After days of unsettled weather, the morning of the 11th September looked promising for our visit to Prospect House.  The garden had been open over the weekend as part of the National Gardens Scheme but Mary had secured us a private viewing.  Seven members of the gardening club, with their other halves, met outside for 11.00 and it was like walking through a magical door into the beautiful one acre garden which has featured on Gardener’s World and West Country Garden of the Year.

        We were greeted by the owner, Peter Wadeley, who remained on hand to talk to us about the creation of the garden and answer questions about the plants.  Paths wound their way through the garden leading you from one ‘room’ to another.  As you walked along the paths, they opened fantastic vistas of the surrounding countryside, borrowing the space as if it was part of the garden. 

        Peter specialises in salvias and there were many unusual species on view.  A glorious selection of trees provided height, shade and interest.  Many of us were taken by a beautiful plant which had delightful bell-shaped orange flowers and unusual fruits which bore a startling resemblance to pomegranates.  Not realizing these can be grown in the UK it came as a surprise to find that this was it exactly what it was.