The recent rain could not have come any sooner as it has suddenly sparked life into the dry grassy areas of the gardens, and the somewhat arid plant beds are now looking remarkably fresh and a great deal happier! The autumn advance is slowly beginning to creep through with the leaves on many trees showing hints of orange, yellow and burnished gold.

A walk around the gardens is always a wonderful sensory experience: come quickly to view the wonderfully vibrant dahlias, gingers and salvias on the upper terrace by the Croft. The Sorbus trees are already bearing fruit with some beautifully coloured berries coming through. Commonly known as rowan, they can be processed into jams, jellies, syrups, or juices, often combined with sweeter fruits like apples or quinces to balance their naturally sour and slightly bitter taste.

In the Kitchen Garden, the vegetables are in varying stages with the sweetcorn ripening and the cabbage and leeks well underway. Pumpkins and squashes will soon be harvested and the beans and courgettes are now slowing down. The wide variety of fruit is in abundance in the orchard with damsons, quinces, mulberrys all being picked now. There are also some medlars which have a unique taste, often described as combination of apple sauce, quince and sometimes with a hint of citrus, date or apricot. Pears are ripening well ( see the Pitmaston Duchess variety below) together with several apple varieties some of which are over 100 years old. There is even one variety of apple called “Core Blimey”!

In common with all other gardeners, we are truly thankful for the recent rain – having said that, the intermittent sunshine that we have at the moment shows everything at its very best and makes a wander round the gardens an immensely pleasurable experience. Come and visit soon to see the wonderful changing colours as the gardens undertake their transformation from late summer to early autumn.