Girlie trip to Barnsdale Gardens

We have had some wonderful weather over the last few days, and as a family we do love to be outside in the countryside. We are very lucky that we live in a village and are surrounded by so much wonderful scenery, some times I think we take it for granted. My mum lives on a small holding in a village about 5 minutes from our house and its an amazing place to spend time, there is always so much to see and do, ranging from feeding the chickens, taking a walk around the lake or looking after the horses. Ruby and Lottie both share my passion for the outdoors and would much rather be outside in the cold and rain than being stuck indoors.

This week my mum took Lottie and myself out to a place that I had never been to before, Barnsdale Gardens. Barnsdale Gardens is situated in Rutland, very close to the well know Rutland Water; it was created by Geoff Hamiliton for BBC Gardeners World.

 
I have not been to Barnsdale before, so I was keen to explore and possibly get some new ideas for my own little garden back at home.

There are over 35 gardens, all of which are different in design, shape and space. As you can see from the photos Lottie had an amazing time running around and exploring the different gardens. Lottie particularly loved the garden that featured some toadstools as she loved sitting on them.

Lottie also enjoyed the mini maze; my mum hid her precious Li-Li in the centre of the maze for her to find, because the hedge was not very high she spotted Li-Li before she reached the centre and tried to lean over to get her, but she fell into the hedge, which resulted in much laughter from my mother and I!

We ate lunch in the tearoom and I had a lovely pannini filled with mozzarella, tomato and pesto, Lottie had what Miss Lottie always has ... beans on toast!

Barnsdale Gardens was a really lovely day out and I am sure we will be visiting again shortly, for further details you can visit their website.