The Abbey Gardens - Bury St Edmunds

On a recent trip to Suffolk we visited the beautiful Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds. We stopped off here for lunch and to break our stay as we drove over to Woodbridge to spend a week near the coast.

The gardens are situated in the bustling historic town centre of Bury St Edmunds, which has its own cathedral. The site is an Englsh Heritage site and is free to visit. There are extensive remains of one of the wealthiest and most powerful Benedictine monastries in England, Shrine of St Edmund. The remains include the 14th century great gate, a norman tower and the impressive ruins of the west front of a church. 

The ruins are set amongst parkland and gardens and the River Linnet flows alongside them, providing a natural habitat for wildlife. 

Take a look around...

The imposing cathedral looks over the Abbey Grounds. This is a view from the rose garden. The roses were just coming out and are set amongst some lovely clusters of peonies. 

Some of the ruins you will find. There are some excellent information boards set around the grounds.

The first signs of lavender and it is only early June. 

I love the colour of this geranium. 

The River Linnet and its ducks happily sunbathing. 

A lovely, peaceful meadow area by tbe river. 

Delphiniums reaching for the sky, set against an old brick wall. 

Gorgeous peonies unfurling. 

I love this miniature rose against the wall too! 

There are lots of little areas to these grounds. This was a peaceful and tranquil, gated area with very pretty water features.  A lovely place to sit and reflect and listen to the water trickling and the bird song. 

Ancient walls with the cow parsley tumbling over. There are small wild areas set amongst the more formal grounds. 

A stunning clematis, in full bloom and just enjoying the sunshine! 

An almost secret area, we just came upon a little herb garden! 

And a prayer and reflection area, just by the cathedral. You can enter the cathedral grounds and enjoy a visit to the cathedral via this area. It is well worth a look around. The cathedral also has a very good refectory serving snacks, lunches and drinks. 

All well worth a visit! My only disappointment was the huge annual flowerbeds that are scattered about the gardens. They had just been emptied from their spring plants that had finished and were all ready to be planted with the summer plants. They are usually stunning. Never mind, that gives me a good excuse to go back again there soon! 

All Things Garden!

Welcome everyone to my new blog, 'This Way to the Garden', about what I would describe as, 'all things garden'.

Gardening has been a big part of my life ever since I was lucky enough to own a home with a garden. My first garden had to be started from scratch when I bought a brand new home back in my early twenties and ever since I designed and planted that new garden I have been a gardening fanatic. Every garden we've had ever since, however big or small, we've tried to add new plants, put our own stamp on it and make it a small haven, a sanctuary to relax in and enjoy with our family and friends.

Plants and flowers have always interested me from an early age: I can remember going on long walks with my mum and our dog and we collected wild flowers and pressed them and made scrapbooks of all different types of plants. We used to walk through a small meadow near our home, it had a tiny brook running through it and there were marshy areas and a whole variety of wild flowers. We used to call it the 'Secret Garden' after the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I think my interest in gardens, plants and flowers got sparked through these visits to our 'secret garden' and stayed with me ever since.

During my teaching years, my interest in plants and gardening continued and in one school I was lucky enough to oversee some projects that involved the children learning outside and working with nature and wildlife. When I finished teaching due to illness, the garden was once again very prominent in my life. It became a sanctuary of peace and quiet to enjoy as I recovered from one thing after another and was a great source of comfort and enjoyment. Planning things for the garden and getting outside and visiting beautiful gardens was one of the things that gave me much motivation and calm.

We are lucky now to enjoy a good sized garden, with lots of nooks and crannies to fill and we always seem to be endlessly visiting gardens for enjoyment and inspiration, picking up plants from garden centres, markets, and wherever we go on our travels. We always seem to have a garden 'project' on the go, whatever the time of year!

Now I'm back and active in the garden once more, out and about more than ever and wanting an excuse to develop my writing to other areas, so hence, 'This Way to the Garden', one of my new little ventures. Watch this space for more, hopefully there will be lots to come and you will enjoy following!