Between the rain showers.

I love the beauty of prairie gardens where drifts of grasses and herbaceous plants blend together to create a naturalistic look such as this.......


Last year when I was gathering ideas for our new garden I came across pictures of this garden designed by internationally renowned landscape designer Piet Oudulf on pinterest .I was very excited to discover that the garden was actually in Somerset and only about 90 minutes drive from home. As late summer is when this type of garden is at it's best we just had to go and see it for ourselves! (You may also have seen this location featured in posts by Where five valleys meet and Vintage Jane)


As you can see it was absolutely stunning! This garden was planted using 26,000 herbaceous perennials - that is what you call planting on a grand scale! The mass planting in drifts really created the wow factor and  highlighted to us how, even on a smaller scale, having fewer plants but more of the same variety can look so good.







The location of this garden is in the grounds of Hauser & Wirth a futuristic art gallery and education centre built around a old Somerset farm. It is quite strange to find an international gallery in the country rather than a city- the owners moved down here from London  and then decided to create one of their international galleries here.The current exhibition in the building  revolves around the power of words. My husband found it very thought provoking whereas I found some of it disturbing.It was interesting and we will visit here again to see future exhibitions and of course see how the garden develops and changes through the seasons.


 At the entrance they also had a wonderful raised kitchen garden which is used in the attached bar and grill.


Vintage Jane had also given me many recommendations of other things to do when visiting the gallery. We travelled a few miles on to the town of Frome. We have been here before and I love the buildings.You could just imagine a costume drama taking place here couldn't you?


It is has many independent shops with great names and good places to eat.


The weather is so chargeable at the moment. I had been promising one of my closest friends that we would go for a cream tea at one of my favourite cafe's which is walking distance from home along country footpaths. As we arrived there in the sunshine we could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. It did not however distract us too much from enjoying our cream tea! On our return walk, as we reached the open fields, the heavens opened. Tavi was the only one that thought it was fun as he ran around and around in circles. We managed to take cover in a wood but we still returned home looking like drowned rats. Luckily the camera wasn't to hand to capture this moment!

Sunday morning it was still raining heavily, in the afternoon the sun reappeared, we decided to visit Abbotsbury sub-tropical gardens to remind us of warmer climes.


The rain drops on the water lillies looked stunning and the late colour in the garden was beautiful. I loved the combination of different coloured hydrangeas growing together and also the cornus tree which was smoothered in insects.


 We even managed to sit and have an ice-cream on the neighbouring beach, it was good to feel summer was still here!


It is always good to hear your thoughts, have you been inspired to visit anywhere from pinterest? Do you like priarie planting or modern art galleries, have you been caught in the rain recently too?

Until next time.
Sarah x

Comments

  1. Glorious colours for this time of year. Frome looks lovely too- I've never been so have added it to the list. V happy to post you some seeds. If you are happy to leave me your email address we can do it that way, if not (and completely understand if not) will need to think how best to achieve it. I thought we used to be able to send an email via blogger but can't find the function now. xx

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  2. Hauser and Wirth is on my list for this summer, although it feels more like autumn already! It will give me huge inspiration, I'm sure.

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    1. I'm sure you will love the garden too, we also stopped off a Kilver court nursery and didn't come home empty handed! Sarah x

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  3. It looks like a lovely garden, well worth a visit. It can't be too far from me I think. We used to go to Frome occasionally when we lived in Bristol, and I always enjoyed it. Glad you've had some good days out. You've made me think I should have a cream tea soon, it's been too long! CJ xx

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  4. Having now seen your fabulous photos of Piet Oudulf's garden I must return again at some stage - they are better than I imagined they would be when we visited back in January.
    Definitely Frome is a must I didn't know that it was such an attractive little town.
    It was very kind of you to give my post a mention - thank you Sarah♡

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    1. The area of Frome around St Catherine's Hill is particularly nice. Sarah x

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  5. Wonderful photos, especially of the water lilies. I love every kind of garden. Those drifts of flowers are exceptional. I'm with you on not "getting" modern art. In the garden is one thing, but to devote indoor square footage to some that I've seen in Washington, DC is almost a crime! I can only guess that the artist has made a name for themselves with something better than the pile of clothes on the floor I saw in one of the Smithsonian galleries. Getting caught in the rain walking across an English field sounds lovely to me--I've with Tavi on this one--except the thunder part. Lightening can be very dangerous. One really must know the "rules" in order to avoid getting struck.

