Saturday 24 September 2016

Day out to Forde Abbey and Gardens


Forde Abbey in Dorset, with a Somerset postcode, just outside of Chard, is set in 30 acres of grounds, Forde Abbey was once the home, some 800 years ago to Cistercian Monks. After it's dissolution in 1539, it lay empty for 100 years before being transformed into a family home, the Roper family moved in, in 1905 and the 3rd generation remain there today.


We visited with friends on our last trip to the UK. The weather was gorgeous and we spent a good part of our time in the vegetable and flower gardens, everything was labelled and friendly gardeners were on hand to answer any questions. 













A series of ponds, leading from the Great Pond were laid out 700 years ago is an early example of landscaped gardening. The Mermaid pond is home to the Centenary Fountain, installed by the current family to mark 100 years of living at Forde Abbey.



















Finally after 2 hours wandering around the vegetable gardens, followed by lunch, we made it to the back of the gardens and into the house.























































Sadly we had to leave as we were driving back to South Wales, leaving a bit more of the gardens to explore on our next visit.





























9 comments:

  1. What a beautiful place, and lovely grounds!! #pocolo

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    1. it really was lovely there, shame we live so far away to visit more often

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  2. I would absolutely love to go there! What amazing and varied gardens, I'd especially like the veggie garden and it's given me a few ideas for my next years growing.

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    1. It was one of my favourite gardens to visit, hence so many photos

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  3. Goodness what a place - that's always a potential stop when we head to Devon so I think it might be shooting up the list! Love the metalwork on that garden structure.

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    1. leave plenty of time for visiting, it's amazing there

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  4. Woah - now that is a vegetable garden to aspire to. I am seriously in awe of its order, those privet hedges and the wonderful harvests it is producing. The rest of the garden is pretty good too! I think I need to get here one day, especially as I have would have been just 20mins away from it en route to when I used to visit my Mum. #HDYGG

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    1. there sure is a lot of work involved with that garden

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