Coton Manor Gardens
May 3 2022
Despite the fine wisteria in full bloom, its purple tendrils beautifully offset against the golden stone, the lovely blooms of creatively planted and fascinatingly designed water garden trickling downhill, bluebells and birds are what stand out most vividly to me from these gardens.
Quite a few unusual hens and roosters patrolled the grounds, odd ducks waddled about and upended in the ponds. They reminded me of the farm catalogues we used to get which my brother always perused avidly, having a penchant for the wildest and wackiest looking varieties of fowl. Strikingly coloured flamingos, whether tucked up to snooze or stalking through the gardens, brightened a day that was slightly overcast and added a fine ‘Alice in Wonderland’ vibe. A cheeky little robin (see Robin of Coton) entertained us as we lunched in the cobblestone courtyard. We thoroughly enjoyed his antics but the ladies at the next table, who were favoured with his closer attention, didn’t seem quite as pleased. He was so quick that unfortunately I didn’t manage to catch him on film.
The bluebell wood was marvellous, though falling short of perfection through no fault of the wood itself - indeed the trees and bluebell density at Coton are particularly fine. An unusually cool spring meant at the time of our visit (a pleasant detour on our drive south after a trip to relatives in Derbyshire) the blooms were a few days off peak. Although the sky wasn’t exactly dull, while we were there the sun never broke through in strong enough gleams to produce that thrumming magical glow of colour which had rendered my first bluebell wood visit a practically mystical experience and which is what I was hoping for on my dad’s first time in a bluebell wood. Unfortunately, as our visit coincided with that of a coach party, our time in the wood was not accompanied by the hushed quiet one feels is necessary to thoroughly appreciate such beauty. I feel that the wood, though it couldn’t do anything about the late season or the sunlight, shared my feelings about crowds of noisy visitors.
