Kingston Lacy garden

This week, on a perfect summer's day we walked round the gardens of Kingston Lacy, a property owned by the National Trust. Some families had brought picnics and were enjoying the spacious and peaceful grounds; it would be a different story at the beach in such glorious weather!

The deep borders were a blaze of colour.

It is not allowed to walk through the Japanese Garden but we could look from outside the fencing and enjoy all the details, the dry stream bed, the tea house, winding step pathways and the bamboo deer scarer, all very lovely.

The history of the estate is well conveyed in the buildings that housed those many gardeners who did all the hard work, the head gardener's office and the bothy where all the gardeners gathered and one young lad slept overnight to keep the fire going that warmed the walls in the glass houses. What an effort, but what pride they took in their work. I love places like this.

Our grandson listened to the message on the telephone in the head gardener's office. What a clever way to learn history!

The bothy, with it's fire constantly lit, must have been a welcome place for the gardeners to take a break from their work. I liked the kreel with a few manky-looking socks dangling from it! So shocking to see how many of these men were lost in the First World War and sobering to think that while we were enjoying a peaceful and happy day others are still experiencing bloodshed and war.