POG2016: Elm Lodge

My simple plan was to pick just one photo of each of the twelve gardens in Petersham Open Gardens 2016 but with Elm Lodge, on Petersham Road, I had to pick two and even that was a big struggle.

Like many of the gardens Elm Lodge had some very different sections and these included a large play area, which all the children enjoyed, and pens housing chickens and pigs. And the more traditional parts of the garden had some surprises, like the two deer hidden in the border by the drive and the secret path by the front door guarded by two stags.

Well away from the children's play area was, in my view, the best part of the garden is the water feature at the shady side of the house.

This is a closer look at the heron in the top left of the first picture. It's not just the heron that I like here, it's the rain-rippled water, the green water plants, the red flowers and the grey stone ball. Put them all together and the combination is quite striking. 

POG2016: Harrington Lodge

Harrington Lodge in Sudbrook Lane was another Petersham Open Gardens regular and I was pleased to be able to go there again. I had spent most of the day taking photos of borders so this time I've selected a picture of the exquisite brick patio area next to the house made even more attractive by the addition of an old pot and the flowers within it.

POG2016: Downlands

Downlands was new to Petersham Open Gardens in 2016 and so I was particularly keen to see it. My interest had been piqued by walking past the entrance (at the end of Petersham Close) many times over the years and wondering what was behind the gate.

This was another garden that a new owner had done substantial work to reclaim it and with considerable success. The garden was designed to sit in and enjoy with careful planting and convenient seating. It was a simple design but it just worked very well.

POG2016: Ginnels House

Ginnels House in Sandpits Road was new to Petersham Open Gardens in 2014 and it was good to see it back again in 2016. The garden still while new had matured a little, and nicely, with the promise of more to come.

The garden was arranged in different sections around the house, There was a large lawn for playing on along one of the long sides while the other side sloped steeply down to a line of trees. The short side at the far end had this vegetable garden with an immaculate greenhouse. It also had a shaded area to sit out in next to a water feature but that was behind me so you cannot see it.

POG2016: Twntyre

Twntyre, the Huf Haus next to the Russell School is another one of those places where visitors are as interested in the house as they are in the garden. That is completely understandable as it is a modern Huf Haus but this was Petersham Open Gardens so I am showing the garden.

The main structural feature of the garden is the pond and water channel by the entrance at the side of the house but that attracted hordes of children and so I was unable to take a picture of that. The other structural feature is this pond sitting close to the house in one corner of the back garden.

POG2016: Wirral

Wirral at the far end of Bute Avenue is a lovely garden that is well looked after. I have visited it several times and it refreshes me every time.

It also benefits from backing on to Richmond Park as that adds to the sense of peace and tranquillity. This is an ideal garden for enjoying sunny afternoons in.

POG2016: Arreton Cottage

Arreton Cottage was one of the new gardens in Petersham Open Gardens 2016 and very welcome it was too because of all the quirky things in it. This picture shows just a few of them and gives some idea of just how odd some of the objects were and also how carefully they were arranged within the garden.

Elsewhere in the good-sized garden was an Airstream caravan and a toy dinosaur hiding among the flowers. There was a lot to see and enjoy and I spent quite a bit of time exploring the garden looking to see what else I could find.

POG2016: Montrose House

The large garden at Montrose House is filled with an eclectic mix of objects including two large elephants and, new for this year, a large tortoise. However, I have avoided the temptation to feature one of those (I have shown most of them previously) and gone for some thing more traditional instead.

One corner of the garden has lots of space to sit out in and that corner is enriched by a large water feature which makes all the soothing noises that water features are meant to make. I think it is very attractive too so it is something to look at as well as to listen to.

POG2016: The Glasshouse

The Glasshouse is an other top attraction in Petersham Open Gardens though that is probably due as much to the house as it is to the garden.

That garden is deceptively spacious and it easily swallowed up the dozen of people who were there at the same time as me. Because of the large number of people there I had to struggle and wait to get some decent shots of the garden without including people wearing distracting bright clothing. The bright white walls are good at showing off the structural plants but also good at showing off bright clothing too.

POG2016: Petersham Lodge

Petersham Lodge is always one of the highlights of Petersham Open Gardens because there is so much to see there and this year was no exception.

The biggest change was the secluded garden next to the house which had been completely redesigned and replanted. The garden was so new that we were not allowed into it and had to be content with looking into it from one of the two entrances. It will be something to look forward to in two years time.

POG2016: Rosebank

Rosebank was the second garden that I visited in Petersham Open Gardens 2016. It was a garden that I had been to several times before and while it was much as it had always been the house had grown a little (and very sympathetically) at the back which reduced the size of that part of the garden somewhat while leaving the features there intact.

My favourite feature in the garden at the front of the house was the planting around the edge with the lovely brick wall behind it.

POG2016: 2 Cedar Heights

Petersham Open Gardens is one of the local events that I never miss and in 2016 it was even more unmissable with good weather and some new gardens to see plus some old favourites.

The first garden that I went to was one of the new ones, 2 Cedar Heights. The simple and flat front garden, which most of the houses in the road have, was no clue was to what was behind the house. The garden dropped down steeply away from the house and then climbed up again at the far end. In the middle was this pond fed by water falling down from the upper level.