The Gardens of Anglesey Abbey

Anglesey Abbey has extensive gardens, over 114 acres! Designed by Lord Fairhaven in imitation of the great landscape gardens of the 1700s, many paths wander through the different sections. We only saw a few of them.

The entrance is flanked by small statues. The gardens are full of statues. Lord Fairhaven collected them from houses across the countryside. Mostly they depict mythological or biblical subjects.

Walking into the gardens

King in the green

Another statue (don't know who, they aren't labeled!)

Tragedy?

Old age?

Winding our way towards the house itself, we saw a tree that had been struck by lightning twice. At least, that's what the sign says.

Lightning does strike twice in the same spot!

In case you don't believe me

Near the house, we found a lovely tree for climbing.

Jacob starts his ascent

Lucy joins in the fun

Jacob enjoys the view

According to the web site, there's a tree house somewhere but we didn't find it. We did go down Lime Avenue along the Quarry Pool to visit the Lode Mill.

Quarry Pool with Lode Mill in the distance

The clear highlight, at least in the summer, is the Herbaceous Garden, which has a circular lawn surrounded by various flowering plants and herbs, which are in turn surrounded by a hedge border.

The Herbaceous Garden

People admiring the flowers

Bees admiring the flowers

On our way back to the car, we took the Holm Oak Avenue which was lovely and shady from the hot sun.

Lucy comes through the gate by the mill

Jacob and I on the avenue of oaks

I can't remember why we hugged, but we don't really need a reason, do we?

This path led into the Winter Garden path, which was not as shady but a nice stroll back to the visitor center and car park.

Paths diverge

The Winter Garden is probably not best in July

We enjoyed our visit and would probably come back to explore more in another season.