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  6. Sarah ... an aptly named post! The rain showers have been arriving at regular intervals, but of course we do need a certain amount for the gardens.

    Your photo's are lovely, I've enjoyed every one of them - and yes I can imagine a costume drama being filmed in those Frome streets.

    Hope the rest of your week goes well.

    All the best Jan

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  7. Do you know I get a very COZY feeling when I curl up here to read your posts? That photo with the raindrops on the large leaves, the ocean, the prairie grasses (which we have a lot of) are a beautiful memory to be made very soon, because our weather is quickly CHANGING! Oh Sarah, as usual, your tours of lovely England make me pine for a trip to your world....and thank you for coming to visit me. PS....CREAM TEA SOUNDS GOOD RIGHT NOW!

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  8. Lovely photos and beautiful gardens! I have always wanted to plant in drifts but even when I had a huge garden,I could only manage 5 of the same plant at a time. For me going to buy plants is like a child going to a candy shoppe, I can't resist buying all sorts of varieties. I'm glad your weather is still nice. Here we are inundated with smoke from fires in Washington State and Idaho. Hopefully the wind will shift soon and the air will clear. Have a wonderful week xox

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    1. I have only managed to plant only 3 plants together apart from plants I have raised from seed. They say you can create a priare effect in only 1 metre strips. Sarah x

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  9. What a beautiful garden, I love the work of Outdolf and have seen another garden on another blog today.

    Sigrun

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  10. What a lovely post of a lovey garden and a lovely town! Would love to visit the place...
    Have a great week, take care!
    Titti

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  11. Thanks for the reminder about Hauser & Wirth. We're off to Cornwall on Friday and I may see if it offers a good stopping off point. I'm very fond of Somerset. My parents started their married life in Ryme Intrinsica and kept in touch with good friends from Queen Camel all their lives. There are some lovely gardens down there including Tintinhull, Lytes Carey, East Lambrook and Hestercombe. Oh the rain, I've been soaked three days running, I'm staying home today!

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    1. Hope you have a good time in Cornwall with less rain! Some of my husband's family originate from Somerset too. I agree there are some fantastic gardens there too many we haven't visited for many years. We returned to East Lambrook Manor in June and I just had to share it's delights. Sarah x

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  12. I have used Pintrest for crafty ideas but never for ideas of places to visit. You have really whetted my appetite with all those gorgeous photos. It really is time I came over from my soggy wet island and visited the south west of England again. B x

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  13. Beautiful gardens m'dear, the trouble is with Compromise garden being such a small plot every time that I visit such wonderful places new ideas and plants tempt me so much that it is hard to resist cramming something else in! Frome does look lovely and Bramble is pleased to see a shop named after her (both her name and nature).

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    1. It is so easy to get tempted by just one plant isn't it. That's my failing too! Glad Bramble was pleased that's a great name! Sarah x

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  14. Beautiful garden! I always enjoy the borders he designed at RHS Wisley. x

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  15. Oh my!!! What a truly beautiful place to visit!!! Such beautiful flowers and I'd definitely visit that town.Xx

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  16. Oh yes, caught in the rain ! It's torrential today but I see a glimmer of light coming.
    I love that Prairie planting. I think I visited Frome as a child, it looks so pretty x

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  17. I'd like a prairie garden, but I'd want a prairie to put it in! My current garden is too small for the mass effect to be effective.

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  18. Rain rain and more rain Sarah, and the poor new doggie has been out in it with us so many times! I love prairie planting and managed to see one of PO's gardens at Scampston in North Yorkshire and I was spellbound.
    Beautiful images and a joy to see whilst we battle through rain, dark days and windy conditions.

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  19. Beautiful photographs, Sarah. I know the rain is annoying when it happens at peak holiday time, but that is how your countryside always looks so lush and green. Wish we could have some of it sent to the west of the Sierras. The prairie planting is very inspiring, and I hope to achieve some of that look now I have removed my lawn and planted Carex and other native plants to California.

