Blooming Bodnant!

We started a week of garden visits, based in Chester, with a visit to Bodnant Gardens in north Wales. It had been quite a few years since we visited – a planned visit two years ago had to be cancelled as I spent the holiday in hospital in Chester! – and we had previously only visited in spring or in May to see the iconic Laburnum Arch which is one of England’s gardening wonders.

We had never visited in Summer and were a little apprehensive that the gardens might not live up to their spring standards. Rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and magnolias give a great display early in the year but we wondered if the summer show would be a match and worth the visit.

We need not have worried at all as the gardens most certainly filled that garden description to perfection – a garden with all year interest. We were delighted with the state of the garden, the level of colour and plant interest, the extraordinary level of maintenance and that it is obvious that ongoing renovations and new developments will ensure that this garden not only continues to be excellent but will even improve with each passing year. Despite the almost fashionable habit of garden commentators complaining about the work of the National Trust, which cares for these gardens, I must say that their work here in Bodnant is outstanding and deserving of recognition and great praise.

Let me give you a peep at the gardens through my photographs and suggest you pay a visit yourself. You will enjoy it.