Fancy a coffee surrounded by flowers, plants and trees as you while away the hours? How about relaxing in the open air with the daisies, dahlias and your lunch? ;) Well, you got it… or you do if you head to the beautiful Walled Garden at Mells that is! It’s a café and acre of gorgeous cottage garden, all wrapped up in to one beautiful bundle, right in the heart of this stunning Somerset village.
We’d wanted to check it out for a while, so one semi-sunny morning we popped Petal and Flower in the car (yep, it’s dog friendly too – woo hoo!) and headed there for a little explore!
Originally created to supply plants and flowers to the garden of the now demolished Mells Rectory (which was knocked down in the 1540s during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the Monasteries), the Walled Garden of today is a haven for anyone wanting a little time out. In a nutshell, there’s three things we love about it:
1. The garden is incredibly tranquil and with tables and chairs tucked away in every corner, you can have your cake and eat it… anywhere you like! This was a bit of a surprise to us actually - and a brilliant surprise at that! Whilst there’s also a ‘main’ seating area (under a canopy and shaded by some beautiful trees), having the freedom to explore the gardens and to find your own secret spot to chill out in with coffee or lunch, is very Somerset cool :). It’s just like being in your own little world, as there’s lots of hideaways to choose from dotted around the garden.
We tried out a few places to perch, but if you walk through the garden, past the birdhouse and take a left, following the narrow little path along the wall, you’ll come to our favourite spot – tables that follow the line of the wall, all enclosed in their own private areas so you can have space to relax, with a drink or a bite to eat. Don’t be surprised if you end up spending far longer there than you meant to though! There’s something very calming about the view over the ancient meadows.
The dogs loved it too of course, although Petal wanted to know what this ‘walled’ lark was all about ;)
2. The garden is informal, natural and relaxing
And that’s a style we love. As the guys at the Walled Garden say;
“It's not a status shouting garden. It tries to welcome everyone and being almost entirely herbaceous, it's like one big summer party.”
We couldn’t agree more – and although this was our first visit, we can imagine just how beautiful it will look at different times of the year as the garden changes through the months, with new colours and textures to admire.
3. The pizza and the cake rocks!
We have a wonderful, dog-friendly garden and gorgeous hidden-away seating… so it’d be a bit of a kicker if the cake was cack and the pizza pants! ;) Well, we’re really happy to say the food and coffees are absolutely fab. We put the wood-fired pizza oven through its paces by ordering a Garden pizza (with olives, garlic, mushroom, red/green pepper and artichoke) and a good old Margherita. They were both delicious and it would’ve been rude not to follow it with coffee and homemade chocolate cake… so of course we were polite!
What a treat sitting in the sun, sipping coffee amongst the flowers.
The full menu also includes homemade soup and bread, a range of freshly prepared sandwiches and a variety of salads so basically, you won't leave the garden hungry! ;)
If all that sounds right up your country lane, you’ll also want to know that the garden is free to enter and you’d better be quick because it’s open from the beginning of March to the end of October every year. That means there’s only a few weeks left to make the most of it, until next year that is. We’ll definitely be going back then - and Petal and Flower wholeheartedly agree!
The gardens are open from 10am - 5pm every day and the pizza oven does its thing during the Autumn months, Wednesday through to Sunday from 12-4pm.
