Half Term, Part 5 - Burrow Farm Gardens

On Friday we went to Burrow Farm Gardens near Axminster.  This is the home of John and Mary Benger.

They moved to the address in 1959 and Mary started on the garden initially as a hobby and then with the intention of opening it to the public.

There is a Courtyard Garden, a Terrace Garden, a Millenium Garden and a Rock Garden as well as a Pergola Walk.

Our Daughter in the garden.

White foxgloves!

The garden has many beautiful roses.

The views of Devon from the gardens is just stunning!

Our Daughter in the buttercup and wild flower meadow.

The dragonflies in the bog garden were getting pretty amorous!

Love was certainly in the air!

"Buzz off. Don't you know three's a crowd!"

There were some marvellous trees to shelter from the sweltering sun.

Some gorgeous flowers.

Around the garden there were many viewpoints to take in the beauty of the garden and Devon.

I liked it most in the areas where the gardens just carried on without a boundary to the fields of Devon.

The gardens are on a bit of an incline and it was just so hot that every now and again we sat on a nearby bench to get our breath back!

Our Daughter taking a rest.

Posing for the camera!

Another pose! I bet in a few years time she will refuse point blank to have her photo taken and at that stage I will be glad that I have so many of her at this age.

I always like a door in the garden it makes me think of one of my favourite childhood books "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Mary Lennox, Colin and Dickon and the gardener Ben Weatherstaff. We now have it as an audio book and listen to it in the car on the way down to Devon. I first got interested in the story when it was dramatised on TV when I was about 10 years old. It used to be on the telly after school at about 4.00 p.m. I used to rush home to watch it. I enjoyed it so much that I saved up my pocket money and bought the book. That book then led me on to "The Little Princess" - another favourite from the same author and which we also have on audio. Audio books are excellent for car journeys and also for childrens imagination as they have to envisage the characters and places in the story.

There were some awesome flowers.

I just loved this rose. It reminded me of "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll  - where the playing cards paint the white roses red. This was also another favourite book of mine as a child. Again I remember saving up my pocket money which was probably about 30p a week and buying this book at the WHSmith in Llandudno, North Wales. It's funny how I can remember things so vividly from my childhood and I can't remember other things from yesterday and even a few hours ago sometimes! The Other Half is the same I frequently hear the phrase - "Have you seen my car keys, mobile, etc..."

We had brought our own picnic lunch and sat in the shade of the picnic area savouring our sandwiches, salad and fruit. Some of us played with the cucumber.

After our lunch we got a blanket out of the car and just sat under the shade of the trees reading - there was a hint of a breeze, it was wonderful!

I told Our Daughter that her teeth would look like that if she didn't brush them every night!

Our Daughter is a very easy one to get to go to bed but in her rush to go and read she has to be reminded to go to the bathroom and wash her face and brush her teeth!

Well I truly have surpassed myself today with all these posts. I am now going to sign off and grab my own book to read - another Dennis Wheatley. I will do a book round up shortly.

Until next time.

June.