We were lucky to visit Ham House and Gardens in Richmond when the lavender in The Cherry Garden was in bloom.
Triangular and diamond-shaped beds have neat, low growing box hedges, and are punctuated by box cones. Gravel paths add to the sense of order and harmony.
One of the yew hedges that surround the garden has square viewing holes cut in to create lovely garden vistas. It’s hard to make out from this picture, but it is decorated with a diamond pattern.
The elements are not all lined up in my picture, although I remember trying and failing to get a truly symmetrical effect. Straight lines have never been my photographic forte. But then my eye seems to prefer it when rigidity melts and sways a little.
Shared for Becky’s Geometric January.
Susan Rushton 
It looks like a lovely garden, I like the cone shaped hedges but I could never go there as the smell of lavender gives me a dreadful headache 😦
That would certainly be a problem!
oh wow this is rather impressive – what a garden, and I think you have lined up wonderfully
I wonder how often they trim the box cones.
far too often for me to cope with I suspect!
We spent part of the day at a formal English garden today, they are very impressive. Of course it’s dead winter in the Lowcountry, still a nice change of pace for a sunny day. Nice composition in these photographs, and symmetry is over rated. 😆
Thanks for the encouragement. Despite the move towards having winter gardens, I often feel I’m playing Spot The Flower in most English gardens at this time of the year, unless they are big on snowdrops.
So much lavender.
Yes, and looking good too, even though lavender isn’t my idea of a care-free plant.
How beautiful!
It was very peaceful to wander in that kind of harmony.
With Lavender being one of my favourite flowers, I wish I’d visited this garden when I travelled around the U.K.
The pale Lavender colour is gorgeous against the green.
Lovely photos.
Lavender was used with calendula, daylilies in another part of the garden. I had wondered about adding a picture in as a contrast.
It is a rather fabulous formal garden. Your photos worked well Susan
Thanks Brian. A blue sky would have really lifted it, but we only had a hint
The lavender looks absolutely gauzy. I’ve not thought of lavender before as so formal, and it’s a bit jarring. I love your word “punctuate.” Yes, I think that describes the greenery exactly. The whole of it seems more sculpture than garden, but I’d like very much to walk there and take deep breaths. Also I approve of Bacchus in a field of lavender. I like the sundial too, though I think Bacchus would scoff at the passing of time — and thus he turns his back to it. Geometry is so much more interesting in a garden than in a textbook!
Bacchus scoffing at time is finely observed. Lavender is great for creating rows or pools of colour, provided you’re gardening in a climate that suits it and you have ways to rejuvenate it. Lavender, unlike Bacchus, cannot afford to scoff at time.
Well said! One of the shocks I’ve had in my move to central Indiana is that the Munstead lavender withstands the winters and (mostly) revives every spring! It doesn’t make quite a “pool” of color (I like that) but it certainly helps to revive ME!
Well photographed, Susan. Rather too formal for me
The garden outside the cafe might have charmed your photographic eye more – the mix of flowers there was almost boisterous.
A blast from the past for me. I lived in Ham as a teenager. But Ham House was rather in the shadows, and though we were the sort of family that Visited Places of Interest, we never went there and I wonder whether it was even open to public view?
It was given to the National Trust in 1948 so would have been open to the public when you were there. Whether the garden was as well maintained as it is now is another question.
Ah well, that would be good to know,