Kinston Lacy inspiration

These blackboards make great, versatile signs.

Kingston Lacy is a National Trust property within comfortable driving distance for us. I must admit that I do find a lot of the house and garden pretty boring having been several times now but I do enjoy the grounds and I love the Kitchen garden/allotments area. It was here that I focused my attention the other day whilst looking for inspiration.

Lavender edged beds.

We were greeted by a volunteer offering us some of her freshly picked strawberries. They were absolutely delicious, hot from the sun and very, very sweet. I was amused by my son turning them down, apparently he's had too many of our own! Alas, ours are now over but I hope to increase our stock for next year.

Same view, but closer!

The Kitchen garden is stunning, the plants were all looking healthy and made me itch to increase the size of mine. But it wasn't too perfect, there were still a few weeds dotted around to prevent me from feeling hopelessly inadequate.

Sweet peas

I thought that these sweet pea wigwams were lovely. I can imagine recreating these with an opening to place a bench inside. Who am I trying to kid, the bench would never make it in there. My boys would fill it with junk and turn it into a den! Still, it is something I fancy trying and I must scout out a spot to place one in next year.

I also enjoyed an amble through the allotment area. I don't have an allotment so I'm not sure of the standard size but I did get the impression that these might be half size plots. They were far more everyday than the kitchen gardens but still had a beauty of their own, even those that were fighting the weeds for dominance. There is something very satisfying about seeing plots looked after by 'normal' people after the prettiness of the Kitchen garden, somehow they seemed to balance each other out nicely.