More From Hinton St. George

Having visited the first garden which was open under the NGS scheme in Hinton St. George we went in search of the other three gardens which were included in the ticket price. £5 to see four gardens - not bad! And all for charity - everyone wins. We get a nice day out and charities receive much needed cash.

Hinton St. George is a truly stunning village with many fantastic houses. I couldn't take a photo of some as they had cars parked right outside which blocked half the view. I'm sure that this village on a week day looks absolutely fabulous when all the car owners are at work. It felt as if we had stepped back in time, no horrendous developers have been allowed to squeeze too many homes on too small a plot. Current planning laws have a lot to answer.

I love this double fronted house - it just oozes style.

I love this thatched one too with its thatched porch and lavender hedge.

The second garden was in a row of beautiful hamstone terraced cottages. The garden was long and narrow and there was a gap in the hedge at the end which allowed you to go straight out into a childrens playground. How spectacular would that be to have your very own playground literally on your doorstep.

The garden had some lovely roses.

Another lovely rose from the same garden.

Well, someone just couldn't leave the playground alone and went to sample the climbing frame.

The Other Half and myself just sat on a bench in the shade - listening to the birds chirruping away in the trees. There was no sound apart from the birds and squeals of delight coming from the direction of the climbing frame!

The third garden we visited had this plant which looked as if it had been dipped into a paint pot.

Some lovely flowers from the third garden.

Is this an astilbe?

A lily.

As we were about to leave I saw this bee in this rose - it looked drunk, it was bashing itself on the petals and didn't seem capable of standing up let alone flying! Too much of the old amber nectar!

As we left the third house we saw some more wonderful cottages.

We saw some lovely flowers.

And yet some more!

We came across some more beautiful homes. I love this roofed verandah.

Chocolate box cottages. There are no road markings which leads to that sense of stepping back in time - a time before the car was invented.

All the houses looked well cared for. It makes a lot of difference. I bet nobody with an ASBO lives here.

This road was called the High Street. No nasty retailers here though!

The village still had a red telephone box. Far nicer than the horrid modern clear perspex ones. Why do people meddle and change things?

Another fabulous home with lovely roses in the garden.

We came to the fourth garden which was at The Old Rectory.

The Old Rectory - how stunning is that. The Georgians certainly knew a thing or two about architecture and how to put a house together - look at those glorious windows and the lovely proportions. As we were in the garden we could hear the choir practising in the Church - heaven on earth!

There we have it, our very full Saturday. We walked back to where we'd parked the car and drove back home. On the journey we were unanimous in agreeing that the best garden was the one we had seen at Dowlish Wake followed closely by Hoopers Holding.

Until next time.

June.