A Walled Garden in Midsummer

[00:00:00]Croeso, welcome back to Ceredwen Cottage Diary. I'm out and about having a lovely adventure all by myself and picking up Daisy from university tomorrow.

[00:00:11]But, um, I've come to one of my favorite places. It's, uh, right next to where I grew up and [clears throat] so I used to explore here all the child all the time as a child.

[00:00:27]So, um, it it was very [clears throat] formative for me. So, it formed my aesthetic sensibilities and my, um, feeling of sort of wonder and magic. So, this is Erddig. And, um, I'm not going to go around the house today. I'm just going to show you around the glorious gardens. You can see a bit just from behind me.

[00:00:53]It's beautiful roses. I think this is Rosa rugosa.

[00:00:59]It's a beautiful walled garden, so I hope you enjoy it. Look at the roses.

[00:01:05]Wish you could smell them, they're amazing.

[00:01:12]And this paler pink one, I think, is Ballerina. It looks like Ballerina.

[00:01:18]We've got that in our garden.

[00:01:28]Roses just typify June.

[00:01:45]There's lovely woodland behind that I used to play in as a child, full of bluebells and wild garlic.

[00:02:17]>> So, this is a mini walled garden and then there's a This is the mini walled garden is set into a larger walled garden and I would sit in the walled garden when I was a teenager and revise for my >> [clears throat] >> uh GCSE and A-level exams.

[00:02:35]It was just I probably didn't do that much revising.

[00:02:39]Too busy looking at the plants, I think, and savoring the atmosphere and pretending that I was a uh heroine from a from some Victorian novel, but there we go.

[00:02:52]It was a lovely place to study anyway.

[00:03:16]Very much has the feeling of a French chateau, actually.

[00:03:29]Put them in a pita.

[00:03:32]So loved by bees.

[00:03:35]I love all the fruit trees that I have all along the the walls, proper walled garden style. I think this is a pear here.

[00:03:51]Just see some pears forming on that.

[00:03:53]Absolutely lovely.

[00:04:00]I used to pretend that I lived here as a as a child and a teenager in the house itself. These Turks cap lilies are lovely. I've got some in a sort of pale peachy pink which I'm so sorry. I've been unbelievably busy this month and um I haven't filmed the garden for you this month and the my lilies have already been and gone.

[00:04:27]So I do apologize for that.

[00:04:43]I like the fact that they're leaving a lot of the lawns wild these days. So important. Um in my day this would have all been mown down to nothing, but it's it's lovely to see it.

[00:05:02]Really makes me happy.

[00:05:10]There has always been such an incredible atmosphere here for me.

[00:05:16]I don't know if it's because I've known it well for as long as I can remember and it was such a huge part of my childhood and teenage years.

[00:05:28]But there is a a real magic in this place.

[00:05:39]I think walled gardens are very romantic though, aren't they?

[00:05:43]I've always wanted to own a property with a proper walled garden all the way around it.

[00:05:51]Look at the size of this wall.

[00:05:54]It's absolutely incredible.

[00:06:02]Can you hear all the birds in the wood beyond? I think that's what I particularly loved about this as a child because you had this Well, it felt a bit like um uh in Wuthering Heights I always used to tell myself anyway that I was Cathy and this was uh Linton's No, not Linton.

[00:06:23]Who was the Edgar Linton? Yeah, was it Edgar Linton?

[00:06:27]Yeah.

[00:06:28]That um married Cathy in the end and that this is where she came to but but yeah, she her and Heathcliff stumbled through the the woods here to peer through the gates.

[00:06:43]It really does have that makes you feel.

[00:06:49]I don't know if the camera's picking up any of the atmosphere at all, but um yeah, I thought I'd treat myself and come. It's my birthday in a couple of days. Um I haven't been for a long time and um my heart was yearning for it.

[00:07:04]Such a feeling of nostalgia and home and yeah, as I said this place um helped me uh become the person that I am. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know.

[00:07:21]But um yeah, so I grew up reading Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree and reading Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies and things. So, they were very very formative for me. And then of course, living here as well um just the the side of the the woods Um it was hard not to believe in magic and fairies um or the Tylwyth Teg as we say in Wales.

[00:07:51]Um And um yeah, so from a very early age, I was obsessed with gardens and fairies and woodland and um old things, old houses, old walled gardens, um vintage clothes, you name it. I hated anything new and I still do. So, yeah, I've changed very little from from when I was a child, really.

[00:08:26]And uh nobody around me could understand it. I mean, my parents liked history and they liked coming to sort of old houses and having a look around, but they also thought modern was good and they also thought that being normal and conventional was very good. And so, me being obsessed with wearing Victorian clothes and um yeah, just wanting to pretend like I was living in another time was was quite challenging for them, I think.

[00:08:59]They do like their Nepeta here, don't they? But that's wonderful for the bees.

[00:09:04]And all of these, gosh, I I'm assuming these are still the ones that were here when I was a child. So, when I was a child, um the original owner, the last member of the York family to ever live here, still lived here.

