Brockworth Court house was actually visited by Henry VIII. The Tudor Priory House was built in the 1400’s and then added onto. The owner Tim Wiltshire gave us the tour. I was most impressed by his philosophy on gardening and how important it can be in one’s life. He has gardened since he was 8 and since I began at age 7 I could identify with him. When he bought the property 20 years ago it was in great disrepair.

One of the first things Tim and his wife did was to restore the pond area. They added the Monet-style bridge, the Island and the reed building in the center. Tim wanted to be environmentally friendly so pulls weeds vs using weed killer. The most impressive thing about this garden is that Tim and his wife Bridget maintain the gardens themselves. They open the gardens for tours  like ours and you can request lunch which Bridget prepares. We had a lovely lunch in their dining room where dessert was Eton Mess, a strawberry fool.

It supposedly got it’s name from an incident at Eton where one of the boys dropped a full platter of it. Their son is an artist and made this beautiful oversized dragon fly.