Batsford Arboretum Sunday 6th May 2007

Andrew and I went over to Batsford to spend the afternoon walking in the arboretum. It’s located in Morton in Marsh in the Cotswolds. On the way we stopped at the Redesdale Arms in Morton in March village for lunch, they do very nice old spot sausages! The arboretum is a beautiful place, which I had visited almost 2 years ago, and knew Andrew would love it too.  It was inherited by Algernon Mitford in 1886 and he created a wild garden from his visits to Japan and China. Eventually it was passed down to 2nd Lord Dulverton who restored it to pretty much Mitford’s idea, extending the arboretum. The Japanese influence is what I love most about this wonderful 56 acres of garden. The Japanese Maples of every different kind, the Giant Redwoods and the stunning magnificent Davidia involucrata or Handkerchief Tree make Batsford well worth spending a day at. If you want to see more on it, is very rare and in flower  at the moment at Batsford. We walked around the whole garden, then went to the little restaurant for tea and cake before wandering around the nursery. We bought a Nigra grass, some lavender and a papaver poppy for our garden. It was a lovely sunny day, contrary to the weather forecast and we thoroughly enjoyed our day out. Andrew took a few photos as you can see.