Fantastic Visit to Caer Hir Gardens.

This year's GARDEN VISIT  was to Cae Hir Gardens, in Cribyn.

14 of us attended, umbrellas at the ready as the weather was a bit threatening, but we didn't need them. 

Before we started strolling through the gardens, we were given a short talk by Stuart, the son of the originator of the gardens as they are today. First opened to the public in 1989, Stuart told us that Cae Hir has become one of Wales' best loved gardens. 

The Akkermans family first moved over from Holland in 1983 and Wil Akkermans wanted the garden  to be a love affair between nature and nurture, blending the wild and the cultivated, of using ordinary materials in extraordinary ways and of thinking 'outside the box' in its approach to garden design.

Although his father hasn't retired as such, Stuart and his wife now care for the gardens and have introduced more floral planting, against the backdrop of trees and shrubs used by Wil. But Stuart admitted that passing the garden on to the next generation has not been easy for Wil. As he has said, “Every plant, every stone, has passed through my hands”. However his children grew up at Cae Hir and love it as much as he does, and although their ideas might sometimes be different from those of their Father, with give and take and understanding the transition has gone remarkably smoothly.

 

We all loved the way the garden was a 'single planting', as Stuart said...his father didn't want the 6 acres to have 'separate garden rooms' but be enjoyed in a continual way as one walked through the various sections. 

Afterwards, just as the rain came down, we ate at the Ffostrasol Arms, and had a jolly good chat about the gardens, gardening, and just about everything else.

Thanks to Rita Hyde for all the wonderful photography