Second Wales-Ireland tour begins in brilliant sunshine

After the Chelsea Flower Show, which was magnificent and so much fun, we headed back to Manchester to meet our new group to start the second garden tour of the Lake District and North Wales and Ireland.

Manchester, of course, was a much more sombre place because of the tragic event of last week than when we were there for our first tour a few weeks ago.

We held a minute of silence on the train up from London out of respect for those who died and were injured in the terrorist attack.

We decided one of the best ways to respond to the awful event of last week would be to continue with celebrating the freedom and beauty of our civilization while being ever mindful of Manchester’s deep and tragic loss.

We are huge fans of Manchester and its culture and its strength, so we were also very conscious of the will of the people to rise and assert itself for freedom and goodness.

From Manchester, we headed out again to see the wonderful works of L.S. Lowry and the new museum in Salford.

And from there we quickly headed out to the Lake District and checked into the Riverside Hotel in Kendal.

The next day we went to Levens Hall to see one of the most outstanding topiary gardens in the world. This time the sun was shining brightly and the garden looked even more fantastic.

Chris Crowder told us he was amazed that we had managed to put two great days together for our visits.

From the Lakes and a visit to Dove Cottage where William Wordsworth did some exceptional work, we headed into North Wales and to Bodnant Gardens. This time the weather was hot. It made walking around the garden more challenging but equally rewarding.

From there we headed into Llandudno where we intend to explore more of North Wales.

Here are photos of the last few days.

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