Highnam

Today began with us streaming into Rugby's memorial meeting. That was good and the speaker had a lovely tenor voice which came through the mic and added to the experience. Their streaming tech was up to Jeremy's standard, unlike last week which was on Zoom with truly terrible music.

We had a quiet lunch at home and then the plan was to visit an Open Garden which was at Highnam Court just down the road. The driveway was easy to find but there was no way to open the gate. Plan B was to go to the neighbouring church as you could walk from the Church carport. Murgatroyd led us to another gate that was only accessible on foot. When exiting onto the main street we could only turn left and found ourselves heading into Gloucester. OK looks like we visit Gloucester first and visit the garden on the way home.

Gloucester is not a lovely city. Some bits felt quite grotty and rough. It was also quite busy today. We had a stroll through an antiques shop as well as Gloucester Cathedral. This isn't my favourite Cathedral. It's a bit gaudy. We didn't stay too long, and Ian was glad we still had hubcaps on our hire car!

Time to give this open garden another crack. Same problem. You would think if someone wants to attract visitors to their place they would put some decent signs up. The driveway we were directed to was correct, but was for the owner, not the public. We tried the church again and this time we were able to find the church carpark and walk over to Highnam Court, although it was now 4:10pm and it closes at 4:30. The ticket people didn't charge us and let us have a quick run around the property.

The gardens were very impressive after all that. Very formal. There was one section called the Knot Garden which looks like the hedges are weaving under and over each other. A pity we didn't have time to relax and enjoy the gardens or the refreshments in the Orangery.

We popped into the church where we had parked. Not huge, but such a pretty one! Everything was so ornate, and the artwork was truly lovely with beautiful Bible quotations.Read more