Several weeks ago, I noticed in the NGS booklet that my friend, and ex garden design tutor of 20 years ago, Carolyn, was opening her garden for charity on specific days, but due to holidays, I couldn't make any of them. So I asked whether she might be interested in opening for a small group of 10 cyclists? Thankfully, she said yes, and so we agreed on a convenient date. Today was the day. We met at Cantley for our 25 miles official ride, but some rode from Finchampstead and also Crowthorne, so will having done 35+ miles. (Before we set off, we had a quick demo from Linda's 2 year old granddaughter, Fern, riding her little bike. She is nearly there!)
And welcome to Tina to her first time riding with me today. Very nice to meet you. You did very well with keeping up too.
Since we were a group of 10, 7 riders, 3 Champs today, we split up a few times on the main road stretches, starting with the motorway bridges to Hurst, where we turned left today into Lines Road. (that threw them!). A slight wait for group 2 to catch up, since Daphne's chain had come off.
 |
| Waiting at the gate at the old barn in Lines Road. It's been slowly crumbling for years. |
All together again, we made our way through the quiet Hurst Lanes, crossing to Hungerford Lane, where we went straight on today, (that also threw them), and then a left turn into Brook Lane, where we held back whilst two horse riders pulled over for us to pass.
 |
| Brook Lane, West End, waiting for the horse riders to pull over. Then we turned left and first right into Baileys Lane, a little loop to join Sill Bridge Road. We split once more into two groups to ride from Waltham St Lawrence to White Waltham, passing the Shottesbrook entrance, then left just passed The Beehive, at which point a eureka moment from Elise, who just realised where we were. 😂 We had agreed to meet up with Jill's group at the Knowl Hill circuit, as we turned off Bottle Lane. But then my Garmin indicated a missed call. It was Louise calling, to check if they were supposed to turn left into Butchers Lane? Yes, it changes name to Bottle Lane part way down, but everyone knows it as Bottle Lane. Or at least I thought so. We decided to just wait for them at the side entrance of Shottesbrook Park. The rain had come on fairly steady now, so jackets back on. |
 |
| What a miserable day now, as we climbed over the railway bridge at Milley Bridge. |
 |
| Milley Bridge. But at least we look colourful. |
 |
| Leaving the Knowl Hill circuit, we rode along Breadcroft Lane, then up the hill on Canon Lane to reach Altwood Road. |
 |
| Carolyn had kindly parked her car on the drive, so that all 10 bikes got in the garage, and then she locked the door as we walked through the pretty front garden to the side entrance. |
 |
| Front garden influenced by Beth Chatto's gravel garden, walking through sun loving perennials. Here, silvery Eringium on the left, and blue Agapathus "Headbourne Hybrid" variety ahead (the variety most hardy in our climate). Also tall Stipa Gigantea Grass |
 |
| Agapathus "Headbourne Hybrid", with pink spikes of Hollyhocks. |
 |
| Pretty peach Hollyhock, complete with raindrops! |
 |
| Our poor hostess had an accident yesterday and broke a bone in her foot. Shame. Good structure from mature shrubs separate the garden into areas with lots of perennials and annuals added for colour. |
 |
| A treat from Carolyn to herself. This lovely Allium Seedhead sculpture. Planting in this border included pale pink Allium Millenium, at the front, with deeper pink Veronicas behind. And the dark foliage of Physocarpus Diaiblo. |
 |
| A little hidden sculpture, with dark foliage of smoke bush, Cotinus Coggria, and the yellow flowers of Cephalareia Gigantea. |
 |
| Crocosmia Lucifer. Has fabulous spear like foliage long before it flowers. |
 |
| We all love this giant, but see-through perennial called Malva Alcea. (aka the Hollyhock Mallow) Self seeds! But its beautiful. |
 |
| Pink Phlox on the left. |
 |
| Teasels. |
 |
| The tree in the centre, is a clipped Pittosporum. Excellent evergreen shrubs. And on the right Cosmos annuals in amongst the border plants which have now finished. |
 |
| The visiting dog, Woody, was so friendly. Linda making a fuss here. The patio had plenty of shady seating for us, but we were invited to sit indoors since there was still some light rain. But not at all cold. 24 degrees. |
 |
| Some extra chairs were brought to the table and home made Coffee cake and Courgette and Lime cake. 😋 |
 |
| Then time for a group photo before we head off. The dog was ready first 😂 |
 |
| Cathy, Tina, Louise,Coleen, Linda, Kim, Jill, Daphne, Elise, Anne... plus dog. his favourite place was right under your feet. 😄 |
 |
| And my selfie attempt to include our hostess Carolyn, but she his hiding behind Elise. |
 |
| Time to go, and we retrieved our bikes from the garage. |
Our return route, was a little backtrack to White Waltham village, then cut through to Woodlands Park Avenue, over the very bumpy road onto Heywood Farm Barns track. ( no photos on the way back, since it was pretty wet)
Then a more familiar route (to some!) of Beenham's Heath to Shurlock Row pond, and the plan was to cut through Darvill's Lane. Except that a huge lorry had other ideas, so through the village instead. The 2 Straight Miles to Hurst, then back over the motorways bridges to Cantley. We love it really.
So, we got a little wet at times, but it wasn't a problem, and the garden colours were much more vibrant thanks to the overcast sky.
I am copying this to Carolyn, so once more a BIG THANKYOU from all the ladies who really enjoyed your garden, and your cake. Thanks for having us. You're garden is looking wonderful. And well done for all the time you give to help organise the NGS open gardens. A great cause.