Impressions of Mottisfont

[Ragged Robin]

June is the perfect month for Roses and the season this year is rather late, so perfect timing for a special treat to visit Mottisfont!  The last time I was here the sun had baked the roses and it was almost too much but on this occasion the roses were just glorious at the beginning of full flowering and heady with scents.

The walled gardens where the roses are make a spectacular backdrop and climbing frame for every shape and variety and each is pruned and arranged for maximum display or allowed to scramble into an old apple tree or fig tree at will.  One could go round and round these wonderful gardens for hours and see something different, or a change of view, on each turn.  Above all the spectacular and highly artistic tapestry of other plants woven into the background is breathtaking and astonishing in the effect they create with roses as the central theme.  I do hope you enjoy these impressions, not perfect photos at all but I hope they convey the spirit of the place.

Firstly Mottisfont Abbey and grounds in the most wonderful setting on the River Test, Hampshire

[Ragged Robin]

There are many paths to wander down into woodland around the grounds or follow the river but the only path I headed for was the walled garden 

This is the National Trust Garden layout Plan together with a brief history

[Ragged Robin]

Rather like a maze you go through a narrow high-walled entrance to the South Garden

[Ragged Robin]

It's tempting to stay longer in this area with other distractions like Mr McGregor's vegetable garden for children (of all ages  )  and a new Webcam set up by the BBC showing the live goings on inside a beehive - but more scents are wafting through the archway into the Central Garden.....

This is where roses mingled with an array of other beautiful plants where I found favourites and I'm sure you will too

[Ragged Robin]

Walking slowly round there was plenty of time to stop ad reflect on the beauty of each rose or group of plants and how they intermingle so happily and effortlessly and then you see, out of the corner of your eye, gardeners working constantly in the background but willing to stop and give advice or the name of a rose.  Their skill is evident everywhere in the health of the plants and how expertly they are trained to create an illusion of natural growing.

[Ragged Robin]

Here there are ideas to enjoy and capture in the minds eye to use in you own garden....this is not a show case but a garden designed to inspire and learn from

[Ragged Robin]

....how to prune and train roses is just one thing!
....colour and form combinations another!

New and dramatic scenes in the North Garden

[Ragged Robin]

Foxtail lilies tower above and Campanula softens the edge below...

..and a superb clump of variegated Iris behind a low growing lavender hedge

[Ragged Robin]

The sky is threatening rain so time to go but the images of this garden will stay for a long time

[angie]

Robin well that certainly was a special treat, l can imagine the perfume in the air.
It looks if you could be there for days admiring all those lovely flowers, my husband really likes roses so this would be a treat for him... one more place on my wish list. I do hope l to live to a 100 as there are some many gardens to visit.
Thanks for taking the time to show us this wonderful place.

Angie

[Ragged Robin]

Angie, thanks for having a look and I'm glad you enjoyed the roses....hope your husband does too.  You should visit Mottisfont in June it is a 'once in a lifetime experience' if the weather and rose season are on your side    You can picnic in the grounds and/or have a cup of tea.....and homemade cake of course...I never seem to make it into the house although that is very interesting too (I'd better stop, I'm sounding like the guide  )

[Stephenb]

Robin: You're making me homesick (mainly the picture of the River Test!), having grown up near Romsey.... I'm ashamed to say I've never been to Mottisfont, usually heading up the road to Hilliers. Any more river shots? 

[David Nicholson]

Lovely pics Robin, I enjoyed the visit.

[Ragged Robin]

So glad you enjoyed th visit to Mottisfont David

Stephen - I shall have to make another trip to the area for more river shots on a good day when I can visit Hilliers too and will post them for you...the Test is such a beautiful river and the countryside is particularly lovely at present.

[Regelian]

Thanks for sharing these, Robin.  I've never been top Mottisfont.  Grand garden they have there.