‘Why do our walks always end in disaster?’ asked one of our little’uns as the sky opened on a recent walk at the Arlington Reservoir, Sussex.

We were starting to wonder the same thing when this outburst was then followed by a momentary melt down from the smallest member of our group….but as the moody sky got moodier, the landscape started to perform for us; What was living in the haunted bird house? Which creature was stirring the grasses every time we moved and just how many spooky tree hands could be spotted high above us? The wind and rain began adding to our adventure – a wonderful way to spend a soggy Saturday afternoon!

In stark contrast a week later we were discovering the beautiful Otterford Lakes walk in Somerset. On a perfect crisp and sunny winter’s day, a large group of little adventurers led the way thrilled by the fantastic potential of climbing huge earth walls, hide and seeking in the fern covered woodlands and balancing on natural log bridges over the waterways….us grown ups struggling to keep up with their pace….only locating their positions through their giggling and squeals of delight. Happy days….

As landscape gardeners we love being outside with our family and friends and getting inspired by what’s around us, we are also very lucky to be surrounded by the absolute beauty of the South Downs. There is no denying, it can sometimes be a struggle to get our little ones to whole heartedly adopt this approach with us!!! This is especially  true when there are so many other distractions for them to engross themselves in……mostly screen based if truth were to be told. But it is when we are outside walking, talking, hiding, collecting and adventuring that our most special memories are made. It is because of these times that the best stories are imagined, exaggerated and re told and it is these times that inspire the best pictures, the best models, the most amount of giggles….. these are the memories we cherish the most from our childhood, these were the memories that were really influential in directing us to what we do and love doing now….

Project Wild Thing is a movement started by film maker David Bond with a mission to reconnect kid’s with nature, it has fantastic website filled with some great film shorts to inspire and stimulate debate. We highly recommend the WildTime Ideas section, which members can add to and which lists a real diversity of ideas for things to do with your kids outside. Activities ranging from pooh sticks, mud kitchen building to creating environmental art….activities are listed in useful time slots of 10 minutes, 30 minutes to hour long adventures…! Hope you enjoy and we wish you lots of wild time fun….

On a recent visit to France, we spent some time in a most delightful Potager Garden and with its wise gardener who gave us a tour. A potager is a French term for an ornamental vegetable or kitchen garden. It often has flowers and herbs planted with the vegetables and its goal is to make the function of providing food ‘aesthetically pleasing’ – this garden was all of that and so much more.

With the kids foraging for the colourful treasures of sun gold tomatoes and raspberries, we were able to really enjoy the beauty of the site and were filled with respect of a space which is so tenderly cared for and for a gardener who lives and breathes it.

Resting on the garden seat mid potager was the perfect pause to take in the beauty of the ornamental runner bean arches, the courgette plants and the colourful flowers and fruit punctuating the lush green of the rest of the full foliage vegetable plots. The vineyards below could be seen through the rustic handmade gate, and all this, with view of the Pyrenees, real coffee and freshly made cake. This place will be one of those gardens that stay with us forever, yet another one to file in our garden design palette….

Memories from RHS Hampton Court flower show are still fresh for us. It was great to be around people who are excited about and seeking inspiration from great garden design and quality garden build. We went on one of those July  heat wave days, the sunshine spotlighting the wide range of impressive planting schemes and hard landscaping structures in all the glory of the show gardens….so much to see and so many people to see ‘through’! – This popular RHS event was busy from the start!

‘Athanasia’ designed by David Sarton was a real find for us, a framing of the essence of a woodland corner, so serene, it created a peaceful space despite the many onlookers desperate to get a look. Lush green planting with splashes of vibrant flowers, performing brilliantly in the shady corners….it was as if someone had cut a square out of a Sussex wood and placed it on the show garden promenade – a simple and evocative garden design and a well deserved Gold Winner.

Another garden that worked beautifully was ‘Spirits of the Land’ designed by Mariko Naka, part of the conceptual gardens area of the show, inspired by Japanese cultural history relating to Shinto spirits, this garden had  a strong interactive element, where threads suspended from raised rings ‘danced’ with the wind, playing with and seemingly protecting the flower rich planting below. Captivating and simple, it was one of our highlights and obviously one of the judges with a Silver medal awarded.