[00:09:20]And he was an incredibly eccentric character. I mean, it was the 1970s, but he would cycle round wearing uh very old-fashioned clothes and ride on his penny farthing, which if you don't know it is a very old-fashioned bike. Um and he was yeah, an incredible character. And I think if you're my sort of age, um in your 50s, then uh obviously, if you're in your 50s or older, you have the immense privilege of um knowing uh people that were essentially Victorians and Edwardians. And yeah, I mean, my my grandparents were Edwardians. And um it's, you know, it's just amazing. And I knew my great-grandmother, my Welsh great-grandmother.

[00:10:17]And um yeah, she was a Victorian woman.

[00:10:19]She lived in a little thatched cottage.

[00:10:21]And um it's such a privilege now to to think that I Well, I always knew it was a privilege, actually. I always asked lots of questions.

[00:10:33]Um but it really was a privilege to know people from these, what I considered very romantic, bygone eras. Um hearing what it was actually like day-to-day.

[00:10:48]And how things had changed, and how very, very odd the world must have been.

[00:10:55]Uh the the huge rapid change that that we had in the in the 20th century, um for for the people that I was talking to, primarily my uh grandparents and and great-grandp- and great-grandmother. I'd be really interested, um any of you that are my age or older, um if you have any interesting stories that you were told by um yeah, older old relatives that yeah, that straddled the the sort of the Victorian-Edwardian world. Um cuz yeah, well, I I think we're very very privileged to to have been able to do that really.

[00:11:40]Oh, isn't this lovely? I don't know if that's Blush Noisette. It seems a little bit tighter, a bit more of a double than Blush Noisette, but it's gorgeous.

[00:12:02]It's lovely looking back every now and again at the house itself. I was convinced that one day uh when it when it went over to the National Trust, I was convinced that one day somehow I would I would manage to to live here.

[00:12:20]But it wasn't meant to be.

[00:12:22]>> [laughter] >> I like the fact that they're not too tidy here, but they've You probably saw I shouldn't have pointed it out. But the yellow that you can see there, that's evening primrose. Some people might be tempted to uh weed it out, but it's amazing for um well, particularly sort of night-flying moths when it's in flower, and then in my garden anyway, I don't know a plant that goldfinches love more uh than the seed heads of that. So, if you do grow it, please don't be too tidy. Leave the seed heads on because um oh, if you love goldfinches, um they will they will thank you for it.

[00:13:08]This is a lovely oriental poppy.

[00:13:11]Again, they've left lots of the feverfew, which is a wild plant. Um I like it as well in my garden. I love the way they've let it just sort of punctuate the border where it just goes all the way along.

[00:13:30]It's a pretty mallow. I think this is probably in one of the native I don't know if it's a common mallow.

[00:13:37]Maybe a little bit too pale for a common mallow, but I think you can get them in a a paler color.

[00:13:48]Even let the rosebay willowherb do its thing.

[00:13:52]And uh they've changed this a lot since I was a child. I am a little bit sad. I mean, it's nice in some ways. They've made it a children's play area.

[00:14:02]But when I was a child, the bluebell woods used to come right up to the gate.

[00:14:08]And I loved that.

[00:14:10]But still, it's nice for the children to have a little woodland area, safe woodland area to play in.

[00:14:19]But I did love the magic of the woods right up to the gate.

[00:14:27]Now, I used to love these bear's breeches. I used to want to grow them in my garden, but apparently they're actually really bad for British bees. So, if you are creating a wildlife garden, possibly don't have them because they're designed for uh pollinators from other countries.

[00:14:49]And our native bees are just too small, so they end up actually getting stuck and dying in the flowers. So, um yeah, maybe think again.

[00:15:09]It's nice double opium poppy. Not that I would grow it cuz I only grow singles for wildlife, but it's very pretty. Don't think it's showing the color on camera, but it's a lovely coral color.

[00:15:25]The Lychnis, the rose campion.

[00:15:29]It's always such a striking color, isn't it? Particularly with this geranium. Not quite sure who it is. It might be Anne Folkard. Uh there's quite a few that look very similar, so I'm not really sure.

[00:15:44]Uh I'm not a complete [laughter] expert on the geraniums, but uh This is a lovely vibrant one. Salvia Amistad has started flowering.

[00:15:57]Of course, the lovely thing about these wall gardens is that they do create a microclimate, so it is relatively sheltered. Though, it's actually quite a windy day today.

[00:16:17]It's another Lychnis, the red.

[00:16:20]A different one.

[00:16:25]This looks like Miss Willmott's ghost, doesn't it?

[00:16:29]I do love them.

[00:16:31]I've tried to grow them in my garden, completely unsuccessfully. I have got one in the garden. Maybe this will be the year that finally does something.

[00:16:41]If it does, I will endeavor to show you.

[00:16:45]This potato vine is stunning, isn't it?

[00:16:49]Absolutely beautiful in color.

[00:16:52]And there's some more opium poppies down here.

[00:16:58]Oh, maybe the other one won't be a double. Maybe it just hasn't opened yet.

[00:17:10]Isn't that a pretty rose on the wall?

