When Susanne and I received our tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show we were also given a year’s membership of the Royal Horticultural Society which included information about, and free or reduced entry into, amazing gardens all over the UK.
Discovering that Holehird Gardens was nearby, we had to take a look and as you will see from our photos, it was well worth the visit.
Stone walls surround the first, enclosed section of the garden which is managed by a group of enthusiastic volunteers. The day was warm but with rain forecast, we included umbrellas in our back packs. I love the way they have used the stone as a feature in the plantings.
Colours and textures are combined in a way that makes me want to paint these images, but as I’m not an artist, these photos have to satisfy that desire.
Come in to paradise
Walking outside the gate at the end of this section of the garden we found a piece of paradise. Looking through these photos again today, so long after our visit, I gasped with surprise and delight at some of these images. 
I can’t help thinking that the landscaper here was an artist. I say ‘was’ because the trees are such an important element in the structure, but they must have been planted many years ago and the lovely vignettes we see today, are possible because this garden has beautiful ‘bones.’
Branches made for climbing
Delicate flowers grow in the shade
The trees also create shade to sit and relax; amongst the low growing flowers I could imagine myself as a child, searching for fairy creatures.
A fairy garden?
Another piece of paradise
The view from the top of the hill,
down over Lake Windermere and on to the hills on the other side, was misty. It was at this point that our umbrellas came in handy.
Clouds were rolling in over our heads as we neared the end of the garden. We didn’t want to leave without getting every last photo that beckoned, but eventually the rain was too heavy, Susanne’s camera was getting wet, so we returned to the car and drove back to the cottage.
Friends from Australia were staying in Ambleside the same week as us so we had arranged to meet them for dinner that night. The two men were walking across England from west to east, along a well travelled trail which included lots of hill climbing. We didn’t know then, how stormy the weather could turn, but the sky that evening should have been a warning.