Summer in England has arrived unseasonably late. I am not complaining, the days have been warm enough for me to enjoy sitting out on the patio reading a book watching the sun go down.

The Blue Bridge from my previous post and this Red Bridge both link to the island garden and arboretum. The Shugborough guide book provides information that would be missed on a casual glance:

The island garden is flanked by the original course of the River Sow on the side near to the house and the new course of the river to the rear of the island – a channel which was dug out in the early 19th century. It is reached by the Red Bridge at one end and the Blue Bridge at the other.

Patrick Lichfield used a large area of the island to create an arboretum – his lasting legacy to Shugborough. Over many years he has planted oaks on the island including one grown from an acorn taken from the White House lawn.

These are now an elegant swathe of tree specimens starting with North American tree species near the Blue Bridge. European species in the central section and Asian oaks forming a fitting backdrop to the oriental planting surrounding the Red Bridge and the Chinese House.