Over the coming weeks I’ll do a photo feature on each of these as well as Killerton Gardens (near Exeter, Devon) and will throw in a couple of very special places – the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden in St. Ives and Chysauster Ancient Village, both in Cornwall. I begin where we began our tour, at Trerice near Newquay, a place we visited en route to our destination of St. Ives. This Elisabethan house and gardens is described by the National Trust as:
‘An intimate Elizabethan manor and a Cornish gem, Trerice remains little changed by the advances in building fashions over the centuries, thanks to long periods under absentee owners.’
The house is certainly delightful to look at, with its rust coloured granite stone, ‘dutch’ gables and ancient leaded windows – many of which are cracked from the test flights of ‘Concorde’ 50 years ago! These ‘sonic booms’ must have been especially noticeable in what is otherwise a very quiet, peaceful place, far away from busy roads or settlements (we managed to get very lost in some frighteningly narrow country lanes trying to find our way to our next destination).
A formal approach to the house sets it off beautifully and the other garden areas include a grass labyrinth, ancient bowling alley, a woven – fenced kitchen garden and some more recent sloping borders containing a mix of food and ornamental plants – I imagine this might be something of a challenge at harvest time! Of particular interest is an Elisabethan garden in the making, based on a ceiling design in the house as a nod to the sort of layout the original might have been based on, records of what actually existed not being available. This was in the course of setting out when we visited, but a very good artist’s impression shows how this will look – a formal pattern of Box hedging enclosing lavender and roses, which will be a great addition to these lovely gardens.
Further information:
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In Sussex they may well have done so judging by the statues on the Centurion Way. This cycle route runs from West Dean to near the Roman Palace of Fishbourne on the outskirts of Chichester and provides a welcome alternative to the busy A roads. On Sunday Mercy met me in Midhurst and we took this route and Salterns Way which takes the cyclist out onto the flats leading to the Witterings. I am cycling to Amsterdam this coming weekend, so this was to be my final training ride, combined with a visit to Andrew Gaunt’s National Collection of Hedychium.
Transported to the tropics by the scent inside the huge glass house, we were able to see a huge number of cultivars in shades of the brightest orange through yellows and pinks to white. Some are hardy enough to grow outside – I mulch mine heavily and they have survived the last…
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Freshwater wetlands are considered to be one of the most important natural resources. They provide food, fuel, store and filter water, buffer against flooding and, store carbon. Wetlands are also important sites of recreation, allowing people to get in touch with nature. They also preserve important archaeological records such as organic materials and paleo-environmental deposits.
Over the past 1000 years, wetland habitats have been drained, developed on or polluted leading to a 90% loss of wetland area. Over the past 50 years, more than 100,000 wetland archaeological sites have also been damaged or lost. The dramatic loss of wetlands can be seen in the below maps.
As a consequence of habitat loss, wildlife and ecosystem services have declined or been lost. The majority of fragmented and diminished wetlands currently within the UK’s are also in poor condition.
In 2008 English Heritage, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the RSPB and the…
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How time flies when you’re having fun! My twelve month contract as a Heritage Gardening Trainee at Gressenhall has gone in the blink of an eye. It seems barely credible that it’s a year since I started going through the formal induction process, learning how to fill in my hours sheet, file an expenses claim and keep a weekly diary, not to mention the joys of the onsite walkie-talkies and learning everyone’s names. And this is before I even got near a hand-trowel.
The gardening was what it was all about though, not least getting to know the volunteer gardening team. Working mainly in Cherry Tree Cottage garden, I quickly came to learn what a lovely space this garden is to work in, something I could only conclude was down to the effort put in by the volunteers over many years. I’ve always thought this garden space, more than any…
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‘A rain garden is a planted depression or a hole that allows rainwater runoff from impervious urban areas, like roofs, driveways, walkways, parking lots, and compacted lawn areas, the opportunity to be absorbed. This reduces rain runoff by allowing stormwater to soak into the ground (as opposed to flowing into storm drains and surface waters which causes erosion, water pollution, flooding, and diminished groundwater). They can be designed for specific soils and climates. The purpose of a rain garden is to improve water quality in nearby bodies of water. Rain gardens can cut down on the amount of pollution reaching creeks and streams by up to 30%.’
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_garden
Tutorial: seagrant
via Avantgardens
St.
St. St. Peter’s Church, Haveringland
‘Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields’,
He said, ‘your lesson to learn’.
And here, in Haver’land’s fields today,
We also, in our turn,
Witness the pageant of seasons,
The ever – changing scene,
Which, where men work along with God
Turns gold, or brown, or green.
Let us remember our forbears,
Who in the years gone by
Surveyed a scene so different,
Yet under the same great sky.
The days of the Abbey, the Market,
The Manor, the Hall – all pass
Each down the road of history,
Now rubble under the grass.
Wars and rumours of wars have come
And gone, like the stately trees,
And now, where the noisy engines roared
We hear the hum of the bees.
We live in a world of changes,
Yet surely the lesson is clear –
Amidst it all, as on a rock,
St. Peter’s stands here,
Symbol of Truths that never change,
Of a faith that never yields,
And we find the Eternal Peace of God
In His Church among the fields.
Jack Kett , 1960
Nigel Boldero aka 'Old School Gardener'
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