Nymans Garden

On Sunday The Sister and I went to Nymans. I have shown you many photos from this lovely National Trust place before (see here), except those images were taken in June so the gardens were ablaze with colour and exotic flowers. In February the scene is rather different and it was freezing cold with a brisk wind turning our noses pink and whipping at our ankles.

The view, although slightly browner than last time, was as pretty as ever and there were lots of splashes of colour from the sunny Daffodils, several varieties of Snowdrop, Crocuses, Cyclamen and Blossoms.

On the walk up to the house, our eyes were drawn to a brilliantly shining golden tree trunk. It is an art sculpture named 'Rapture' and was created by artist Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva, made from a local tree felled during a storm in 1987 which has been stripped of bark and gilded in gold. Very eye catching!

The house is as dramatic as ever, the silhouette even more stark during the winter months as its window frames and stone edges aren't softened by the Wisteria which shrouds part of it during the summertime.

I think it's amazing how many little features still stand, bearing in mind how much of the house was lost to a great fire. Little characters guard the outside of the house, and there are crests and symbols carved into the walls and over doorways.

We loved this Cornus Sanguinea, or 'Midwinter Fire' (above). It really was very fiery!

There's a Bamboo walk too which was rather cool. The Bamboo towers over you and rustles constantly in the wind. There looked to be several varieties as they were different colours and thicknesses. I think we ought to get some Bamboo for the garden (planted in a big pot so that it doesn't take over and Pandas invade).

It is rather interesting to be able to see how these gardens develop over the season, it would be great to go back when Spring is turning to Summer and see what has popped up out of the flowerbeds.