocosmia Lucifer leaves.
( these will have bright red flower in a few weeks time) |
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| Orange accents amongst the Allium Purple Sensation. A happy accident. |
Our route now backtracked a short distance, to continue mostly downhill into Crondall. The village was looking lovely with all the flowering shrubs and Roses. We crossed straight over the A287 Farnham Road, which wasnt easy. It had suddenly got busy, but a driver stopped for us to dash across. We split into two groups for the next section through Crookham, Dogmersfield and Winchfield. Then joined up again to pass West Green Gardens at Phoenix Green with one final stop on the bridge at Dipley Mill.
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