Wednesday, 8th June - (Catch-up)
We had planned to meet cousin Andrew at Wisley on a nominated day, but hadn't heard from them, and so decided to go by ourselves, as we'd always wanted to see the gardens. It is owned/run by the Royal Horticultural Society and is their "showpiece", and as we found out, is very popular. We did the early thing again, and although we had no clear idea how to get there, and took a couple of wrong turns, but finally came at it along the A3, after a fairly 'circular' trip.
The car park is VAST, and needs to be when so many people turn up, as they did later. The gardens are also quite extensive, and so we didn't feel 'crowded' at any time. Had coffee first, and the paid £10.95 each to get in, which may seem a lot,but is worth it. We think if we lived in the UK we would certainly join the RHS.
It is really a botanic garden, and plants are well labelled, and there are separate sections for alpines, fruits, vegies, herbs, and rock plants & cacti., etc.
The weather was really kind to us, with some patchy cloud, and the only time we had some spots of rain threaten, we had our lunch, and beat the crowds.
The buildings look older than they are, but are in that sort of Tudor look, and everything in the grounds is so well maintained and not a weed in sight. The first area we walked through was the rock garden, which has to be one of the best we've ever seen, and is so well done. None of the rocks look out of place, and the water features and cascades give it a great look. There were plants we might have only ever seen in books, and some, like pitcher plants, growing outdoors. These few photos are not enough to convey how lovely it all is, and we spent three hours there. Near some glasshouses which house alpines, set in pots, there is an outdoor setting which is most interesting with all these tiny rock plants growing in the crevices. Not a look you could have at home, but is seemed to be fairly newly done and so might look better over time.
There is a wonderful area for showing how fruits are grown and this had so many ideas we could use here. The problem is of course the difference in our climates, for so many plants, and all this great information is happening at the wrong end of our lives. It's the stuff we should have known more about, much earlier. The other area which was interesting were the model gardens, giving ideas of how to plant courtyards, town gardens etc.
There is a new garden commemorating the late Queen Mother and has not been open long.
Bought some different tomato seeds, and everyone says you can get them back to Oz because they are sealed in foil packets. NOT SO! (when we got back to Sydney, we declared them, and the customs lady was very nice about it, and looked them all up on her computer, but as they are not listed, she had to take them. I asked her what would have happened if I hadn't declared them, which I almost forgot to do, and she said simply that we might have introduced a disease, so fair enough. Perhaps those in the UK should stop telling people it's OK)
Not sure how to get back to Woking, but headed off on a different road which went by a lovely pub on a canal, and looked so idyllic and English, we should have stopped for an ale! Went round in circles once back near Woking town, and finally got ourselves sorted and back to the hotel.
There was rain in the late afternoon, so we opted for the pub meal, and then waited to meet Barry and Judy. They arrived on time and we took a table inside, as it was a little cool. We yakked on for around 2-3 hours and found we had similar interests, like vegie growing, and Barry had bought a parcel of land from am old estate that was being sold off, and grows his veg there. He had been on an allotment waiting list for two years.
They are walkers and spend a lot of time tramping around the countryside, and had just returned from several days walking Exmoor. It was a nice, quiet, pleasant evening with new acquaintances, and tho we probably won't see them again, it was great to catch up after the time we had with them on the small cruise.
