Stronghouse

A bit of a day out this afternoon, it being an anniversary day.  E had arranged a visit to the Laskett Gardens.  

E had been before but I hadn't.  It's the home of Sir Roy Strong and the late Julia Trevelyan Oman.  It's a curious garden; never intended as a garden to open to the public it is a collection of around 20 'garden rooms' almost all of which are presented as memoirs of a particular event or milestone in their lives.  

Sir Roy is not one to hold back in name-dropping in the (excellent) audio commentary - having been director of Important Things like the National Portrait Gallery, V&A, etc. garden designer fro Important People (Elton John, Gianni Versace, et al) and Julia having designed sets for Covent Garden ballet etc.  Thus, this garden room celebrates that ballet set, or this leaving presentation, or that gift by some celebrity, etc. That part of the commentary can get a bit wearing after a while, as can the initials RS and JTO on every conceivable engravable surface.

However, the garden design is excellent, with each room different and well hidden from the next by little more than very careful planning and planting, and all within 4 acres.  We came away thinking of new approaches to the 'TBD' area in the corner of our little plot.

On leaving, and chatting to the gardener, we were pleased to be able to drop Steve's name in as an excellent tree carver for a large trunk they have ...

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