Charles has had a drone for a while now and despite various mishaps, like tangling it up with a tree, it has been a great joy.
I can remember the first time I saw the garden from above, when we were offered one of those photos which were taken from a plane and then hawked round the neighbourhood for vast sums of money. It was a fantastic lift, because my belief that the garden’s design ‘worked’ was confirmed (to me) by seeing it that way. I’m curious now to know just how much you can understand about a garden, seeing it from above. Should that view be beautiful?
We had a taster of what a drone would offer when the garden was filmed by S4C – tantalising. Then Charles splashed out and bought one.
So here is a selection of the photographs Charles has taken since last February and you can judge for yourselves whether the garden looks right.
Now, a bit of a seasonal tour. Starting in February last year, here is a view up the Yew Walk, showing the hedges, which give great sculptural pleasure in winter. It demonstrates, perhaps, that drone pictures are wonderfully versatile. They are not simply pictures from above but may give views of a garden from a variety of places. Photographers often use ladders to get the view they want (you thought photos were just the views you could see in a visit??!) and a drone adds a variety of heights and accessibility.
This is one of my favourites of all the drone pictures, though Charles was really still learning (well, he probably still is…) – in April, this year. It’s the wonderful light, of course.
Here is a rather gloomy picture, but it shows the possibilities drones bring – actually seeing the Kiftsgate rose which covers our garage roof.
And with the drone we can look right down on a flowering tree:
And given that we remade the whole Veg Plot in purple and grey (heuchera Palace Purple and cardoons) it’s a joy to see, from above, the shrubs we added at the end after the fruit cage collapsed, carrying the colour theme through –
I don’t know where Charles was in July, but his photos then leap to a shoot in August:
Back to the garden …
On to October:
Another aspect of drone pictures is their propensity to take photos of the photographer….
And then to November, which this year was so amazing that we decided we must open in November next year. So expect a wet, gale ridden month in 2022… Meanwhile, here goes…..
Thank you, Charles!
And don’t miss my latest Garden Rant!! https://gardenrant.com/2021/11/do-you-think-you-are-sufficiently-decayed.html
The light and shadows. The patterns and colors. The totality of the design. The drone adds so much that we cannot see from a single point at ground level. Bravo Charles for the photographs and Anne for the garden to be photographed. The garden is marvelous, but so are the colors of the Welsh countryside which I had not appreciated without the advantage of an aerial view.
Thank you, Glenys – cheering to read in gloomy times!
The hedges are architectural in their solidity and form and I swoon at how the light plays off of them. They also provide structure and organization among the more ‘wild and fuzzy’ aspects of the garden. Breathtaking.
Thank you – and you’ve hit on what I am attempting here.
November 2021 was truly amazing! October colours delayed by weeks.
It was – truly memorable.
How good to see a garden in it totality. What a tremendous success it is, congratulations Anne, in its complete narrative and scale. Something you don’t always get from the usually artfully composed views through plants, around corners and long views that you get in most magazines articles. I always want to see a plan of a garden but what Charles has achieved is spectacular, no novice starting out there!
Thanks, Roger, and, yes, that was was I was looking for from a view of it all – you put it better than I managed. And yes too – Charles has been at it for a long time, though not so much with a drone.