Isle of Wight Holiday: Mottistone Gardens

We visited the National Trust Property Mottistone Gardens on the Tuesday of our holiday on the Isle of Wight.  It was another lovely bright sunny day.  Mottistone is the Trust's most southerly 'dry' garden.  There are of course gardens further south in Cornwall, which we visited, but they are much wetter.  These gardens are relatively new as far as 'history' and were designed in the 1960s by Sir John Nicholson and his wife Lady Vivien.  

Dotted round the garden were these funny 'plant pot' people, who I said hello to...they weren't especially talkative though.  Their names were takes on other well known characters and people.

This interesting shack was in what is now the tea room garden.  It was designed by the architects John Seeley who was the 2nd Lord Mottistone, and Paul Paget as their summer drawing office.  It was pretty neat inside and had everything they could possibly need.

Drawing desk.

Somewhere to sleep

Somewhere to sit and relax, read a book and keep cosy on cooler days.

A kitchen.

Another work area.

It also had bathroom!

After exploring The Shack we set off round the garden.

Another flower pot person - he looked like he might have had a hard night!

I spotted this one under the shade of the tree.

Looking back at Mottistone Manor - this house is still lived in so usually only open twice a year.

The Manor was first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 - imagine that!  As it is today was created during the 15th and 16th centuries, although as mentioned the gardens are a lot newer.  Over the years the house has had to weather a landslide, the gardens have been a farmyard, but now it is a lovely home with a beautiful peaceful garden.

There is a hedged vegetable garden.

Before we go down to the vegetable garden we explore further up and I discover some more flowerpot people.

We walk round the top of the main garden.  There is much more to the Estate that you can wander round, but we stuck to the garden itself.

Lady Scarecrow? 

There were some vegetables and fruit, and some rather tasty raspberries still growing!  Ours finished a long time ago.

Beautiful dahlias.

After enjoying the vegetable garden we venture into the small walled flower garden.

It was laid out neatly and had some interesting plants.

The Manor itself is pretty impressive.  You can get quite close to it - to where the grass ends.

These were stunning with the light reflecting through them.

There was also a grass maze in the garden.

Before I walked round it I posed for the obligatory photo on a wall.

I had fun walking round this maze.

It was just the right size for me.

One last look back at the house before we venture on to our next place to visit.