I’ve completed a one year traineeship in Heritage Gardening. Heritage Gardening involves applying horticultural skills and practices in historic garden settings, so means looking to maintain and conserve particularly significant historic features as well as the overall style and content of these gardens.It also means designing and creating new, appropriate features and interpretation. I now offer specialist consultancy and practical gardening support in historic gardens.
The traineeship- which was Lottery funded- involved practical skills development and background learning. It also involved placements at three historic sites:
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Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Museum, Norfolk (Norfolk County Council)
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Peckover House, Wisbech, Cambs. (National Trust)
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Salle Park , near Reepham, Norfolk (Sir John White)
- A large walled garden with fruit, veg and herbaceous perennials was a key focus of the traineeship at Salle Park.
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- One of the courtyard gardens at Gressenhall Museum, just after its replanning and planting.
- The Traineeship involved learning new skills such as hedge laying and hurdle making- these are hurdles made as border edgings in a garden at Gressenhall Museum.
- Rose arches at Alexa’s Garden, Peckover House
Old School Garden 
Dear Nigel, here is what I’ve promised-I do hope you like it!
http://mybotanicalgarden.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/baroque-garden-with-puttos/
Lovely article which I’ve reblogged:)
Tank you Nigel I like visiting your readers 🙂
Thank you 🙂
hurdles made as border – I so want to do this in my front yard
no real heritage gardens but it would be lovely to bring back the old ways
Hi- thanks, and also for following my blog! The hurdles are fairly high in the picture, made to be strong enough and tall enough to discourage people from wandering into borders at a Museum. You can buy ready made types that are suitable for a domestic garden.:)
thank you
I will add the “made to be strong enough and tall enough” to my design when I try to make one myself
Thanks- those in the picture were about 15″ high. I’d love to hear of your own efforts to make some!
This looks interesting, I see too much ignorance towards old gardens in my country, Slovenia.But things do change a bit now even here.
Thanks Tamara, good to locate you! Do you have any national body to protect heritage gardens, such as the National Trust here in England? I’d be interested to know more about the styles and ages of historic gardens in Slovenia, maybe we could do a blog post on them!
This is a nice proposal, about the blog post on historic gardens in Slovenia! I need some days to find the facts to answer you-I have so much to do at work these days…
Thanks Tamara- no hurry about getting the information. I’m interested to understand the sorts of ‘heritage gardens’ you have in Slovenia and how/if they are protected etc. Glad you like the idea of some sort of post on this and I’ll await your research with interest! Nigel
This research interests me, too-I look forward to find some new facts !