Snapshots of a country part two

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on October 21^st 2022.

As promised this is the second part of our snapshot tour of Britain, and this time we are in England, visiting some quite unique gardens and galleries.

We spent a day recently visiting The Newt in Somerset, situated between Bruton and Castle Cary. I struggle to find quite the right words to do justice to this estate, or even to put it into a category that encompasses all that it offers. The visitor has thirty acres of garden to explore, set within hundreds of acres of woodland and farmland. It is the brainchild of a South African hotelier named Karen Roos and her telecom billionaire husband Koos Bekker and they have created a haven for wildlife and plants with extraordinary style and an equally mind-blowing budget.

It is much more than just a garden: we visited ‘The Beezantium’, watched a hive at work and learnt so much about bees, followed by ‘The Story of Gardening’ with its wonderful wall of old gardening tools and an interactive history of garden design.

There is a Japanese garden, cottage garden, winter garden, fragrance garden and colour garden.

There is also a huge kitchen garden and I always enjoy wandering around these just as much as the flower borders. There is something so wholesome about seeing vegetables in the soil, rich and abundant and where they should be instead of wrapped in plastic on a supermarket shelf. We often tend to associate garden design with herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees but when the same principles and care are applied to vegetables the results are just as pleasing, sometimes even more so.

One of the most impressive design features at The Newt is the archway that leads to the kitchen garden. A striking selection of gourds and squashes scramble over the trellis, rampant and exotic and making my mouth water at all the wonderful meals they could produce: either stuffed, roasted, or turned into soups and curries.

There are numerous places to eat, a farm shop, a gift shop, courses and events that run throughout the year, and even a re-imagined Roman Villa, built on remains that were unearthed on the estate. It’s not possible to see it all in one day.

The entry fee is not cheap so if anybody is thinking of visiting please do check on the website before you jump in the car – unless you are, like us, lucky enough to have a family member who works there. It might help you to think of it as an annual fee rather than a daily one, for it allows you constant access through the year, as well as to other member gardens around the country. On that basis, it is excellent value.

I realise I am waxing lyrical about this place, but it is quite unique and, before anybody asks, no, I am not being paid to write this!!

Our other visit of note was to the Messums Art Gallery at Tisbury, near Salisbury in Wilstshire. They had an exhibition of bronze sculptures by Lawrence Edwards. I have to confess I had never heard of this artist and it was pure luck that our visit timed with his exhibition, but as you can see from the pictures below we were privileged to see something very special indeed. Even more amazing is that there is no charge to visit this gallery and that they will have a selection of different artists throughout the year. They also have a restaurant and make the best soup I have ever tasted.

Our cultural binging didn’t stop there as I also had the chance to drop in to The Mere Literary Festival and listened to a talk about cows and what wonderful creatures they are.

Finally, that brings us to the end of our time in the UK. We are slowly making our way back to Olivia Rose in France, but will be breaking the journey with a minor detour into Belgium to spend a week looking after someone else’s boat. A new country, a new boat and a dog called TinTin – something different to look forward to next week.

MJ