Tours

I love garden and home tours! Part show-off and part voyeur: what a great way to get inspired and see what other people are up to. We are lucky to have so many beautiful properties in this area and so many people gracious enough to open them up. The Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce hosts several each year, the June Kitchen & Garden Tour, this years tour of Twin Silo Farms last weekend and the upcoming Excellence in Design Tour September 26th from 11-4. (I cannot make it to this years tour but last years featured some incredible properties.) Like many communities, Doylestown VIA has a Designer House open to the public each May. The New Hope Historical Society, among others, has a June garden tour and the Garden Conservancy occasionally offers tours through-out the Greater Philadelphia area.

The properties on this weekends Excellance in Design tour include three historic buildingss restored to house businesses: a dentist office in Carversville, a firm in Newtown and an office in Doylestown. Also adapted for use is a timberframe barn relocated and restored into a home. There are also two magnificent properties in New Hope, one on the river and another in pastoral farm fields. I was a part of the Architectural and Environmental Committee that chose these properties and am really sorry I will not be available to tour them.

I did however get to attend the Bucks Beautiful tour of Twin Silo Farms this weekend past (see photos below) Located in Gardenville, PA the 100 acre farm was part of an original William Penn land grant. The barns and rare double stone silos were originally built in 1781. In 1988 the property was purchased by Andrew Hartnagle and Wayne Stork who restored the barns and built a series of gardens.

According to the pamphlet offered by Andrew for the tour, a series of formal gardens at the top of the property were created to illustrate smaller studies in design. They include a Polish country house, French and Italian gardens showcasing knotted boxwood, roses, colorful mixed borders and specimen plants.

The property is designed for entertaining with structures and seating throughout. One pergola features a brick makers table, another is enclosed with billowing curtains and is lit by a candle chandelier that can be raised and lowered via a pulley system, a third is central to an arbor connecting the main and guest house and several others are scattered at prime view-points. The entertainment center at the far end of the property features an industrial kitchen and guest bathrooms at the end of a stone terrace which surrounds a plant filled pool and fountain.

A fabulous swimming pool near the house is decorated with dozens of container gardens. Pots also feature prominently on the main patio which boasts three seating groups sure to be enjoyed by guests (wish I could be one). The sheer number of container gardens is overwhelming when one considers the watering and care required! There is also sculpture through out the gardens including many pieces from Europe; urns, lions, sphinxes and a full size bronze replica of the 'Warrior Gladiator'. Several pieces have been used to create water gardens. Fountains, big and small, are abundant on the property which is filled with their sound and movement. Most visible is a large fountain in the center of the two-acre pond, home to colorful koi and a pair of swans.

The care, attention to detail and maintenance provided by the owners of Twin Silo Farms is evident. It is a beautiful property and one that appears not only well designed - but designed for living as well. My thanks to Andrew and Wayne for again opening their property to the public.