Tags
bokeh, Cork oak, Dorset, Frankham Farm, Harlequin Glorybower, Ivy-leaved cyclamen, Jo Earle, John Betjeman, National Gardens Scheme, Oak-leaved hydrangea, Ryme Intrinseca
This must surely have been my last National Gardens Scheme visit of the season. It took me south, just over the Somerset/Dorset border to a village called Ryme Intrinseca, and this working farm. “Ryme Intrinseca is generally regarded as one of the most interesting of all village names in the County of Dorset, and was so regarded by John Betjeman in his poem, ‘Dorset'” (source and further explanation here.) It was a chilly and overcast day, but I was well wrapped up, including gloves, and I really enjoyed my autumn stroll.
I drove past the farmhouse,

and into its yard to park. At the front of the house I took a plasticised map, with a few words on the back:


Having taken a quick photo of the formal garden, to which I would return, my route was via the vegetable garden to the long thin wooded area, back through the vegetables and round the garden, then into the orchard at the north-east of the plot. I crossed behind the farm buildings to the stables, then into the wild garden and wooded area, finishing in the paddock.














A tiny plaque on top of this sculpture, inscribed “JME 1936-2007”, says it all.


Moving back into the vegetables on the way back to the formal garden there are other delights:





Eventually, one is back in the lawned area in front of the house.







There were not just apple trees in the orchard.








Now into what is called the Paddock.



Emerging out on to the drive once more, I was pleased to see what is presumably the 250-year-old oak.

Someone with clearly a good knowledge of horticulture visited under the NGS scheme on a sunny day in March 2019 (that other era). Her blog is here.