Woburn Abbey Gardens

At the end of January, I was getting a little bogged down with studying and was generally really grumpy with everyone - apologies to all.  I think I'd just had enough of studying - already! - and was convinced that I'd fail the exams - having failed the "mocks", but the trouble is, when you want something so much, you put way too much pressure on yourself.   It was shit for all of us to be honest.  

So, the weekend before my first exams, I took myself off to Woburn Abbey, which again put me in a right grump as it took so long to get there.  Three hours in the car!  And then on the way down, I convinced myself that I didn't even want to look at the gardens when I got there, I'd just turn round and come home again.  I was on a right downer!  My RHS membership got me in for free and, as I was desperate for a loo, I thought I'd have a coffee, have a wee, get in the car and come home.  And all I'd have lost was six hours in the car. 

However, after coffee and cake, reason took over and I decided to look around the gardens.  I'm so glad I did, because they were beautiful and it made me realise that, actually, the exams and their outcome didn't really matter.  Failing them was an option after all because that wouldn't stop me loving gardening and visiting gardens.   I'd invested so much time and energy into the revision and, up to that point, I thought that failing wasn't an option.  I'd tied myself up in knots, making myself really anxious and ratty.  Visiting these beautiful gardens took all that away, thank goodness. 

Needless to say, there wasn't a lot in flower at this time of the year - but what was really evident was the structure of the garden, the way it had been laid out. 

I was very glad to get into the camellia house for a bit of warmth.  It was very cold, despite the blue skies!

Woburn has huge herds of deer in the safari park and I loved the way they used the discarded antlers as decoration around the gardens and within the camellia house itself.

So, in the end, a fab day and quite enlightening for me.  It didn't stop me revising like a crazy woman for the following week, but it did actually pay off - I found out this week that I have passed my first two exams and that I am a 25 per cent qualified Horticulturist!