Roundabout Entrance to Hillier Gardens & Arboretum

     Mrs B and I took a trip to Hilliers Braishfield garden centre today near Romsey in Hampshire and after exploring the garden centre we wandered a short distance into the Sir Harold Hillier gardens and arboretum which are adjacent to the garden centre itself.
     We did not have a lot of time left so I took a shot of the entrance to the Gardens, plus the fact, although sunny, there was a very cool wind and Mrs B does not like the cold.
     The Gardens were gifted to Hampshire County Council and as usual one has to pay to get in. We will have to go another day, but judging by the lovely different types of trees we saw it will be a treat to go there again. 
I have copied a quick resume of Sir Harold Hillier.


The great Sir Harold Hillier
Harold Hillier, like his grandfather, combined the ability to think and act both as a plantsman and an astute businessman. He realised that gardening from the 1950s would become more “hands on” for the many living in the new housing developments, which mushroomed across the UK after the Second World War. The nursery’s mail order business grew and flourished, becoming nationwide during those days of cheap postage and packing.
At the same time, as a connoisseur of plants, he wanted to establish a garden and arboretum dedicated to temperate zone “woody” plants, which would grow to maturity long after his lifetime. So, in 1953 with his wife Barbara, he moved the family from Winchester to Jermyns House in the village of Braishfield, two miles north east of Romsey.
Here his love of trees was to flourish for the next twenty-five years, planting what was to become an internationally renowned resource for scholars, students and the general public. Here, too, his family of two sons and two daughters grew up with an unrivalled opportunity to learn about plants.
Harold Hillier was knighted in 1983, five years after his remarkable arboretum had been gifted to Hampshire County Council. He had already been awarded a C.B.E. (Companion of the British Empire) and some of the highest accolades of the plant world – the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Veitch Memorial Medal, Honorary Fellow and Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society, and Fellow of the Linnean Society.
At his memorial service after his death in 1985, Lord Aberconway, President of the Royal Horticultural Society quoted the words on Christopher Wren’s tomb in St. Paul’s Cathedral when referring to Harold’s Arboretum – ‘If you seek his memorial, look around you’.

     I seem to be lagging behind in blips and comments but will try and make an effort to catch up. Apologies.
I hope you are all well.
Take care.