Bodle Street Green, Hailsham, UK

When I first suggested touring gardens as our plan for a vacation, many of my husband’s friends raised an eyebrow and gave my husband that “poor sod look.” I think he was skeptical that this could be the kind of vacation that he would enjoy too. But, to his surprise, last year he liked it!  So we planned another tour of homes and gardens for this year. I think the big factor for him was; there is more to a garden than flowers………..

This year was no exception. Gardens are like a box of chocolates, “you never know what you’re going to get, until you get there.” Cowbeech House was on the list for our first garden visit on the National Garden Schemes this year. The gardens on the National Garden Scheme are local village gardens, with gardeners, who put their gardens on view, once or twice a year, usually on a Saturday and Sunday, to raise money for charity. The gardeners are available to answer questions and show any particular garden features. There is usually something unique about their gardens and that is why they are selected in the first place.

Cowbeech House, located in Cowbeech Village, was part of the Herstmonceux Parish Trail. On this day we saw quite a few gardens on this trail of tranquil settings.

I always enjoy the time and effort it takes just to find these small villages. They are definitely off the beaten path and many times all the time, we are the only Americans, and the villagers are quite surprised that we come “over the pond” to look at their gardens. 

A tip here is….. always plan where you want to eat because the pubs are open only at certain times to serve food and……. preferably eat before you get to the first garden, because you will stay longer than you anticipate and may miss out on the scheduled times to eat! Also, this way your husband will not be starving and wanting you to get a move on!

So our pub meal was at the White Horse Inn, a rural free house on Bodie Street Green in Hailsham. We both had the Sunday Roast and I was so busy talking to the couple next to us about Brexit, that I didn’t get a picture of the delicious meal!

The White Horse Pub, Hailsham, UK

Which way to Go?

After our meal we moved on to Cowbeech House and paid our 5 pounds which would allow us entry into five gardens on the trail that day. Needless to say, we did not make it to all of them, but we loved the gardens we did see.

The first part of the garden tour at Cowbeech House was the garage, full of antique cars! Not any cars mind you, these Cars! The house sign was a give away to what was in store for us!

Cowbeech House, Herstmonceux Parish Trail

This is Mr Cowbeech, not his real name of course, but these lovely cars, garden and house belonged to him and he was quite proud of them! As he should be!

Mr Cowbeech at Cowbeech House

Three Rolls Royces!

Rolls Royce

Aston Martin, James Bond “Goldfinger”

1924 Bentley

1924 Bentley

1931 Auston Martin International

As you can see there was much interest in the garage before we ever got to the garden…… and not everything in the garden is flowers! See you tomorrow to show you the grounds of Cowbeech House!