Adventures amongst the flowers - Sarah Raven's garden, Perch Hill

One of the places I wanted to visit this year was Sarah Raven's garden at Perch Hill. I can't deny the influence the gorgeous catalogues have when they drop through the letter box. As a keen but fairly new gardener I wanted to see first hand how the flowers are grown and what a cafe au lait dahlia should really look like (I feel mine are bit small). Milly woke us all up at six (insert tired face) so we made it there bright and early which was a good thing as it got really busy around midday when we were leaving. 

The garden itself was as lovely as expected, full of English country flowers tumbling and spilling from pots and onto paths. What I took away was despite being a serious garden it felt homely and in many ways obtainable (over many years). Planting in pots is definitely the way forward, I tend to only use pots for spring bulbs but I'm definitely going to add more summer flowers to them next year. They are especially good if you're not planning to be in your garden forever as you can take them where ever go but also change them around as different plants fade. 

As I've been learning, the same plants look so much better (and seem to perform better) when planted on mass. Whilst I love the scattering of dahlias I have around my garden I think I'll buy more of the tubers that have done well and plant bigger groups of them next year. On a separate note I really want to add more of these ball shaped ones to my collection. 

Of all the plants in the garden, it was the simple phlox plant that I came away with wanting. I've been doing well with my annuals, like cosmos and sweet peas but I think I need to add a few more plants that just get on with things. I loved how this plants filled gaps and kept a slightly wild look.  

There are still open days going on through out September - you can see them all here - its definitely worth a trip if you love growing flowers. We stayed about 30 minutes away in an Airbnb close to Lewes - there is so much to do and fab places to eat the surrounding areas I really hope you make it.