Yeo Valley, the company that produces organic dairy products, has a gravel garden and organic cafe in the countryside south of Bristol. It’s a beautiful, open area near Blagdon Lake.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1756-1024x577.jpg?resize=1024%2C577)
It’s only open Thursdays and Fridays from 29th April to Sept 30th – but it’s worth diarising a visit. It’s £5 entry. A few plants are for sale in the car park, and there is a great little ‘car garden’ as you go in:
![Garden in a Mini](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1732-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
There are veg beds near the cafe, growing what’s needed for lunch:
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1783-1-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
and some of the growing techniques are ingenious. Wool from their sheep is used to keep out slugs:
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1749-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
Below this are herb beds and one of the several wrought iron sculptures that are integrated into the gardens.
![Herb beds and fountain sculpture](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1739-1-400x246.jpg?resize=400%2C246)
The place is pretty child-friendly, with a little grass garden and a straw bale maze:
![Straw bale maze](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1777-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
OK, now (after a nice quiche lunch) on to the main garden. A pair of fiery beds follow the veg beds, with a nice combination of deep red dahlias, day lilies, crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ with its deep purple older leaves and lime green new shoots.
![Red border](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1740-1-400x287.jpg?resize=400%2C287)
![Two red beds](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1746-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
Then to the main gravel garden, constructed with gentle hillocks and island beds which one walks over and round.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1755-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1750-225x400.jpg?resize=225%2C400)
Some lovely agastache in the foreground, with the blue globes of echinops behind:
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1760-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
Terrible photo below but verbascums nicely contrasting with a haze of pale purple verbena bonariensis:
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1757-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
Contrasting shrubs in flower – a hydrangea paniculata with its conical white flowers, and berberis thunbergii ‘Rose Glow’:
![Hydrangea and pink berberis](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1751-400x225.jpg?resize=400%2C225)
And lastly, some quirky ‘accessories’:
![Pretty iron gate of 'grasses'](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1771-225x400.jpg?resize=225%2C400)
![Cabinet of succulent plants framed with wood 'curtains' like a theatre](https://i0.wp.com/www.janeharriesgardens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMAG1772-225x400.jpg?resize=225%2C400)
I hope you have gained some ideas out of this post, even if you haven’t got such a huge space to fill. If you want to buy some late summer plants like these, now is a good time to establish them in your garden before the winter, so they have a head start in spring.
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Wow your post was so wonderful and amazing. I love your gardening photos. These photos were awesome. Its a readful article. Thanks for sharing it.