ON MONDAY, June 20, The Hilltop Gardening Club set off on a four day tour of some Yorkshire gardens. 

This meant a very early rise to meet the coach at Bussage village hall for an 8am start. 

Our first stop on the way was at Barnsdale Gardens, Rutland. 

Created by Geoff Hamilton for BBC Gardener's World, it is a series of 38 individual gardens on an eight acre site.

Most of them are quite small; the intention being to give inspiration to the ordinary gardener who only has a small plot. 

The rain cleared as we got there and we were able to spend a couple of hours looking round the gardens without getting wet. 

We continued our journey through pouring rain, not an auspicious start to the holiday although the weather cleared as soon as we reached Yorkshire and we had good weather for the rest of the trip.

On Tuesday morning we visited Burton Agnes Hall which is a Jacobian Manor House in the East Riding of Yorkshire. 

We were able to look around the house and the walled gardens and walk in the woods behind the house and see some interesting statues there. 

The estate has been in the Griffith family since 1173, though the present house was built in the early 1600's, alongside the original Norman Manor House which still stands adjacent to it.

The lovely walled garden has a games theme with giant draughts, chess men and snakes and ladders laid out. 

Inside the house, was a most interesting chess set, made up of choir boys instead of pawns and brightly coloured church and state dignitaries as players.

In the afternoon, we visited Burnby Hall, which houses the National collection of water lilies. 

The lakes here were also remarkable for their collection of large carp which were attracted to anybody standing by the side of the ponds and stood by with gaping mouths, hoping to be fed.

On Wednesday morning we visited RHS Harlow Carr near Harrogate. 

This, for me, was the jewel of the crown of the holiday, with beautiful gardens and a lovely stream side walk dotted with interesting statues throughout. 

The Mecanopsis poppies and the candelabra primulae were at their best.

On Wednesday afternoon we went to Breezy Knees Gardens at Warthill. 

In spite of it's name, we weren't too much buffeted by the weather and had an interesting few hours looking around the fourteen acre site which had been carved out of a farmer's fields. 

This again was a series of individual gardens although on a much larger scale than Barnsdale, each having it's own theme. 

There was a wild garden and a rose garden for example and perhaps the most interestingly named, rogue’s garden, for uncontrollable plants!

We came home on Thursday morning, stopping for lunch at Naturescape Wild Flower Farm near Grantham. 

We were given a lovely sandwich lunch with home made cakes served on a delightful bone china tea set. 

This was the most unusual of the gardens that we visited, as there were fields of wild flowers laid out so that we could walk around them. 

The seeds of the wildflowers are collected and sold commercially.

Once again, we headed down the Fosse way to Bussage, most of us dozing after such an action packed few days.

For further details about the club please phone Ruth Fraser on 01452 770535 or look at our website hilltopgardeningclub.org.uk.