Garden Visit: Les Jardins de la Poterie Hillen

It was the end of August 2013 when I was last fit enough to go out anywhere for pleasure, so I wanted my first day out on the slow road to full health again to be somewhere special.  Oh, and with benches!  Les Jardins de la Poterie Hillen in the Hautes-Pyrenees has been at the top of the To Visit list for several years and was well worth the anticipation. The garden is a fabulous mixture of formal, funny and rampant, with sculpture around almost every corner, and well worth its status as a Jardin Remarquable.

We visited in the middle of June when a period of hot weather - it was nicely in the low thirties - had the flowers open wide and the insects buzzing.



Of course, I was especially taken by the vegetable gardens, mulched with straw but still showing more than a few weeds (I hope they won't mind me saying), just like mine. Once you've watched a mixed flock of finches - gold, green and  chaff - eating the seed heads of dandelions, you might be more willing to leave a few to run to seed.  Just a few, mind you!

In one of the potagers ...

... backed by a stunning rose.

What had been simple agricultural land has been subdivided to give many clearly defined areas.  This trained vine is one idea we are going to take away for use in our own somewhat smaller efforts to turn a field into a garden.  The vines are growing along a simple rustic rough timber open fence, which will no doubt come into its own in the winter when the foliage has all died back.

Yesterday, we removed the nasty wire fence from one side of our potager in preparation for replacing it with a high fence to support vines, and maybe roses too.  At present rate of progress that'll happen in about five years time.  Curse these wretched inflamed joints.

 The other big thing for me was the grasses and bamboos, sometimes standing alone as specimens, but often used as a back drop to other more formal planting, as in the Italian influenced garden

Stunning colour and patterning.

Gorgeous grass bordered grass path!

Two photos in the Italian Garden, the picture above showing the bamboo boundary and the one below, the formal structure,

Still in the Italian garden, the fountain in the distance was special, but I was more captivated by all the butterflies!

Serenity - yet more grasses and bamboos, the singing of frogs and rustling of leaves in the breeze.  Every garden should have a lake - Lac Exotique.

Great idea for a cane top.

And a little more fun to finish.

Here is the link to the website for Les Jardins - I would highly recommend the gardens to anyone visiting the area.  There is a tea room, too, although we didn't sample, having made use of the covered picnic area on our arrival.  The garden opens in the afternoons only, but the picnic area is open from noon.  We visited mid-week in June and the pace was very, very quiet, although I guess that in July and August it would be a different story.

We will be returning in September to enjoy the changing seasons.