A winter’s morning at Harlow Carr. 

Our first visit of the New Year, although I always enjoy a walk around these gardens no matter what time of year. It was a fresh and cold morning, we had had a slight ground frost at home but by mid-morning when we arrived at Harlow the sun had come out which gave some respite for the cool westerly wind that kept blasting across from time to time. 

It was nice to see a blue sky with some sunshine, the sun casting long shadows over the tree tops, occasionally catching some of the ornamental trees and highlighting the beautiful colours of the trunks and branches, some red and some white but both looking quite amazing on this winter’s morning. Everywhere was looking quite pristine, the lawns were looking neat and tidy the borders too. Several of the staff and volunteers were busily raking up and trimming some of the old growth on plants that had died back and hibernated for the winter, it certainly made you feel as though you wanted to tidy up your own garden a little more after seeing how tidy they keep the gardens here and especially at this time of year.

After a walk around the gardens for an hour or so it was nice to get back to the centre and enjoy a bowl of soup and pot of Yorkshire Tea in Betty’s and start to plan your own gardening jobs for when you get home!!