Pashley Manor Gardens - the best of the rest

For once I haven't forgotten to do the "Part 2" of a post!

Here are the last of the photos of Pashley Manor Gardens where we visited last weekend for the Tulip Festival.

To put it all in context, here is a little bit of history about the Pashley Manor estate in Ticehurst, Kent. 

Quoting from the leaflet we were given, " The de Passele family built a moated Manor in 1262 and held the estate until 1453 when it was sold to the Boleyns. It is possible that Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII stayed here during her childhood. In 1543 the estate was sold to Sir Thomas May who built the house you see today. The fine Georgian facade you see today was added in 1720. The house is a family home and is not open to the public."

Let's take a wander through the gardens....................

We're in the walled pool garden now (having passed through two large parts of the garden with all the tulip and rose beds - you can see the tulips in Part 1, my last post, here ), where a swimming pool is set in a lovely sheltered mediterranean-type garden. There were too many people wandering around in here to get a decent photo of the whole garden.

a lovely Cistus flowering already

One of the joys of this garden are the beautiful statues, sculptures and other works of art throughout the gardens in the most delightful and unexpected places, enhancing the landscape, plantings and vistas.

tea and cakes on the terrace................very civilised

lots of bold and greedy ducks wander around, jostling for food at the tea tables

majestic black swan

some of the wonderful wood carvings that appear to grow out of the trees and be a part of them

and one that is a bit more obvious!

the one below not quite so........these trees must be quite old

pigs rootling under the trees

fiery azaleas

candelabra primulas I think

we crossed a bridge to Moat Island where the original house was built, and where now stands a folly - there was an inscription on the floor but I've forgotten what it was!

and we found a lonely and quite sad statue of Anne Boleyn staring out across the moat

us girls having a little rest!

spot the black swan in the background behind the sculpture?

  

statues even in the walled kitchen garden

this beautiful yellow azalea is scented too...the fragrance wafted along the path

I wonder whether this elegant lady was about to dip her toe in the pool? 

I hope you enjoyed your garden visit.

If you missed the post with all the glorious tulips in flower in this garden, you can see them here.