We have just returned from a magnificent trip to the UK, which we did together with a group of 23 knitters, because yes! most knitters are also keen gardeners and share our passion for gardening! We were delighted to show them one of our favourite parts of the U.K. (The Cotswolds) and also show them how much and in what way gardens and gardening inspire our work as knitwear designers.
We were very pleased with the mix of gardens that we visited; from a small garden in a private house (Magnolia House) to a historical garden which is being recreated exactly as it was in the 1740s (Painswick Rococo Gardens), a lovely garden on a huge stately home, perched at the edge of a quaint village (Miserden Gardens), the charming gardens made famous by Beatrix Havergal, who established her School of Horticulture for Ladies there from 1932 to 1971 (Waterperry Gardens) and of course, Highgrove, which is the private residence and family home of the Prince of Wales and which was the absolute highlight of our tour!
Part of our group being guided at Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire.
We spent the evenings knitting our projects, getting to know each other and discussing the beautiful gardens and their gorgeous surroundings which we saw during the day. This was a wonderful tour and we are sure that everyone in our group left the UK as inspired as we did!
Here are a few of our images (click on the images to enlarge):
A guided tour of the garden at a private home where we stopped, on the way to our hotel, on our first day.
Painswick Rococo Gardens. A series of pavilions and gardens with great vistas.
Brockworth Court. Parts of the house are from the 13th century. The organic garden was beautiful and the owners, a husband and wife team took care of the large garden all by themselves.
Miserden gardens and its stately home. The estate consisted of a total of 3.000 acres of land, forrest and included the village of Miserden.
A beautiful and aristocratic Irish Woolf Hound at Miserden gardens. More than likely, he lived in the big house.
Trying to get our whole group into a selfie at Miserden Gardens.
The utterly charming gardens at Waterperry, in Oxfordshire.
The walled garden at Waterperry Gardens is the most famous feature of this place.
HIGHGROVE GARDENS
This was the highlight of our visit! Prince Charles is an incredibly talented garden designer and the best royal gardener in history (yes, despite having 12 gardeners, they said that he loves doing the work himself and is very hands-on while he is in residence at Highgrove).
The most exciting thing about the garden was the fact that it is 100% organic and we learned a lot about sustainability from our tour of Highgrove that we will easily be able to adapt in our own garden. Also, we really felt like we got to know The Prince of Wales a little bit better through his garden, which was very artistic and whimsical. Both of us agree that he is doing something wonderful by opening his garden to 40.000 visitors yearly in order to share his paradise and also put focus on environmental issues and sustainability.
Photos where not allowed during the tour and the weather wasn’t the best, so I have borrowed these images from Highgrove’s instagram account.
Highgrove gardens: The moss covered fountain in the kitchen garden is a safe haven for bees. It is also the most beautiful fountain we’ve ever seen.
Highgrove gardens: The flower meadow was pretty much over, but we did see a small carpet of flowers not far away from the Thyme walk.
Highgrove gardens: The Tyme walk is planted with different types of thyme and yew trees and bushes clipped in different shapes. So stunning!
Highgrove gardens: The Sun Dial Garden faces south and was the first garden to be planted when Prince Charles moved into Highgrove in the early 1980s. It is also next to the house and we were very surprised that they let us get so close to his residence.
Highgrove gardens: The carpet garden was the last garden we visited at Highgrove. This garden was originally exhibited at Chelsea flower Show in 2001 and transferred to Highgrove thereafter.
And finally, here is a photo from our own garden, which we took yesterday, after returning to our home in Norway. Can you see how inspired we are of British cottage gardens?
The Norwegian version of an English Cottage Garden at our home in Valdres, Norway.
We are planning another garden tour in 2020 and if you are interested in joining us, do get in touch with us by email asap – you will find our contact details here.
We were also able to make a quick detour to see the 100 yew trees in the cemetery in Painswick, which is a personal favourite place of ours.
OTHER NEWS
We are going LIVE on YouTube this Saturday August 24th at 6pm CEST // 11am CDT. Check it out here:
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Our New Nordic Men’s collection for Rowan is now available. See all the patterns by clicking here.
We will resend our Official Tour Schedule to our mailing list in the beginning of September. The only way to see the schedule is to sign up for our updates!
Dream Knitting Cruise from Sydney to New Zealand. Yes!!! We are delighted to announce that we are returning to Australia and visiting New Zealand in 2020. Join us for this amazing 12 day, 11 night Knitting Cruise that departs from Sydney on March 27th, 2020 and visits all the amazing sights in New Zealand! More information is available here and here.
Check out our online store for great knitting patterns
Programming note: Due to the LiveStream this Saturday, there will be no blog post on Sunday.