Oh Robert, thank you so much for sharing. This was truly awesome!

Sandy

Thanks much for posting. I would like to see more. If you get to go back when things are blooming, please take some more pictures and post them.

Hi Robert,
Hope you are enjoying spring in England. Thank you for the link to your website. It wasn't so much the pics of David Austin's grounds I was taken with but your roses - they are so beautiful. Those are just some of the loveliest roses and photos of roses I have ever seen. I'm glad to see you posting again.
Marlene

Thanks for sharing, this must have been fun. I guess Oxford is a bit closer to DA/Albrighton than Cambridge, but we'll try to visit too this year. Plus the Chelsea Flower Show in May. Keep us posted.

A.

Thanks for sharing with us those wonderful photos. Definitely keep us posted.

If you do go next time, could you please take some photos on St.Swithun? I just want to see what she looks like as a climber.

Thanks in advance.

Oh Robert, What memories you have bought back to me!
The first ever time I visited David Austin Roses,It was a hot still June day. The roses were at their peak, and because it was so warm, there was hardly anybody else there.
I remember wandering slowly under the shade of the pergolas
absolutely intoxicated by the heady perfume, and overwhelmed by the profusion of blooms.
It was like being in a dream, or living in the pages of a fairy-tale.
Your wonderful photos of your own roses,and of David Austin's gardens, took me straight back to that "dream day".
Thank-you. Daisy

Robert, I browsed through your website. It is incredibly beautiful! Well done!
What camera do you use to take those photos? I'm planning to travel soon, so I'll be getting a new camera.

Sandy, I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. Thanks for looking.

the_bustopher, I'm going to go back in June, it's already planned. I'll definitely be taking the camera and will probably photograph as much as I possibly can. I'm very excited because there are a lot of David Austin roses that I've wanted to see and smell before buying. I'm curious to see what surprises me. I expect some I have my heart set on may disappoint and some that I never dreamed I'd be attracted to I will fall in love with. I'm very excited already.

Thanks Marlene for the kind words. The roses on my site are from my garden in California, I'm having to start all over again here, and because we are renting at the moment I'm limited in how much gardening I can do. We have one raised bed where I've put four roses in, and the one I picked up over the weekend will probably go in a pot. I'll have to content myself with taking photos of other peoples roses for a while, but thankfully, I've got some incredible gardens on my doorstep. :)

andreageorgia, are you going to Chelsea? We're going on the Wedneday, the second member's day. This will be my first time so I'm ridiculously excited. David Austin is not far from where our relatives live... Kidderminster, and now I've got them hooked so hopefully we should be able to go fairly regularly when we visit. We don't have a car here (hallelujah) but I've figured out how to get to David Austin's by train if I really need a fix, from here it would be a little over two hours and a short walk from the Albrighton train station. Not bad considering that pilgrims used to have to walk to their holy shrines. Hee hee.

Jumbojimmy, I'll look for St Swithun and take a photo of it for you. They seemed to love The Generous Gardener, it was crawling on things everywhere. They obviously think highly of it because it seemed to be in the key climber spots. The David Austin photos, and many other 'snapshots' on my site were taken with a little pocket Canon Powershot s500, it's at least 4 years old now but I love that it fits in my pocket and is great for capturing memories. My "good camera" is a Canon 20D SLR, which is several models old now as well. Their digital Rebel range are great cameras at affordable prices that you might consider. If you are thinking of getting an SLR, remember that you're big investment isn't the camera, it is the lenses. It's nice to know that you'll be using the lenses for years to come no matter what happens to the camera or how many times you upgrade, but you need to keep in mind that once you start buying the lenses you are investing in that brand (usually canon or nikon, but there are other very good kits available). I'm perfectly happy with my canon camera and the 4 or 5 lenses I've purchased over the past 6 or 7 years, but I highly recommend going to a camera shop and taking pictures with the cameras to get a sense of how they feel in your hands and how it feels to use the controls.

Daisy, it sounds like you had a most remarkable experience that warm summer day, I keep picturing Daisy's Adventures in Wonderland! :) You've got me all excited to go back in June, I'll take lots of photos then and maybe that will bring back those wonderful memories another time.

Thanks for looking everybody.

robert

Oh wow. That is one of my dream destinations. We are going to London, actually tomorrow, but unfortunately we won't have time to travel out of the city. But I do want to return to England some day and travel through the countryside, in June, and stay at inns and see loads of gardens.

Thank you for sharing the pictures. I would so love to go. How fortunate that you can go back when things are in bloom. I love Pat Austin's statues too. They are just exactly my sort of thing.

Robert, very nice trip you took. I would love to go someday too. Thanks for sharing your new life, have you started planning your garden or planting anything?

Carla

Robert------thanks so much for the pictures---can't wait to see the roses in bloom.

Sounds like you are very comfortable in Merry Olde England----
It is nice to see you posting ---I always loved your Ca. garden---

You have good eye for beauty and look forward to all your new adventures--

Your website is a delight-----I will be visiting it again

Thanks again

Florence

Robert, we haven't booked a day for Chelsea yet, and may have to stay a tad flexible since we have a little (nearly) one year old who may or may not be inclined to take a whiff at the flowers with us that day. Also, I guess I'd have to become member of the RHS in a hurry to be able and go on Wednesday. No car here either, halleluja too, although that's about to change - coming from the US and Germany we finally have to take the plunge into left-side driving, I suppose. It seems to work just fine on the bike, although very occasionally like today, when I'm in a daze after a long day's work, I suddenly find myself on the wrong side of the road, ouch. At least they seem to be used to such slips here in Cambridge.

I'll let you know if we can make it on Wednesday to Chelsea and maybe even give you a ride to DA in June, if you dare to travel with us continentals.