[00:17:14]Don't know what it is. Sorry.

[00:17:17]It's gorgeous, though.

[00:17:27]You can see there's some orchids here.

[00:17:36]It's lovely to see.

[00:17:38]Cuz I say when I was a child, they would have they used to just mow all this.

[00:17:46]So, this is a lovely strip that's been allowed to Well, it's obviously managed so that the wildflowers get a chance to come through. I can see there's some knapweeds. They've obviously got yellow rattle, but what truffle.

[00:18:01]Um Yeah, how lovely to see the orchids.

[00:18:10]There's the house. Isn't it gorgeous?

[00:18:15]And this um What would you call it? Well, it's a sort of it's a very formal lake.

[00:18:22]Um When I was we were last here with some friends, um we watched there were lots and lots of fish in here, and we watched the ducks hand it feeding the fish.

[00:18:35]It was absolutely magical. It was so cute.

[00:18:39]I'll see if I can get you a close-up of the fish if they come to the surface, but I haven't got anything to feed them with.

[00:18:49]This is what happens if you let grass grow long.

[00:18:54]Lovely orchid.

[00:18:57]Hello.

[00:18:58]>> Good luck with >> They're absolutely enormous, aren't they?

[00:19:02]>> Yes, you can get fed by the ducks today.

[00:19:04]I can't see any ducks here today, though.

[00:19:06]>> Yeah.

[00:19:24]>> Aren't these rose swags cute?

[00:19:28]Such a nice idea.

[00:19:41]The pleached lines are very impressive.

[00:19:46]Just give that bit of that bit of formality so that Oops, sorry. I've got a feather in my hand to make sure. Give that bit of formality which then allows you to be a lot more informal with other things.

[00:20:00]Here's a sundial.

[00:20:13]When I was a child, there was a series on called Moondial.

[00:20:19]Those of you in the UK that were my sort of age may have watched it, and it was my fav- one of my favorite things on television.

[00:20:28]And uh obviously knowing that there was a sundial here, I was rather naughty when I was a teenager. I wasn't generally naughty, but I was in this instance. I used to climb over the gate there, which you could do at the time.

[00:20:41]But there's now a pond, and it's all sort of fenced off.

[00:20:45]So I could come at nighttime and pretend that this was the main dial.

[00:20:52]Um it's also a book, isn't it? Um Helen Cresswell? Is it Helen Cresswell book? I haven't read it. I must read it, actually.

[00:20:59]Um but yes, I just thought it was the most magical and romantic thing ever. And it also very much sort of gives sort of Tom's Midnight Garden uh that sort of that sort of vibe here.

[00:21:27]And this was the cutest little plant shop you've ever seen.

[00:21:33]Set within part of the walled garden.

[00:21:37]Isn't it just gorgeous?

[00:21:56]Some lovely delphiniums.

[00:22:29]The lilies are about to open.

[00:22:54]Look at that for a bug hotel.

[00:22:57]That's like bug hall.

[00:23:02]Wow.

[00:23:41]Oh, these lovely glass houses.

[00:23:52]The original Victorian ones. They are absolutely stunning.

[00:24:16]They have a see-through easels as well.

[00:24:34]And this is the view from the front of the house.

[00:24:43]Quite windy around the front without the wall to protect you. This is what it looks like.

[00:24:54]Georgian frontage.

[00:24:57]I think it's Georgian. It might be earlier than that, actually.

[00:25:05]I think it was 1700s, actually, so it would be earlier than Georgian, I think.

[00:25:11]It's very impressive. I've always loved this area.

[00:25:16]This is all the herbs.

[00:25:21]It's just a huge wall-fronted figs on the wall.

[00:25:29]Amazing huge figs, but yeah, all of this is just herbs. It's absolutely gorgeous.

[00:25:37]The smell is amazing.

[00:25:41]I always love this bit.

[00:25:55]So, I hope you enjoyed this tour of uh one of the places that um made me who I am.

[00:26:02]Uh whether that's good or bad, I don't know, but it's certainly given me a lot of joy. Um I'm probably not going to get to do a June tour of the garden, unfortunately. I'm really sorry about that. Um because I'm picking up Daisy tomorrow from university, and then we're celebrating the solstice very quickly, and then we're off to Cornwall.

[00:26:27]Kernow uh for my birthday for a few days, which will be really exciting. Uh if we go anywhere that I think is worth sharing, I'm sure there will be lots of places worth sharing, but um Cornwall is a very busy place, so it might be difficult to film. Uh if I can film any of the places that we go to, then I will gladly share it with you.

[00:26:52]But I'll say goodbye for now, friends, and um happy solstice share with you all the wildflowers even in the car park.

[00:27:00]This is the old orchard still full of lots of fruit trees. I used to scrump here when I was a child, which means taking some apples cuz they didn't used to use them when I was a child. And there's lots of mistletoe in all the apple trees. They're so old.

[00:27:16]Look, isn't this gorgeous?

[00:27:26]It's not just delightful.

[00:27:30]And that's better than mowing grass, isn't it?