Last week I spotted that Norwood Park was holding a series of Open Garden Tuesdays as part of the National Garden Scheme, knowing that these events get booked up quickly, I grabbed a spot on their first opening date. I’ve looked again today, and registration for the Tuesdays is now closed but the grounds and gardens are opening on the first Sunday of the month for the remainder of 2024 - I’d recommend booking early if you’re planning to go along to this, or any other NGS Open Garden event.
We were lucky with the weather for our visit - it’s been a wet winter in this part of the country, and a blowy one too, so it was great to feel the warmth of the sun on our back, its glint in our eyes and enjoy the blue skies.
Norwood Park is ‘an exclusive private country estate in Southwell’ which has been restored and is billed as ‘the perfect venue for; weddings, corporate retreats, private celebrations, short stays, filming and photoshoots, plus so much more’ on its website. And I agree it would be a perfect setting for a wedding.
It was also good to spot our first camellia bush of the season, and a pretty pink one at that. In our previous house we had an on-off relationship with our own camellia guessing when it might flower, which was usually months after that of our neighbours - and I’d both forgotten and missed that this year - perhaps I should add a reliably flowering camellia to our own garden.
I’m a sucker for dried hydrangea heads though, and it was no different with these - and they instantly reminded me of the ones I saw a good few years back at Blickling in Norfolk, though with an added pop of colour provided by the miniature daffodils.
I had a wry smile to myself when I saw the daffodils above trying their hardest (and mostly succeeding) to push their way through the lavender bush - that’s the thing with bulbs, they just want to grow don’t they? I’m hoping that my own ‘late to the pot’ daffodils are just as happy in their pots as they were in their nets in the garage - only time will tell!
Both the terraces in front of the house and the views beyond were worth the visit, and even from the outside you can see just how well this would work for a wedding venue - picturesque grounds, the bandstand for the ceremony and plenty of spaces for the guests and the wedding party to enjoy throughout the day. We didn’t go inside, but from the chandeliers I glimpsed through the window, I think that will be pretty special too.
I did spot some young lupins, and while they reemerge in spring it did feel kind of early. They’re another favourite of mine, but one that I didn’t have much joy with in our previous garden, I think because of the number of trees, and snails too I’m sure. It was good to see these though, and the drops of water they were hanging onto in their centre.
On one side of the terrace I was drawn to a planting of trees, some of which looked they were ‘alight’ with the sun streaming through them - how glorious? I was very taken with these and later learnt they were paperback maples, so well named!
Next we headed through woodland towards the temple, passing pine cones at eye level, plentiful snowdrops growing in the grass and walking through the tall trees - many of which looked as if they had plenty of mistletoe balls taking up lodging.
My mistletoe suspicions were confirmed later in our walk around the grounds, as this much smaller tree was also playing host - though I can’t help but think that the mistletoe was a little bit lazier than the ones we’d seen before, or maybe it was just more vain and wanted to be in a position to be admired.
This European Chesnut tree also looked magnificent in the sun, helped too by the green moss colouring some of its stripes - it really was quite striking.
Heading back towards the gardens we stopped to admire this old gnarly tree, which if you look more closely you’ll see its crown is covered in what looks like lead. We presume to stop any further damage to it, but I’m not sure. It did make for a peculiar sight, though I’m sure when the tree is in leaf it’s hardly noticeable at all.
But just look at those skies, spring really is on its way.