Of halycon moments at Hidcote

Had Hidcote not been a garden, and that too one of the most renowned, one of the most beautiful gardens in UK, the title of this post would have probably read "Histrionics in Hidcote"

I love flowers. I love being around them, buying them, arranging them and when I have those rare attacks of green fingers, then growing them too! Nothing makes me forget my troubles as much as being in a flower shop or a garden or just standing in my kitchen with a vase and some flowers, fiddling, sorting, figuring out how best to arrange them! And just how much I enjoy being around flowers and my camera, you shall realise from this post, i.e. if you didn't guess it already from the endless posts and photographs of every possible flower I lay my eyes on, that I bore everyone with.

So when we were spending a long weekend in Cotswolds, the one place I was really keen on visiting was Hidcote Manor garden, reputed to be one of UK's greatest gardens. It was created not by a Brit, but an American horticulturalist, Major Lawrence Johnston, who lovingly and painstakingly worked on it for 40 years (!!!), even going on plant collecting expeditions or sponsoring such expeditions to Asia, Africa and South America to bring back plants for his garden. Later it was acquired by the National Trust and is now run as a part of National Trust attractions. 

The first day we planned to go to Hidcote, it rained and rained and we had to give up our plans. Day 2 the sun came out bright and clear and we took a trip to a picturesque village called Bourton-on-the-Water which was to be followed up with a visit to Hidcote. Unfortunately for me, Bourton with its Model village, Bird Park, pretty bridges and a little stream running through it, made the Vs go berserk and they refused to budge. So the poor mom was made to shelve her plans and leave it for the last day, the day we were driving back.

And as luck would have it, the day started with black clouds and rains that showed no signs of letting up. Undaunted, with  a "It shall be now or never" motto guiding my actions, I decided that the trip to Hidcote would still be done, with a slight change in plans - with the 3 men in my life sitting and waiting in the car while I visited the garden on fast forward mode. After convincing a very reluctant hubby with a whole lot of emotional blackmailing about how I need to follow my bliss and with promises of coming back before they missed me, I stepped out ...............
only to discover I was missing my wallet! And not just that, I couldn't find the diaper bag which had my wallet! 

Now that was a double whammy! First, the loss of the wallet was enough to cause sorrow, anguish and distress. And then we also were missing a diaper bag which had the nappies and the juice and the tissues and all the thingummyjigs that are of crucial importance when you are travelling with a child, leave alone two! 

So while I stood there in the rains, wondering what to do, the hubby suggested that he drive back to the  cottage we had rented (which we had vacated, locked and then slid the key into the post box for the owner) and try to figure out how he could get the door to open so he could look for the bag and the wallet while I spend that time visiting Hidcote.

And with no better solution coming to mind, that is exactly what I did. 
And in the span of that hour and a half, I discovered tranquillity and beauty that was incomparable! I forgot the rains, I forgot that I didn't have a rain cover for my camera, I forgot my missing wallet and I forgot that there was a poor man out there minding 2 little kids and looking for my bag and wallet. 
All that existed were the flowers, me and my camera. Nothing else. No worries, no stress, no screaming children, no husband nagging me to hurry up, no existential angst, no sneak peek into Facebook or my email. Nothing.. just sheer peace.

These are the pictures from those few moments. They aren't as great as they could have been - the grey skies didn't help the lighting, nor did the raindrops that kept falling on my lens, but still they made for an unforgettable trip.

For more pictures of this garden, please visit this link

P.S - After about 90 minutes of pure bliss, was brought crashing back to reality by phone calls that came in every 2 minutes with the husband begging in desperation, "Hurry up, the boys are getting restless" and the brats screaming "Mamma, me potty"

. 

And yes, we found the wallet. And the bag. I had left them both on the door step of the B&B while I stopped to click some pictures of their tulip garden. I was just lucky it was a small village and no one had come by and discovered it in our absence!