On Veterans Day Walt and I decided to take a road trip to Charlottesville for the day, since we were both off for the holiday. It was a beautiful day, maybe one of our last gorgeous fall days. We love Charlottesville, love walking the grounds of the university, checking out the shops, going to the Bookstore, and having a coffee on the Corner. We had lunch at Feast, a gourmet grocery and cheese shop that makes great sandwiches and soups. Then we headed to the Downtown Mall to check out the shops~~lots of people were out, enjoying the day, there were even some musicians playing on the Mall.
We also stopped at Ivy Nursery, which used to be one of my favorite stops when we would visit Julia in Charlottesville. It's a great nursery and garden shop, definitely worth a visit.
One of my favorite things to do on the Grounds is to walk through the Pavilion Gardens, just off the Lawn. There are 10 small gardens, each planted with native trees and shrubs and plants, and with a few garden benches and chairs. You can always finds students in these private gardens, especially on a sunny day, studying or reading. My favorite time of the year to see the Pavilion Gardens is in the spring when the spring bulbs and peonies are in bloom. One of the features I like the most is that each garden has its own unique gate. I just love those gates, I wanted to take pictures of each one. There wasn't much blooming of course, but we did have a nice chat with one of the grounds' gardeners.
In addition to the gated gardens, I'm also kind of obsessed with these serpentine brick walls that enclose the gardens. An interesting fact: the walls are just one brick thick.
Such a great selection of amaryllis at Ivy Nursery. I had to restrain myself from buying more amaryllis. And also...that pottery. Best selection ever. And why didn't I buy one of those pots from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew?
No comments:
Post a Comment