Although the weather of late has been warm, sunny, and bright, this morning it was grey, dry, and cloudy with a cool northerly breeze. I had arranged to meet my brother and his wife at Burnby Hall Gardens in Pocklington today for a walk around the grounds and have a good catch up. We met up just after 11. o’clock and headed over to the café for a coffee. Walking along the water’s edge on route to the café the water started to erupt in a frenzy of activity, the fish, with their mouths wide open, mainly Carp, Roach and Rudd were breaking the water’s surface in a melee of activity hoping that some food was coming their way.

After a very pleasant brunch we went for a gentle stroll around the upper and lower lakes. The gardens were beautiful, and quite understandably often referred to as “a Jewel in Yorkshire’s Crown,” it is easy to see why they can claim such a fitting title. They are also home to a National Collection of over eighty varieties of hardy water lilies. Today the lilies have several more weeks to go before they come in to flower, but when they do will continue in bloom till the end of August.  Although the tulip festival finished earlier this month some varieties were still giving a late show in the beds along the lake side. The Dovecote on our right was busy with Doves flying in and out of their home whilst others were feeding on the manicured lawns beneath them. We continued our walk along the water’s edge, passing the start of the Birch Walk on our right, and passing the bridge over the lakes on our left. Looking across the lake to the shelter on the far side amongst the Edwardian Rock Garden a Moorhen was taking her four chicks for a swim amongst the emerging water lilies. The view from this side of the bridge is always pleasing on the eye, especially looking back in to the rockery. Continuing our walk, we headed down the slope passing the old Redwood tree stump which Major Stewart brought back from a trip to Seattle in 1909. Major Percy Stewart and his wife Katherine established the gardens in the early 1900’s.  This stump is all that remains from the Redwood tree building which he purchased for $100. Several colourful heather beds lined the path as we turned right and headed up the gentle slope into The Stumpery. Created in 2011 with old tree stumps interspaced with tree ferns and seasonal flowers is now well established, today Bluebells were still in flower and set against the Hobbit house looked quite a picture, hidden around the stumpery and amongst the trees were several wire mesh birds of prey and wild animals which added extra drama to the area.

Passing through the hobbit style wooden gate we continued our walk around the upper lake and into the Edwardian rock garden. This part of the garden was fully restored between 2016 and 2019 when the original Backhouse planting plans where used (the original designer was James Backhouse and son back in the early 1900’s) which today provide fantastic colour and variety throughout the year, being planted with some beautiful alpine and rockery plants, every turn of the path opens another vista.

Branching off to our right we headed into the Walled Garden, the neatly cut lawns and planted borders were full of colour and structure. Clusters of Alliums were quite striking and caught my attention, their purple flowers the size of tennis balls swaying gently on their long stems. It was a lovely contemporary garden to stroll around, and the colours and form will change with the seasons. As time was marching on, we headed back to the café for a pot of tea and cake before our journey home. It was good to have a catch up with my brother and his wife too, it was interesting how we started reminiscing that we could remember the names of our school friends and work colleagues from fifty years ago, but could not remember what we had for tea last night!