HELLO garden lovers and greetings from Portugal. I spent the first week up north with a small English tour company, which gives private access to many of the regions famous gardens, manor houses and palaces - often guided by the owners, as well as the regions amazing sights, tastes & smells. Our Lecturer and tour guide was the acclaimed garden historian, landscape architect and author, Gerald Luckhurst.
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We were based in the historic town of Guimaraes, the ancient capital, in an old hotel on the town square. The buildings and paving stones are of weathered granite, with fine carvings and muted paintwork. The balconies are brightened with pots of geraniums and petunias, and the public parks and roundabouts enlivened with bedding annuals and contrasting greenery. As you drive around the countryside, the vibrant tapestry of pink heather, yellow & cream broom, yellow gorse and purple lavender lining the motorways and hills strikes you.
This part of Portugal is renowned for its fine wines and of course, port. The local specialty is Vinho Verde, a sparkling white, which is offered at most meals and house visits - being the hospitable guest that I am, it would have been be rude to refuse!
The vines are grown high off the ground on tall supports, which enhances the flavor, and the vineyards, both large and small, blanket the countryside. Many are grown in back gardens for family consumption, with the tall supports freeing up the soil surrounding for vegetable crops - very smart.
We visited a number of imposing country manor houses and gardens. Highlights were the 18th-cent. Palácio de Mateus at Vila Real, made familiar by the rosé wine label, the contents of which I'm sure many would have sampled. The 17th-cent. Paço de Calheiros, where the garden enjoys spectacular views of the Lima valley. The Count of Calheiros, Francisco, gave us a tour of his property and welcomed us into his house for a relaxing estate wine tasting & local cheese - what was a boy to do!
In Braga we climbed many of the 600 penitential steps of Bom Jesus do Monte, adorned with religious figures and surrounded by camellia and box topiary - a most impressive staircase and beautiful church, with stunning views, a splendid grotto and wisteria pergola. The Romanesque cathedral in the city centre has a magnificent double Baroque organ and gilt chapels. The nearby 18th-cent gardens of the Casa dos Biscainhos were a particular favourite, decorated with statues, fountains and elaborate parterres inspired by Arabic design. The towns central park was a riot of bedding colour and lined with vibrant pink Judas trees.
Our last night was spent in Porto at the fabulous waterfront Palacio do Freixo, an 18th cent palace now converted to a hotel - I felt right at home! Porto contains many fine vistas, buildings and baroque churches, including the gold gilt interior of the St. Francis Monument Church, which is staggeringly beautiful. At the famed gardens of the Quinta de Villar d'Allen, home to a rare collection of camellias, plants and trees, we were treated to a warm welcome, delicious afternoon tea and aged port, by the owners, Viscount and Countess d'Allen.
We concluded our tour with a visit to the iconic 1930's art deco villa and garden, Casa de Serralves, painted in salmon pink and surrounded by extensive formal and landscape gardens.
I leave the north, happy to have experienced it's warm hospitality, fine food, magnificent houses & gardens and of course, it's superb wines and port. Only trouble is my trousers and belt seem to have shrunk! Oh, did I mention the famous Portuguese custard tarts on sale at every street corner, delicious - so I'm told!!!
Happy gardening,
George
