a walk in the garden – part 1 of 3 | Colourful Threads of Life

When you are stressed out with the daily grinds of life and need to get away from it all, go and spend time in the garden, talk to the trees and the flowers, get close to nature and get lost in the serenity.

During my recent trip to the UK in March, I had the opportunity to do just that when I went to stay with an old friend of mine Victor whom I had not seen for many years for a weekend in his new home that he bought last summer in Newent, a small town near Gloucester in Gloucestershire, England.

I had a marvelous time exploring his garden and in, believe it or not, a huge greenhouse with a incredible desert garden that comes with the house on his 6-acre land. Victor said the succulent cacti were not his choice of plants. Nevertheless, it was pretty impressive.

overview

external of the green house

entrance to the desert garden

feels like you have a desert in the middle of winter… well, March was still pretty chilly then!

huge and dangerous looking cacti are not my favourites too but I must admit this is quite an achievement by the previous owners

just to give you a prospective of how big the garden and the plants are!

Took off my jacket and scarf, got the camera out, flexed the cold fingers and started exploring…

a greenhouse within a greenhouse
(there was even a small green house in the huge greenhouse that housed Victor’s tiny collection of succulents)

Let’s venture into the gigantic greenhouse…
the succulents

the friendly looking ones…

the dangerous ones

Victor kept reminding me not to get close to these prickly pears/opuntia as the hairlike prickles/glochids could cause serious irritation to the skin

though it is small, I got scare of this one as well!

though it is small, I got scared of this one as well!

can you spot the ladybird?

a study on spines…

Victor actually wanted to take a picture of the grape vines on the fence but ended up capturing me in the background taking a closer look at the cactus spines