A Virtual Stroll in Ticehurst

This is the third post in a series on virtual travel.  This week, we’ll be visiting an English country garden in Southeast England.

Pashley Manor Gardens are located in Ticehurst in East Sussex.  It’s a beautiful country manor, dating back to 1550, in a charming Tudor style.

The setting and house are lovely and the gardens are spectacular.  There are 11 acres of beautiful flower borders, handsome hardscaping and gorgeous vistas.  The garden is designed around “garden rooms” which break up the space into separate areas and encourage visitors to move from one area to another.  At Pashley Manor, each garden room is planted in a different color theme.   Here’s a look at a white and silver garden room.

The below garden room showcases yellow, gold and white.

Here’s a closer look at this section of the garden.  Notice the perfect match between the colors of the tulip and the surrounding foliage.  This is a great illustration of a garden design technique called “color echoes”.  Gardeners select plants in different tints of the same color to create harmony through repetition.

Here’s another example of a color echo—pink shows up in the edges of the main tulips, in the small flowers (I believe they’re forget-me-nots) and the secondary tulips.

Here’s an interesting plant pairing—the vibrant orange tulips shine beside the burgundy heuchera.

This is a broader view of the same flower border.  The statue off in the distance provides the perfect focal point.  Garden designers use focal points to draw and direct the visitor.  It provides the eye with a place to rest—to pause and take in the entire view.

The artwork, “Mr Bennett’s Daughter”, is by eminent Sussex sculptor Philip Jackson.

There’s another Philip Jackson sculpture in the gardens which has an intriguing story.

This piece is of Anne Boleyn and was specifically commissioned by the owners of Pashley Manor.  History buffs may be interested to learn that Pashley Manor has a historical connection to the Boleyn family.  From their website: “The original house at Pashley was on the moated island and was probably a hunting lodge.  This house was owned at the outset of the Wars of the Roses by Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, Lord Mayor of London in 1457 and great-grandfather of Anne Boleyn.  His son, Sir William, and then William’s eldest son, Sir Thomas, who held court at Pashley in 1518, and eventually Sir Thomas’ brother, Sir James Boleyn – uncles to Anne Boleyn, each owned Pashley in turn.”  Anne Boleyn (1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was the second wife of King Henry VIII of England and was queen consort from 1533 until 1536.  She was the mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England.  This Anne Boleyn sculpture is the focal point on a small island overlooking a pond.

The gardens are designed with the visitor’s comfort in mind.  There are quiet places to rest…

…with pretty views to enjoy.

There’s a charming café at the back of the manor.

It was the perfect place to duck out of the rain (“It is England, after all!”), grab a bite to eat and enjoy the fragrance of the wisteria.

More Info

You can learn more about these delightful gardens on the Pashley Manor Gardens website.  Check out South East England’s official tourism website for more information about this charming area.
More of Philip Jackson’s splendid sculptures can be viewed on his website.
There are 3 posts in this series about virtual travel:
. A Virtual Visit to Lisse about the flower fields of Lisse in the Netherlands
. Virtual Hanami Around Aizu about the cherry blossoms in Japan
. A Virtual Stroll in Ticehurst (this post).
You may also enjoy the following posts:
. The Allure of the Waterlily includes a visit to the village of Giverny France
. Charleston’s Glorious Window Boxes showcases spring in this beloved city of the US Southeast
. Spring Into a Garden Tour features the springtime gardens of Athens Georgia
. Camellia Road Trip shares a recent road trip throughout the US Southeast to visit 5 outstanding camellia gardens.

Today’s Takeaways

Consider incorporating some of the garden design techniques viewed at Pashley Manor Gardens into your own garden:
1. Garden rooms
2. Focal points
3. Color echoes.