I wrote an article recently for DG on Alnwick garden which if you haven't read you can see here..
I have a Facebook group for the garden too. I've bought a yearly ticket each year since I came back from the US as a friend of the garden and have tried to visit at least once a month. The garden was built and opened while I lived in Maine and two of my sister visited in 2002 when the rose garden was first planted. It was one of the first places they took me when I got back to Northumberland in Sept 2007.
My first visit this year was on Saturday Feb 6. I'd attended the funeral of my sister's mother in law on Friday and Sunday was the anniversary of my best friend's death, so I wanted to go somewhere where I could think about both of them.
After one of the longest cold spells in 30 years year the garden is a little behind for this time of year. There were hellebores and snowdrops in flower though, and some of the winter shrubs are blooming. It's always interesting to visit in winter though, when you can really appreciate the structure of the garden.
Here's a pic of the central pool in the Ornamental garden.
