On bank holiday Sunday I attended attended a family wedding, this led to us staying in Cheltenham for a couple of nights due to this being the area where the wedding took place.

During my stay I was able to do some urban walking around Cheltenham.

In addition to the urban walking the hotel corridors from the bedroom to the hotel reception and breakfast room (and back) also racked up some miles.

On our journey home we stopped off at Westonbury Mill Water Gardens where we enjoyed a pleasant lunch followed by a walk around the gardens.

You enter the garden by a bridge over the Curl Brook and meet the Stone Tower where water is raised from the stream by an antique water wheel supplying the water which spouts from the gargoyles at the top. It is also home to a flock of white doves.

The Bog Garden

Entering the main part of the garden over the Mill Pool you come to the Bog Garden, rich in water-loving plants. Paths cross the bog allowing a good view of individual plants. From the Bog Garden you may wander in any of several directions.

The Big Pond

Behind the giant cornus hedge that provides a screen at the back of the Bog Garden you come to the Big Pond flanked by massed groups of moisture-loving plants large and small. On one side are mainly giant irises and rushes, while on the other side you walk between the pond and the leat, the channel which feeds the mill, in the midst of exuberantly colourful primulas, hemerocallis, ligularia and other water-lovers.

The Cairn Garden

The rose Rambling Rector and wisteria festoon a pergola that separates the Cairn Garden from the Big Pond. In the Cairn Garden, boardwalks take you over a maze of small channels and luxuriant growth. A fountain bubbles from the cairn at the centre.

The Wild Flower Meadow

From the Cairn Garden you cross bridges over the new planting of the Cut and reach the Canal at the edge of the Wild Flower Meadow.

Follow a stream-side walk bordered by young trees and shrubs, then cross the Meadow to climb to the top of the Spiral Mound and feel like the king of the castle!

The Rill and the `Monet’ Bridge

Returning to the main part of the garden, you can cross the leat through a `tunnel’ under giant leaves of gunnera to reach the Lily Pond and the blue `Monet’ Bridge.

Meander along the Rill with its massed primulas backed by the Giant Cuckoo Clock in its mound of evergreens. On your right is the Orchard Spinney underplanted with a variety of shade-loving groundcover plants and shrubs.

• More of my photos of the garden can be found on Flickr

Rather than go out for a meal yesterday we took my father in law out for the day.  He decided on the National Trust property Berrington Hall.  We decided to surprise him with a little detour on the way and stopped of at Westonbury Mill Water Gardens.  It is delightful garden with interesting follies which I knew he would love.  Since the last time we visited I knew that the latest folly, a water powered cuckoo clock had been completed.

We strolled round the gardens and ended up at the cuckoo clock just before mid-day and waited to see the cuckoo emerge. There was a noise like a toilet flushing followed shortly after by birdsong although there was no sign of a cuckoo.  At this point I saw the reflection of someone (who looked like the owner) behind me on the other side of the water but when I turned around there was no-one there. All of a sudden the garden owner was standing next to us saying ‘I am not sure there is time to rescue it’.  He went up the stairs and did some adjustments and the Cuckoo finally decided to make an appearance.  I thanked him and then he left, leaving us to enjoy his creation. We then continued on the garden tour ending up enjoying lunch sitting outside in the sun before making our way to Berrington Hall.

We were in for another treat when we got to Berrington Hall.  There was a display of ‘Georgian Jousting’ taking place just outside the front of the house. After the spectacular display we visited the house before making our way back to our respective homes.

After freshening up my in-laws came round to ‘chez nous’ and we all enjoyed salmon and boulangere potatoes that had been prepared by Mr C earlier in the day.  A good day was had by all

Heraclitus, Fragment 50

Bhagavad Gita (5th century BC)

PS: I will resume sharing my Carcassonne travels after the weekend…

The picture in yesterday’s post is a detail from the Dome Fernery.  It is one of the follies that can be seen in Westonbury Mill Water Gardens.  The dome is made from sunlit wine bottles that are cemented together to provide this extraordinary structure.  From the inside it is quite dazzling as you can see.

This folly appears in a book entitled ‘The Follies of Europe‘.  The book states that:

Following publicity about his folly-fueled exploits, and elderly man telephoned Pim to offer eighty-five blue bottles, the outcome of the glass of sherry consumed each Sunday by his wife as she cooked lunch.  Friends have christened the folly the ‘blotto-grotto’, and continue to toast it with empty bottles.