The Valley Gardens - A Royal Landscape

The Valley Gardens - A Royal Landscape

Written by Susan Bell
Saturday, 07 May 2011 20:46

My latest garden visit took me to The Valley Gardens on the northern shores of Virginia Water in Surrey.

The mission was to photograph the flowering azaleas in the area called the Punch Bowl. This visit was for a commission I will be undertaking of a wide but narrow painting which takes in all the azaleas which sit in a bowl shape as the name describes.
After phone calls to the park office and a keen eye on the weather this really was perfect timing for the azaleas as well as being a beautiful, bright, sunny day to take photographs. Like many flowers the azaleas were flowering early due to the extra warm weather.
If you do get the chance this spectacle is well worth a visit. These photos were taken on 27 April so the flowers may be over for this year.

The next day I made a long awaited visit to see the 22,000 tulips at Pashley Manor gardens near Ticehurst in Kent. This was the first day of the tulip festival which runs until the 8 May so if you are in the area this is a stunning display of tulips en masse in every colourway you can imagine.
I will write more about this garden soon as now I'm right in the middle of preparing for the Chelsea Flower show in 2 weeks time. Eeek!