So what is your favourite garden then ? I asked . The reply from the driver about the best garden he had ever seen was exactly the same as the one that was going round my head . Ninfa Glenn said. Yes I agree Our memory of our day in the Italian garden of Ninfa remained long in the memory. The sun had been shining and we had wandered around the beautiful garden . There was none like it . We had never seen one so awe inspiring and we picked the best time of the year to see it . Not too hot , Spring when all the flowers were in full swing.
Villa DEste was good I said . but not as beautiful as Ninfa Anything in this country ? We thought a lot about that and came up with Chatsworth , Erddig . Inverewe in Scotland - the list went on and on but we never got anywhere near Ninfa. How about Trsteno in Croatia ? Nice but nothing like Ninfa. up with gardens in the UK and Europe we could find nothing with Ninfa. . Casserta? Nice but
not up to the standard of Ninfa. It didnt seem to matter which gardens we came up with Ninfa kept right up at the top and We gave up in the end and made it the mission of today not to compare.
So where were we ? We were standing in the gardens of Bodnant in the Conway valley looking across at the mountains of Snowdonia . Beauty surrounds us , but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it Rumi wrote these words and yes beauty was surrounding us . Both in the gardens and out in the wild landscape of Snowdonia. The mountains towering in the distance and creating a back drop to the gardens . The day was early and we were out in the Spring sunshine determined to make the most of the day.
We had made our minds up this way last week . It should have been a workday but with a great deal of flexi and holidays untaken due to Covid it seemed sensible to take a day out of our busy lives. A day to travel just a little
and have a quiet reflective day. I chose Bodnant Garden because it was just an hours drive away from home . We had been before but that was years ago and we felt it was time to go round again. I never took any photos on the last visit . For some reason I had forgotten my phone . This time I made sure the tickets were in my bag together with the National Trust membership cards and most importantly Sion .
We left home at 9.15 with timed entry tickets booked for entrance between 10.30 and 11.00. The A55 was busy but then it always is busy as it is on the North Wales Expressway . The road that hugs the North Wales coastline all the way to Anglesey and the port of Holyhead - the gateway to Ireland . We were shocked at how busy the gardens were when we arrived . Marshalls stood in two lines letting cars in . It seemed very organised . We already had read what to expect . different experience to pre- Covid visits. They held placards which told us to stay in the car and to show
our tickets through the closed windows of the car. The tickets had arrived via Eventbrite straight to our phones . The marshalls should have asked for membership cards but did not . They smiled , gave a cursory look at the phone and then directed us to the carparks . The car parks were full. Far fuller than we expected. Even the overflow car park was being used . on the number of motorhomes parked up. There was room here for overnight parking for motorhomes . The National Trust are missing a trick not allowing us to stay overnight on their car parks . The revenue would be fantastic multiplied across each and every one of their properties .
The caf was open but only for limited services . A one way system worked and only one person was served at any time . The selection of food was small . Two types of sandwiches, a choice of bacon or sausage bap, the usual National Trust cakes. Hot and cold drinks available . We chose hot chocolate and sat outside to drink them. The service was for some reason incredibly slow and queues built up as the
three staff seem to fall over each doing one job each .
