Bumble Bee Cottage: The Grange

Last weekend there was an open garden at The Grange. The Grange (the house) is situated on The Grange (a section of road) on the way into St Peter Port proper. I assume the road was named after the house.

This is the view of the house as you approach it from the road, through its blue iron gates and up the driveway. It is a Georgian house built in 1823 for the 17 year old daughter of the Delancey family, a prominent Guern family.

The house was originally called Villa Carey, as a namesake of the girl's mother's maiden name.

From the road you can only really see a 15 to 20 metre frontage with a glimpse of the house behind the trees. Once you walk up the drive, well that's a whole other story!

There are two acres of secret garden squirrelled away behind the other homes and businesses on the street. You would never, ever know that this beautiful garden existed; that's what made visiting it so exciting, for me anyway :)

The house was commandeered by the Nazis during the Occupation. It was this act that saved the house from being damaged.

Some of the trees in the garden are over 100 years old. If the Nazi officials had not taken the house those trees would have been chopped down for firewood, a fate which befell nearly every tree in Guernsey during the Occupation.

The sheer size of the garden was a true shock. There are huge expanses of immaculate, lush lawn; something Mr Bee was very envious of. Living near the coast, on sandy soil, means our lawn frequently dries out and scorches :(

The Bumble Bee'rs had a wonderful time. B2 brought her camera and was happily, snappily, wandering her way around the garden.

It is nice to know that they can still appreciate nature, even the primped variety, and that TV has not truly rotted their brain!

There are over 350 roses dotted throughout the grounds. Unfortunately we were just a few weeks too early to enjoy them in their full glory.

The house is currently owned by the Johnson family. They have owned The Grange for the past six years.

They have a full time gardener who works on the garden. Apparently they remove 2 to 3 trailer loads of green waste (weeds, branches, grass etc.) each week.

It cost us £10 for our family to enter the garden. All the proceeds are going to help the Rotary Club's End Polio Now campaign.

There were stalls selling bits and bobs, a tea and coffee stand and a tombola. I hope they had a very successful fund raising afternoon.

Thankyou to the Johnson family for opening the beautiful garden to the public. We all had such a lovely afternoon poking around, oohhing and aahhhing as we walked from garden room to garden room.