‘The Clints and Grykes Garden’ designed by Benedict Green Garden Design, stood out from the rest with the bold and simple lines of its structure, form and planting design. The pale grey of the hard landscaped paving framed the green foliage planting perfectly, in which the smallest splashes of flower colour were able to excel. It highlighted the rare habitats that can be found in British Limestone pavements beautifully. The full benefit of this design could be seen when standing over it, the hidden beauty available to those who took time to ‘look closer’.  It was refreshing to see a garden with such a strong clear concept, a silver-gilt awarded by the judges.

So many more highlights – but these are the ones that have stayed in our palette of garden inspiration. Bring on the next one….

As the sun shyly appears, Sheffield Park and Gardens have become a regular garden we visit and one we would definitely recommend. The Rhododendrons and Azaleas have dazzled and smelt beautiful and the vast height and width of the Giant Redwood is extraordinary. It’s a great garden adventure to go on with children who can run around exploring colourful pathways, woodland adventure and what feels like prehistoric landscapes where their imagination can run wild and free. Even with such striking garden colour surrounding us, what we were most impressed with was the mass banks of Hosta, Ferns and Gunnera. The sunlight and moisture playing on the plants provided a perfect example of mass architectural planting and form. Brilliant planting plans and results. It’s a partner garden with the RHS, so if you’re a member you can go free most of the time – lovely…..get garden inspired and get out there!

We love this time of year, the arrival of summer declared by the vivid blues of the Bluebell carpets to be seen in woodland walks all over Sussex. Those looking for tips for shade planting would do well to observe what performs in these glades of dappled shade. We loved the combination of Bluebells and the mass arrival of the delicate white faces of the Wood Anemone.

On this particular walk we were lucky enough to witness the beginnings of the grand flowering of the Hawthorn archway surrounding the path from one wood walkway to the next. Inspiration to design and build beautiful gardens is everywhere, particularly from the wisdom of natures garden. The Woodland Trust enables you to discover and add to information about walks in your area. It’s worth checking out visit woods to find new woodland paths to tread and to walk with the Bluebells while they are still in their vivid splendour.

‘Pleasure Ground’ is an 18^th century term meaning an ‘area of cultivated lawns and ornamental planting and architecture designed for ‘traversing on foot’….

This weekend traverse on foot we did as part of the Garden Show at Firle Place, East Sussex. A unique opportunity to see the restoration project of the pleasure grounds, led by Philip Fenech, head gardener. The garden team are restoring the Pleasure Grounds in the spirit of the original ‘Cabinets de Verde’, hidden woodland glades with different planting themes in each area. The tour revealed the extent of the project; the team takes it in stages with an annual approach to re-designing each glade. Amongst the highlights were the turf steps, which form part of the Dell garden, a feature which needs regular garden maintenance, but one with great impact, particularly when surrounded by the spring bulb border, The Oriental Glade, which included a Handkerchief Tree and Wisteria trained on an umbrella structure and The Gold and Silver Glade, featuring an array of trees that produce striking blasts of colour in the garden.

For us the most exciting area of the garden was The Lost Valley, a common feature of the 18^th century which would have been an area rich in flora and fauna -steep sided valleys dug out by hand and planted with many species of trees, full of exotic plants, ferns and wild flowers. The valley was a surprise feature of the garden, which is exactly what the pleasure grounds aimed to create and the sun played beautifully on the planting, which led you to travel up the valley in expectation of what was to come next, areas of the Lost Valley are named around planting choices; ‘Berried Treasure’, full of shrubs and trees noted for their fruit, the ‘Betula Grove’, which includes rare and unusual birches and our personal favourite ‘The Vale of Tears’, where the banks of the valley are planted with pendulous trees and shrubs. These gardens are very rarely open to the public and we are going to make it an annual must on our garden calendar, a great opportunity to see how a garden restoration project on this scale develops. Highly recommended…

The views from the upper valley of the Derwent in Derbyshire are stunning all year round. But the snow surround and icicle heavy banks of the reservoirs had even more dramatic impact this snowy Easter. A man made landscape constructed by the water board, the Derbyshire Dams have a rich history; Ladybower, the largest of the reservoirs hides two silent villages under its vast depths and the waters were also the location of the practice runs for the famous ‘Dambuster’ squadron of the RAF (it is said that the local hens stopped laying whilst training was in progress!)

Design inspiration comes from everywhere and the extraordinary Ladybower ‘water features’ which are actually for overflow are beautiful in form and boldness. When water is high and they kick into action they create spectacular water displays and although polar opposites in function to the nearby Chatsworth waterfall – just as captivating. Breathtaking walks and stunning gardens to be seen in this area….a treasured place with oodles of inspiration…