Latest news with #flowergarden
The Sun
17 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- The Sun
Five beautiful flower fields across the UK to visit this summer – and some have free entry
AS summer steps into bloom, so do millions of flowers across the UK - and what is better than getting out and seeing them. Whilst the UK doesn't benefit from a tropical climate or colour-coded tulip fields, we still gets some amazing plants and garden destinations. 6 Here is a round-up of some of the best flower gardens in the UK, including a new lavender destination. Secret Lavender Garden, Mayfield Mayfield Lavender, famed for its organic Banstead lavender farm, will launch a brand-new visitor experience this summer: the Secret Lavender Garden. The experience will open on June 21 Mayfield's Epsom site in Surrey - which is also home to the Glasshouse Café and Gift & Plant Shop. There will be time sessions in the morning and afternoon for visitors to explore the fragrant lavender, an apple orchard, over 500 fruit trees and local wildlife. There is a tall tree-lined avenue that leads guests to a second hidden lavender field, which boasts amazing countryside views and even the skyline of London is visible. Guests will be allowed to bring a picnic blanket or sit at one of the garden's tables to enjoy the fields. They can also pre-order one of Mayfield's handcrafted pick-up hampers filled with treats. Alternatively, visitors can head to the Glasshouse Cafe which offers a menu including lavender-inspired food and drinks. From the July 5, the Secret Lavender Garden will also offer 'sunset special' slots for golden-hour views. Booking online costs £10 for adults, £8 for children over the age of 12 and £5 for children between five and 11-years-old. Explore the Most Beautiful Flower Fields in the UK Brendan Maye, founder of Mayfield Lavender, said: "The opening of the Secret Lavender Garden at our Epsom site marks an exciting chapter for Mayfield. "It's a peaceful, hidden gem that complements the vibrant atmosphere of the Banstead-based lavender farm. We can't wait for people to experience both." Little Budds Farm, Coldblow Lane Set in the Kent countryside, is Little Budds Peony Farm - a great peony paradise, that boasts displays of over 6,000 peonies. Peonies only bloom for a few weeks each year, from the end of Mat to the beginning of June. And at Little Budds Farm, visitors can see the vast array of flowers until June 15. In total, the farm has over 50 different varieties of peonies, which all range in size, shape, scent and colour. Whilst visitors cannot pick their own peonies, there are plenty of pre-picked bunches available for purchase at the site. The farm is completely free to visit, but tickets to see the flowers must be booked in advance. 6 If heading from London, guests can board a direct train from London Victoria to Bearstead and then hop in a short taxi ride to the farm. The Confetti Flower Field, Worcestershire The Confetti Flower Field in Worcestershire is home to an array of flowers that bloom for just 10 days. Estimated to bloom towards the end of June, the farm has acres of tall delphinium flowers. Guests will be able to see the flowers in the fields, as well as a range of insects. At full bloom, the fields are a "magical experience" according tot he farm's website and visitors will be able to walk around "such an expanse of colour". There will also be a pop-up Confetti Café, a small shop and fresh flower stall inside the event. 6 New for this year, the farm is also offering sunset events on June 26 and July 1 and 3. Tickets cost £9.95 per person and must be booked in advance. Blooming Green, Kent Also in Kent is Blooming Green - a large meadow with bundles of wild flowers to investigate. Whilst a fruit farm, Blooming Green has seasonal, organic flowers that visitors can pick every Saturday from late June to October. There is no need to book and guests can simply grab a PYO (pick your own) container and take the pick of the bunch. The farm will even wrap up your field-fresh flowers. Admission is completely free of charge, but it does cost £25 for a PYO container of up to 40 stems. 6 Hitchin Lavender, Hertfordshire Hitchin Lavender is home to more than 30 acres of lavender, making it the largest lavender farm in the UK. Visitors can head there, explore and pick lavender themselves. Outside of the main field, there is also a two-acre display field that showcases 60 different varieties of lavender. The flowers bloom from mid-June to late August. Also, at the same site, there is a sunflower field where visitors can also explore and pick the sunflowers, which are priced per stem. 6 If that wasn't enough floral exploration, there are also wildflower meadows with hundreds of wildflower varieties. To make a day out of it, visitors can also enjoy the Old Barn Tearoom, which is a 17th century barn serving up hot food and drinks, homemade cakes and has a children's play area just outside. General admission costs £8.91 per adult and £6.81 per child. There are a number of stunning spots around the world to take the perfect floral selfie. Plus, the pretty 'secret' garden in England that is more like going to China and Egypt. 6
Associated Press
3 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Bustling crowds and bus rides are part of the annual peony pilgrimage to Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — It's time to peek at the peak peonies. Visitors are making the annual pilgrimage to the University of Michigan this week to see -- and smell -- one of the world's premier collections of the garden plant, featuring showy red, white and pink blooms of countless shades and varieties. Melanie Millar and her friends visited the Ann Arbor school's Nichols Arboretum on Monday to take some graduation photos. The 18-year-old Millar is set to graduate from a Detroit-area high school in a matter of days. 'I'm here with my best friends — a bunch of girls. … We just came here to get pictures since it's going to be a nice day, and the Peony Garden seemed like a nice place to go to,' Millar said. The W.E. Upjohn Peony Garden features the largest collection of historic — pre-1950 — herbaceous peonies in North America, 'and likely the world,' curator David Michener said. 'Once you come here to the Peony Garden, you'll be mesmerized, and you'll understand why people love peonies,' he said. 'The fragrances, the colors, the forms, it's just intoxicating.' The peony watch is a spectator sport with tens of thousands of visitors arriving at The Arb each spring to behold the unique perennials -- so many that visitors have to be bused in. But there was a somber mood among some Monday. Vandals cut off the blooms of roughly 250 peonies a day earlier, the University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security said in a statement. Although no group or organization has taken credit for vandalizing the garden, some papers were left behind, DPSS said. One referenced the war in Gaza, saying: 'Palestinian lives deserve to be cared for. More than these flowers.' 'What would possess someone just to destroy nature and the beauty of it? It's just unfathomable,' visitor Linda J.K. Klenczar said Monday. 'There's no explanation. I don't know if they're going to catch someone who did this. They need to explain themselves.' It's a moving target each year as to when the peonies will reach peak bloom. And one of great interest – with scores of peony-watchers glued to the Arb's Instagram page for updates. 'What makes it so challenging to predict is they pay no attention to the calendar,' Michener said. 'They're driven totally by day and night temperatures.' The campus Peony Garden contains more than 300 historic cultivated varieties from the 19th and early 20th centuries, representing American, Canadian and European peonies of the era. The garden typically features up to 10,000 flowers at peak bloom. Their colorful blossoms draw admirers from Michigan and beyond, but the peonies' beauty is not their primary function. The garden is designed as a support mechanism for academia -- to be a research collection for students and faculty to explore genomics and social issues. Michener and his colleagues at Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum work closely with their sister garden in Minsk, the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, trying to understand how ornamental peonies are related to each other and the wild, ancestral species. Michigan's Peony Garden is free to visit and open from sunrise to sunset. For those drawn to the ancient plant's scent, Michener said it's best to show up earlier in the day or later in the evening, when the fragrances are the best. 'It's very colorful. I have a lot of peonies in my backyard, so I have a spot for them. But they're a beautiful flower,' Millar said.
