The Weir Garden - First Visit of 2023

 The Weir Garden is a National Trust (NT) garden less than 10 minutes' drive away and is consequently our most visited NT property. A ten-acre 18th Century riverside garden renown for its spring bulb and flower displays. The Garden receives about 250,000 visitors per year. Here is an account of our visit in 2022 at about the same time of year.

Figure 1: The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

The snowdrops were not as advanced as last year but they still painted a pretty picture...

Figure 2: The Weir Garden Snowdrops (28/1/23)

Figure 3: The Weir Garden Snowdrops (28/1/23)

Figure 4: The Weir Garden Snowdrops (28/1/23)

There were occasional flowers of Winter Aconite, Lesser Celandine, Primrose and Cyclamen ...

Figure 5: Primrose at The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

Figure 6: Cyclamen at The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans) was in flower providing a valuable nectar source for early insects and bees ...

Figure 7: Winter Heliotrope at The Weir Gardens (28/1/23)

whilst its native 'relative' Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) will not flower until early Spring ...

Figure 8: Butterbur at The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

Birdwise, it was fairly quiet but did include, some 400 metres away, this heron on the banks of the River Wye and seemingly oblivious to the resident mallards...

Figure 9: Heron near The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

... and this robin chirping away:

Figure 10: Robin at The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

Near the entrance is a small bird hide where the volunteers put out food for the local bird population ...

Figure 11: Great, Blue and Coal Tits feeding at The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

Figure 12: From top to bottom - Great Tit, Blue Tit and Coal Tit at The Weir Garden (28/1/23)

Along with the Long-Tailed Tit, these three are the commonest and most widely distributed in the UK. The Crested, Willow and Marsh Tits are much less common - though we have seen a Marsh Tit at Bodenham Lake, a local nature reserve.

We finished off the visit with a trip to a newly-opened tea shop a couple of minutes down the road away from Hereford. The tea shop is so new I cannot find any reference to it on the internet! It has taken over the premises that used to be Lord Nelson Antiques and is adjacent to the Bridge Sollars Garage. It was obviously very convenient for The Weir Garden (no refreshments available) and the food/service was impeccable. We paid just over £11 for pot of tea, a freshly-brewed coffee and two pieces of cake. I'll put a link in when I find one!