A Garden Safari

I'd never been on a Garden Safari before, but I saw this one advertised, rang a friend to see if she was interested in joining me - and off we went. 

It was in and around a small village not far away, the weather looked reasonable - and we had a lovely afternoon out.  I hope you enjoy the photographs.

This was the first garden - and the first time the owners had taken part in a Safari, so were understandably nervous; the husband said he hadn't been able to sleep for the last two nights!

I love the Wedding Cake Tree on the right . . . but the Rose bed on the left was visited by deer just a month ago and all the buds and tips were eaten. More Rose bushes were bought and planted, then on the night before the Open Day, the deer came back and did it all over again - no buds again.

 There were 7 gardens altogether, some manicured and immaculate, some real working gardens, more like allotments; some were easy to negotiate and some were on very steep hillsides which needed lots of energy to view, let alone to do the gardening. All were a credit to their hard-working owners but  I'll let the photos tell the story -

 A very cleverly camouflaged tap -

 A lovely view across the River Tamar -

This was a very welcome sight after all that walking! A cup of tea and a slice of Lemon Drizzle cake, please!

A table with a view to die for.

This beautiful tree takes up almost the whole of a tiny front garden  - but the owners weren't around to ask what sort of tree it was. Behind the cottage was a very unexpected HUGE garden built on a steep hillside.

The herbs planted between these steps gave off a wonderful perfume as people brushed past them -

Narrow paths kept leading on to unexplored areas -

 - and there were seats strategically planted for admiring the views and taking a breather.

 We admired the complexity of the slate paths, which must have taken hours of back-breaking work.