Monday, June 24, 2024

SPRING IN SOUTH ENGLAND

 

In the last few months I have been off traveling again and as part of the trip I spent two weeks in  England.  I based for that time in the historical city of Reading.  The train station was just a few minutes walk away to go off on day trips to London and Oxford while the local buses would get me to Windsor and Heathrow Airport.  It was Spring so my favorite sightings were the bluebells flowering in ancient graveyards. Reading is built where the River Kennet joins up with the River Thames so there were scenic river walks to enjoy.  In the middle of the city is the lovely Forbury Gardens next to the medieval abbey ruins.  I was finally able to visit Kew Gardens on this trip.  To get there I took a tourist boat from Westminster pier which I heartedly recommend.  I got back to the city via train/tube.  Kew Gardens was in full tulip mode and I enjoyed seeing the historic glasshouses with their exotic plant collections.  I guess Kew Gardens was the garden highlight of the trip but another was a quiet walk around the water meadow behind Magdalen College in Oxford.   Here are a few glimpses from the trip for you.  

    

Bluebells in church cemetery behind pilgrims hostel,  Reading 

                                                                                                                                       

The Geoff Hill Memorial Garden 
behind Watlington House, Reading

                

Windsor Castle


House entrances down alley, Windsor


Addisons"s Walk around the water meadow
at Magadelen College, Oxford.


Tulips and wall flowers in stone trough, 
at entrance to St Edmund Hall,  Oxford


Back garden at Kew Palace
Kew Gardens



New Zealand natives in the Temperate Glasshouse
Kew Gardens



Part of a large, mind blowing tulip display
Kew Gardens


Aloha