Cheers,
Andrea

Hi Robert! It is always so good to hear from you and I enjoyed your photo's. You are living my dream of visiting gardens in England! I see that the pups are with you now. Enjoy every minute and keep up the reports and photo's so I can live vicariously :-)

Carol

Robert, I got so carried away with my memories, that I forget to tell you I had Spirit of Freedom in Cornwall and it was brilliant!
I had mine on a pergola. It grew very quickly and lustily. A bit too well really for a pergola. It became very bushy. About nine feet high and five feet wide. It always had plenty of flowers all summer and autumn. The perfume is gorgeous.

Andrea, I envy you and Robert going to the Chelsea Flower Show. It used to be an annual pilgrimage for me.
I think you will find however, that they do not allow children in. It is held in the grounds of the Chelsea Pensioners Hospital, and is not spacious enough for pushchairs, babes in arms or toddlers.
I remember one year, one of the presenters of the show on B.B.C. television, had just had a baby and was breastfeeding it. They couldn't relax the rules even for her. She had to go outside the show, to her baby to feed it!
Daisy

Daisy, thanks so much for the info! That's just too bad. I bet they're mostly concerned that their precious flowers would be put to some unconventional use if kids were allowed in. I guess we'll have to take turns then!

Andrea

Veilchen, I hope you had a great time in London! Even the "squares" there are fantastic, not to mention the fabulous parks.

Hi Mendocino rose, I was surprised that I liked Pat's statues as much as I did, I had seen photos of some of them before but they always seemed rather "sweet", when in fact, they are really very earthy and magical.

Hi Carla! We're in Oxford, and renting, so no big plans for a garden here. We share an enormous back yard with two neighbours, but most if it is covered in brick. There are also borders, but they have long established shrubs and trees in them. It's basically a "low maintenance garden" (god I cringe at that phrase). If we owned it, I'd be making all sorts of plans; but as it is I am content to put just a few things into the ground and try to enjoy the wonderful gardens and nature which surrounds me here. I put two roses in last fall: The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild and Alan Titchmarsh; this spring I put in bare roots of Gentle Hermione and Scepter'd Isle. I'm still deciding whether to put Spirit of Freedom in along the back wall, or to put it in a large pot outside by the front door, judging from what Daisy said, I might have to rethink this!

Hi Florence, Thanks for the nice words. I miss my garden in California, but I'm just trying to appreciate that I'm now in a climate more conducive to growing the kind of garden I've always dreamed of. I always felt a bit guilty for trying to have an English Country Garden in the middle of a drought area! Here, we don't even have a hose!!! Thankfully, we do have a rainbarrel, so when things do dry up I can get extra water from the last rain. It makes me feel much better.

Hi Andrea, I think Daisy is right, no children allowed at the flower show. I'm not sure what the limit is but I think it is on their website. We joined because members get a discount to the show... so by the time we added up the three tickets and figured the money saved would almost pay for itself if we got a membership. So now I have the card and get the monthly magazine. I'd love to get together with you sometime. Maybe we could meet at a garden somewhere inbetween our two cities? We'll form an Oxbridge gardening club!

Hi Carol, we have Megan with us, we unfortunately lost our beloved Spencer to cancer right before we moved. Megan LOVES it here. We take her on long walks along the river, visit meadows, take her to pubs, and she is welcome on buses and trains as well. The British are so much more sensible about dogs! She's definitely part of our family and she really enjoys going everywhere with us. On the train she sits on my lap and looks out the window. People in the stations see her and smile and wave. It's delightful.

Daisy, thanks so much for the information on Spirit of Freedom! I'm glad to know you thought it was a good rose. I've wanted it for a long time, and was worried because it is so rarely discussed. There was a recent thread where it was brought up with some recommendations, so I put it back on the top of my list. I was thinking of putting it in a pot in front of our house (many people grow roses on our street up the front beside their door, no one has any earth, just row houses built in the 1850s for railway workers, but with a pot and a trellis people have done wonders. Maybe I'll put him in the back and think of something a little less vigourous. Then again, you were in Cornwall which probably helped him grow with the extra sunlight! How did you like Cornwall? I have this romantic notion about it, and have it on the top of my list for places to visit. It looks so wonderful!

Cheers,
robert

Added to my itinerary for my trip (in my dreams). May-June sounds like the time to be there.

Thank you for the photos, those greenhouses are to die for.

And your corgi is a perfect fashion model in front of the statues.

Great job - thanks again.

Patty

Robert, I just had to browse (a lot) through your website. I recall when you were in California and contemplating the move. Oh, I see that you are loving England and the bounty of gardening. Thank you for sharing such pleasant website and highlights of your visit with us. Don't get so entrenched you forget us.

It was good hearing from you. Take care and keep the posts coming.

Robert. Cornwall is beautiful. You will love it. Megan will too. There are a lot of cliff top walks for her. There is also lots of little fishing villages, at the end of narrow lanes with banks of wild flowers.
However you will have to time your visit well. Even in summer the weather can be wet and windy. Cornwall isn't sunnier than the rest of England. It is milder because the more frequent cloud cover, means it doesn't get so many frosty nights in winter!

If the front of your house is in sunshine, Spirit of Freedom will do very well there in a BIG pot.
Something the size of a half barrel. You can sometimes get them from a brewery, or a cider farm. If that fails, then garden centres sell them.
Daisy

Robert, I am sorry to hear about Spencer. That is very sad. I can just see Meghan looking out the train window :-). It sounds like all of you are very happy.

Carol

When you go back, keep in mind that at least several dozen people are with you in spirit, so be sure to take lots of pictures! :)