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Welcome to the new website for Sezincote house and garden!
We shall be using this page to keep in touch with our visitors, letting you know about special weekend openings for charity, and keeping you posted on special attractions in the garden.
SUMMER SUNDAY OPENING
14th June 2008
The garden only will be open to the public 2pm - 6pm on Sunday 29th June 2008. All proceeds to Condicote Playgroup.
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MAY 2008
13th May 2008
This must be the most beautiful time of the year: snowy-white blossom is everywhere, from the deutzias, cherries and viburnums to the hawthorn in the park and the handkerchief tree. The hill by the snake pool is covered in bluebells and candelabra primula punctuate the stream and pools. Everywhere there is new green growth with sunshine pouring through it, but all is still tidy, not yet masking the beautiful rocks and watercourses. The new avenue of Persian quinces through a wildflower meadow has been a great success, leading one up to the sensational view of the house and Indian garden from the top of the steep bank to the south. But the most appreciated novelty are the teas and homemade cakes that Camilla is serv ing in the Orangery: what more lovely way of spending an afternoon than to sit in the Orangery with a pot of tea, gazing out at the domes and minarets and the Persian garden of paradise whilst the mingled perfume of jasmine, orange and lemon blossom drift in the sun-warmed air...
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28th January 2008
2008 Weekend Openings for Charity:
NGS: Sunday July 6th 2pm - 6pm (garden only)
Red Cross: Sunday July 27 2pm - 6pm (garden only)
Village Fete: Saturday June 14 (limited number of house tours)
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28th January 2008
NEW FOR 2008!
The house will now be open on Bank Holiday Monday afternoons AND during the month of August.
TEA and CAKE will be served in the Orangery from May to September.
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2007 WEEKEND OPENINGS FOR CHARITY
19th August 2006
In 2007 we shall be open for the National Gardens Scheme on Sunday July 15th 2pm to 6pm, and for the Red Cross on Sunday July 22nd 2pm to 6pm. Teas will be served in the Orangery.
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10th May 2007
SPECIAL WEEKEND OPENING WITH TEAS!
On Saturday May 12th 2007 2pm to 6pm the gardens will be open to raise money for the Condicote play group. Teas will be served in the Orangery.
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APRIL 2007
16th April 2007
The garden is looking glorious in this wonderful Easter weather. The magnolia and cherry blossom are still out, and the first leaves are appearing on the trees. The ancient weeping hornbeam (the oldest in the country) is dressed in a delicate veil of young leaves and catkins; the first flush of leaves high up on the katsura tree nearby are delicate pink. Around the base of the Katsura the strange purple blooms of the parasite that grows on its roots - Lathraea clandestina - are poking through the ground. Other trees are surrounded by the brilliant blue of the Chionodoxa (or Glory-of-the-Snow) which prefigure the bluebells that will be appearing soon on the banks that are already covered in amist of pale blue forget-me-nots. All the way down the stream the extraordinary yellow flower-spathes of American skunk cabbage are poking up; and the banks of the island pool are a mass of pale and dark blue and white anemones. Cowslips are up in profusion around the bottom pool. In the Orangery the air is heavy with jasmine, and the Banksian rose is beginning a terrific display. It is a good time of year for perfume in the garden: the Viburnum carlesii is superb, and the orange Berberis blossom smells especially good in the evening.
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FEBRUARY 2007
3rd February 2007
February is a wonderful time to see the bones of the Sezincote garden design, the pools, waterfalls and stream; the temple, grotto and indian bridge; and the trees. The weeping hornbeam, the oldest of its kind in the British Isles and actually probably a unique contorted variety all of its own, looks utterly fantastical bare of leaves. Bare apart from carpets of snowdrops and crocuses, the garden looks very close to the original concept of its designer, Thomas Daniell, who in the early C.19th sought to recreate the romantically picturesque landscapes with which he surrounded his aquatints of Indian scenery. To emphasise the original design we have returned the rockery he laid out below the rock pool to its original state, and it looks wonderful.
There have been arboricultural tragedies over the winter, however: we have lost the oriental spruce on the north lawn to spruce bark beetle, and one of the magnificent 250 year old cedars to the gales. Also all four chinese bamboos flowered last summer, and died, as will all specimens of the species wherever they are in the world.
Visitors to Sezincote at the moment will be rewarded with the wonderfully delicate scent of the witch hazels by the island pool, and the sweet loveliness of the evergreen viburnum.
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AUGUST
18th August 2006
18/8/06 Summer already seems a distant memory... But we are grateful for the rain! Sezincote has suffered the drought less than most, having its own spring, stream and pools. The Thornery still looks magnificent, with many Hydrangeas, Lobelia cardinalis, Agapanthus, Hemerocallis and Astilbes still in full flower. The soft, feathery blossoms of Cotinus coggygria 'Foliis Purpureus' lend the garden the look of an oil painting by Thomas Daniell. In the Orangery the Plumbago, Michelia figo, Abutilon 'Ashford Yellow' and Cassia corymbosa are all still going strong.