Ripley Castle provided a good venue for our autumn trip by having indoor and outdoor elements.

Due to the size of our group, 39, we had to split into two separate tours of the garden in the morning and the castle in the afternoon.

This gave plenty of time for people to look around the delightful village, gift shop, plant sales and to visit the café as they wished.

The head gardener took us on an hour’s guided tour of the 4 acre walled garden which was still ablaze with colour and variety in the annual bedding and herbaceous borders.

Particularly eye-catching was a central bed of unusual, sturdy annual Tagetes and also the black and white border designed by Matthew Wilson.

The kitchen garden contained rare collections of vegetables and old fruit trees.

Even with a smaller group, which tended to get spread out, it was difficult for all to hear the guide and this left many members disappointed.

At the end of the tour we were able to look around the wooded pleasure grounds on our own.

The castle has been lived in by the same family, the Ingilby’s, for over 700 years and was a comfortable family home, oozing history which was imparted in an interesting way by very knowledgeable and entertaining guides.

The day’s enjoyment was helped by it being warm and sunny after dull weather on the way there.