Sldeshow of the gardens at Mottisfont
We broke our journey back home from the New Forest by stopping at Mottisfont, a romantic house and gallery set in beautiful riverside gardens in the Test Valley in Hampshire, which is run by the National Trust.
We didn’t have time to visit the 18th-century house with its 20th-century art collection and major exhibitions in the top-floor gallery (the National Trust continues the artistic traditions of Maud Russell who made Mottisfont her home in the 1930s, bringing artists there to relax and create works inspired by Mottisfont’s past). I’m sure we will return here another time for a fuller visit and to discover the local area, including the nearby market town of Stockbridge, Stockbridge Down and Marsh, and Curbridge Nature Reserve (more a note for myself).
In the time we had we did enjoy the gardens and, in particular, the stunning walled gardens. Mottisfont has a world-famous collection of old-fashioned roses and, although we were a little early for most of them, there were enough in bloom to show the beauty of the collection; and certainly worthy of inclusion in my nature blog.
Mottisfont
Riverside walk along the River Test
Fish were easy to spot in the shallow river bed
The shepherd’s hut among some of the splendid trees (by all accounts there are more than 35 species of trees).
Some of the roses in the walled garden
Irises are a main feature at this time of the year.
It’s not all roses
Still room for birds (which I found difficult to photograph with a wide angle lens)
Mottisfont in the spring sunshine
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 