Waterperry Gardens

There is a wonderful club at Oxford called the Newcomer's Club.  It is for spouses and partners of graduate students or visiting scholars to meet new people and feel connected in the Oxford community.  The ladies that organize the club are all volunteers and have a unique passion for the city of Oxford.  They ensure that you take advantage of your time here and explore everything possible.  They are proper English ladies that have such a giving spirit!  It has been wonderful to meet ladies from all over the world but also forge some great (and much needed) friendships with girls from the USA!

We meet for coffee every Wednesday morning, but also have a variety of great tours and fun classes throughout the week.  Yesterday I went on a tour of Waterperry Gardens which was about a fifteen minute drive outside of Oxford.  I was so exited to ride in a car!!!  I haven't done that since the day we arrived.  I certainly can't imagine driving here, but I did enjoy the ride.

Waterperry was The School of Horticulture for Ladies from 1932 to 1971 but now is open to the public.  It is eight acres of ornamental gardens, a museum, and a beautiful Saxon church.  I'm sure the gardens would have been much prettier in June but I was happy to be there in October...take a look.

The local ladies were not pleased with this new addition, and you can see them discussing it in the background.

These arches are completely covered in wisteria.  Can you imagine how beautiful they are in the spring with their purple flowers hanging down?

This little girl was playing peek-a-boo with me...so cute.

A typical formal English garden

This church dates to around 1000 AD.

Here are two different arches built on top of one another.  Each represents a different time period.

Very rare brass plates that were found on top of tombs inside of the church.  They were actually covered with carpets, but we found them!

My Waterperry purchase...I hope it lives!