21 Gardens

It was worth changing our plans to include a visit to the Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton's number one tourist attraction.  There are 21 separate gardens, each with its own theme which tell the story of gardens in different places and in different times.  Some nice little history lessons.  As an example this is the Tudor Garden, a recreation of a banqueting pavilion and wall at Montacute House that survived Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads in England.  I knew Cromwell was an enemy of the arts but didn't know he destroyed gardens as well.  I liked the simplicity of it which I thought contrasted with the carved heraldic beasts on the poles. 

 

Evidence of the previous day's rain on the path

The Italian Garden

One of my favourites was the Mansfield Garden where there was a delightful scene as described in Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Garden Party".   You can almost hear the voices of the guests approaching the tennis court.  Shame the musicians weren't there!

The walkways connecting the gardens were as lovely as the gardens themselves. 

Our native Totara trees grow to 30 metres high and I would never have imagined they would make a good hedge.  I saw a totara hedge that was not much more then a metre high the day before at Woodlands.