Blickling Hall and The Parterre looking splendid in a low winter sun
I worked with the ladies away from the Walled Garden in my latest Blickling session. The Dell was our target- a bit of ‘TLC’ with light weeding and clearing dead stems and leaves to reveal the wonderful Snowdrops and Hellebores.
Head Gardener, Paul tells me that the slopes here are not conducive to the Hellebores rooting, so its an annual task to plant up new ones. Paul says some terracing is needed. I think this would need to be done quite subtly, as it could spoil the natural look of the space.
Mountain goats at work…
..in a sunlit Dell garden
We worked around the sloping sides of the Dell – well I kept to the top path and the slightly less pernickety areas. The lady volunteers seem to have the finger skills and eyesight needed to tease out the weeds from around the plants and at one stage looked like (in the nicest possible way), a herd of mountain goats stretched up the slope. I contented myself with the more straightforward leaf raking, limited weeding and path clearing work above, as well as emptying weed-full trugs into the waiting trailer.
Snowdrops and Hellebores looking great in the Orangery Garden…
and sunlit Witch Hazel …A major milestone has been reached this week in the walled garden. Project Manager Mike reports that all of the metal posts (76 of them in total) have now been installed, so we now wait on wires going in and then fruit tree planting in a few weeks time.
Posts all in- 76 have been set into concrete around the walled garden. Picture Blickling Estate
Oh, and my wife and I paid a visit to the gardens on Sunday, where we indulged in one of the restaurant’s special Valentine’s Day Cake Platters…
Further Information:
Blickling Hall website
Blickling Hall Facebook page
A 360 degree tour of Blickling Hall
Old School Gardener
Old School Garden 