walled garden

Helmsley’s walled garden is absolutely beautiful, well worth the £5.50 admission. We particularly like the wild sections but the whole place is interesting, at all times of the year, with plenty of benches dotted around to sit and admire what’s going on. The gardeners are kept very busy. The greenhouse, full of begonia and numerous exotic plants, was a bit too hot to stay in for long yesterday, even with all the doors open.
I wouldn’t recommend the café though. At £8.50, the salad meals are overpriced for the small servings you get. When we left, Christine said she was still hungry! The café used to do a delicious home-made veggie burger but that’s gone from the menu. I had a peach frangipan cake for dessert which was disappointing: very little flavour. The next time we visit the garden, we’ll take a picnic.
This picture shows echinacea, yarrow and Helmsley’s ancient castle.