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  20. Sarah - Oh so lovely and very inspirational. I too love this style of gardening. Pinterest is such a great source for day dreaming. I'm visiting inspirations boards regularly, not just for the garden but as we plan our cottage renovation. Lovely photos, as always. Best, Kim

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  21. Just beautiful. I feel at times to just dig up my garden and have just that, a prairie garden with a path for walking through it. Have some grass as the path maybe. Your post has maybe a good thing to think about for me. Love the beautiful building there. I next to have cafe's and shops look so charming. : )
    Thanks for your visit over to my post. Opie was a good boy to keep the garden hat on for a while. He has been doing good when I want to get a photo of him.
    Thanks for sharing the Pinterest with use too. I will go on over and take a peak. Have a wonderful day Sarah.

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  22. I love the Piet Oudolf garden - and that shot of the water lilies! Fabulous Sarah.

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  23. I do love the prairie style of planting and your gorgeous photos show it so beautifully – I particularly love the colour combination in your second photo. And the photo of water lilies is wonderful. A real corker. What fabulous places you've been visiting. Thank you for showing us. Sam x

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  24. Never visited Frome, another place we have to see when we go to England and the Piet Oudolf garden.......beautiful, I love the prairy like plantings on large scale, but unfortunately unsuitable for my own garden, the soil is too wet for many varieties of these perennials.
    I´ve been caught in the rain last week on one of my morning walks, I loved it despite I was like you were, a drowned rat with Snarf running around, he does not care what kind of weather it is, he just loves being outside.
    The weather has changed from humid and hot to very changeable with lots of showers, just Dutch weather.

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  25. Love the prairie planting and Abbotsbury! xx

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  26. Ah Frome, my mother is from Frome, and so was her mother, I know the town well.

    The gallery sounds fascinating, and that garden, wow!

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  27. What a gorgeous garden! They have something similar at the Trentham Estate which I've visited a few times, and there they also have 'rivers of grass' which I love. You visited some beautiful places!

    We were caught in the rain on two separate days when we camped in July in the Yorkshire Dales, both times we were walking up to Simon's Seat! Should have known better on the second attempt and taken the waterproofs, but I foolishly believed the weather forecast!

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  28. Beautiful :) I use Pinterest for design inspiration and recipes but hadn't thought about using it to find somewhere to visit. Will do now though! X

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  29. I love the less is more approach to gardening too and I'm very pleased because I've just bought some purple asters which look magnificent in your first photo :)

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  30. Now there's a coincidence, you visiting a Piet Oudolf designed garden. I was at Bury Court Barn in Hampshire the day after this post went up. Piet Oudolf is a great friend of the owner and designed the rear walled garden a couple of decades ago. It was so lovely to see the garden again but also very different from last year's visit. Then the weather had been warm and dry, it was June, the plants were high and in their element. This summer the grasses weren't so high and some plants were doing so much better than others. It was still beautiful though. I'd definitely recommend a return visit to Hauser and Wirth next year!
    Also, I didn't realise that Frome is so beautiful - I love old fashioned towns like that, the unusual shop names would be a definite plus for me. I really must get out of London more often! Caro xx

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  31. Dear Sarah,

    Beautiful gardens and how lovely you got to visit there and must have been great to get inspiration for you own garden.
    We visited Claude Monet's garden which we enjoyed very much and hope to share some photos when I get home.
    Hope you are enjoying your Sunday
    Hugs
    Carolyn

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  32. I have a Pinterest account but never use it. I've seen an Oudoulf garden in Canada and it was beautiful. I loved the prairie feel of it. The beach looks rocky. Is it covered in pebbles instead of sand?

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    1. The beach is full of pebbles and was half way along the Chesil beach. The beach stretches for 18 miles (29km) the pebbles at one end of the beach are the size of a fist, and decrease in size to as small as pea at the other. Sarah x

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  33. What a bunch of beautiful photos! Sorry about getting caught in the rain, but the cream tea sounds lovely! Rain has a soothing quality for me. Since we only get it during summer (this summer we haven't had much rain, and I'm not complaining!) and the rest of the year we mainly get snow, rain is almost special. (I say almost because I used to live in a place that rained ALL the time.) I love the sound of rain on the roof or windows.

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