Houghton Lodge Gardens

We visited Houghton Lodge Gardens near Stockbridge in Hampshire with my brother and his Jack Russell dog called Emma. He had visited this garden once before with my sister-in-law who thought the garden and location were so special.They had originally discovered it while searching for gardens that welcome dogs. It didn't take us long to fall under it's spell too.

We visited the Peacock Garden first. The peacock was made out of recycled materials and stood proudly surrounded by topiary.

The walled garden was equally impressive with many fruit trees, wild flowers and a border full of plants to create natural dyes.

I noticed this bee on the cardoon, it's body was covered in pollen!

The house was built as a rural retreat in 1793. The roof of the building, the shape of the windows and the lattice iron work were so pretty.It had wonderful views overlooking the surrounding countryside.

The water meadows led down to the beautiful, clear, River Test. We met the resident Alpacas Tom, Dick and Harry!

We could only admire this beautiful boat house from a distance.

As we wandered along the river bank we noticed a fisherman on the opposite bank fishing for brown trout.

It was such a peaceful location and the food and drink at the cafe in the walled garden was very good too.It was just so relaxing chatting in such gorgeous surroundings, while admiring the view and enjoying the homemade cake.