Today is 10/10/10 and is meant to be incredibly lucky for some.

I spent the day visiting a stunning garden which is only open three times a year to the public. It is close to where I live and I can’t understand why I have never visited it before. I can thank one of my blog readers for alerting me to today’s open day, and I took my friend Wendy with me, an art conservator and accomplished jazz singer, who heads off to Australia next weekend on a five month stay.

As we drove through into the gracious grounds of  Chippenham Park, Wendy and I marvelled at the wonderful collection of varied treas. We marvelled at the creative planting and clipped hedges, the clever and amusing vistas and fabulous sculptures which we adored. We both thought it was an incredibly witty garden, and its designer clearly has a terrific sense of humour and succeeded in bringing the garden alive in a captivating way.

We were not the only visitors who were hugely impressed. One man told me he considered it superior to the National Trust’s Anglesey Abbey, and one of the plant sellers told me he felt it was the best garden in East Anglia. It really is a very special, if belated, discovery. So 10/10/10 was certainly fortuitous for me.

There are so many other tiny corners of England that gladden the heart in the same way. “There’s just nothing like this in Australia,” mused Wendy, with a sad tone in her voice. “There’s nothing like it there at all. England just has so much history, and there is such a cosy feel about it.”

Wendy loves the beaches down under, as well as Sydney and its spectacular harbour. But this is a corner of England that tugs at the heart. When she is thousands of miles away, Wendy will look back and remember how we we ended our visit tucking into the tasty home made cakes which were served on the manicured lawn. As we basked in the warm autumn sun sipping our tea, I felt Wendy was already beginning to feel homesick.

I’m looking forward to her return next spring because I hope to join her on a house hunting trip to Puglia where she wants to buy a property near the beach….