Gardens on a golden afternoon

We took the afternoon off to seek inspiration from Gloucestershire's two most famous gardens, Kiftsgate Court and Hidcote Manor, so conveniently adjacent on the northern escarpment of the Cotswolds. Adjacent, but dissimilar: Kiftsgate like a villa on the Cap d'Antibes, rising above its Monterey Pines; Hidcote the classic Cotswold house, surrounded by its famous garden rooms. Hidcote maintained, but not unduly trammelled, by the might of the National Trust; Kiftsgate privately owned and now, as its fine new guidebook proudly announces, maintained by the third generation of women gardeners of the same family. Two great gardens and inspirational indeed.

Afterwards home, and to dinner by the pond, with the sun catching the ripening seed heads of the pulsatillas.