A tour of an English private country garden- part 2

Today I would like to take you on the second part of the small guided tour of one of those private , exquisite and quintessentially English gardens here which are rarely open to the public .

It's nice to think that, althought the rain seems to be battering the whole of the UK, gardens are only thriving from rainy weather and make all the plants even more lush .

There are, however, in this particular garden  even without the rain, plenty of water features, like for instance the pond with the fountain here above in the picture..and there is a small lake further down in the garden with a fabulous weeping willow and a stautue of a woman who seems to bath underneath the weeping willow branches... so atmospheric..

I just adore this sprouting fountain that leads into the lake, in the shape of a fish..the whole garden is full of touches like this..

There is a stream that runs through the estate, and in the bits of the garden that are furtherest away, the garden becomes more of a landscape garden, and there is where you find this pond with this fabulous duck's house...I think this is the one( not this particular one,  mind ! ) that set off the expenses scandal as MP's were deducting costs like duck pond residences as garden costs at the taxpayers expense !

Well it is one heck of a duck house!

It's not all water features, there are loads of lovely old walls which hold the whole of the estate in some sort of embrace on which they grow all sorts of climbers..like this .. ( I love the combination of the purple clematis and the red rose..)

And like this lovely climbing rose..

..and of course the old walls are a perfect backdrop for herbaceous borders..

A fabulous background too for climbers and statuary..

There are lovely pathways like this.

But for now, I think I will take us back to the pond with the fountain..

Near there is a super cute garden house where you can get some tea....this is what you see on entering on the doorpost- and the whole inside is painted..

Here is one of the windows...

..and this is the window  a little bit nearer ..

Just outside is a lovely area with the pond an these cute little chickens ...

But because it was raining, they had set up this fabulous marquee - so you could have a cup of tea and stay dry- which I thought just fabulous..

There is much, much more to see- but I will leave that for the next post - as I am going to have a cup of tea and then it's to bed..

Hope you have enjoyed the tour and till part three !
XOXO
Bea