Last year we went to Wisley as part of my own little Chelsea Fringe.
Getting there was quite a saga. You get a big discount if you travel by bus or bicycle. You have to be a brave cyclists or local, given that it lies just off the A3, a motorway-standard trunk road. I'm not sure I'd recommend the bus route we took from Esher. If you are travelling by bus, ensure you ask the driver to set you down for Wisley; repeat this request if the driver changes. Otherwise you'll end up in the village of Ripley, which is actually a very nice village, but too far to walk and you'll wait a long time for the next bus. You'll then have to walk up to the main drag, and I can't imagine anyone in management has actually done that, because it's not welcoming to pedestrian visitors - no signs and an enforced walk across a car park. So you arrive with a negative impression of the place which is hard to shake off.
Typical of many visitor attractions of its type:
- lots of people gathered near the visitor centre
- somewhat fewer in the formal gardens near the entrance
- even fewer in the more far flung places
- very few children and mainly well behaved, but those of that one Dad. He was brought up that Real Men are always active, he has no experience of quiet reflection, and can't see a lawn but assume it's specific sole purpose is for his children, always active never reflective, can run around screaming
- poor quality overpriced beverages in the catering establishments, made complacent by the lack of competition and the English middle class's complacent acceptance of rubbish. Pro tip: pop into Nest in Ripley before going to Wisley, or afterwards - the wait will be worth it.
Grumbling over, it was it was a lovely afternoon looking round the beautiful gardens of RHS Wisley. We spent about three hours there including the beverage break. Surprisingly we walked only two miles, but there was a lot of the garden we didn't see. I took lots of photos!
NB I don't know the names of many flowers. A part of me feels that I ought to know more, but a larger part has accepted that, on the whole, I can't process and retain that information, and I don't believe it diminishes my enjoyment significantly - certainly I enjoy more not knowing the names than i would getting anxious trying to remember them! Se also: birds, trees.
So much colour, especially, but not exclusively, from the rhododendrons and azaleas and the plants round the lake.
And me
I know bamboo and alliums
Probably the best of the pelargoniums
A glass house always fascinates with palms and succulents
I particularly liked this Flytrap
Back out into the wilder parts of the garden.
My favourite part of the garden was the Alpine area. I resolved there and then that if I was ever taken by an urge to garden myself, in addition to the obligatory herbs and vegetables, I would concentrate on Alpine flowers. I think I lived the exquisite detail in these miniature flowers. Maybe I have a bit of a 'thing' for miniaturisation.
And, to finish off, a pleasant aerial shot!
This post contains only a sample of the photos I took. Many more can be found in the Surrey photo album
