www.suffolkgardenstrust.org

SUFFOLK GARDENS TRUST Reg. Charity No. 1044024

NEWSLETTER • AUTUMN 2012 Patron and Chairman’s REPORT Gabriella & Polly Burns

s we write this the August Bank Holiday looms, and that can mean only the Aprospect of a wet Monday and a flurry of emails between us in an attempt to meet the Newsletter deadline. It is hard to think how we managed to communicate in the early years of the Trust. In fact taking on editing the Newsletter in 1997 was the stimulus for Polly and Nigel to actually give up their avowed status of Computer Luddites. Now we are on the verge of a further electronic advance in the form of a website! By the time you receive this Newsletter you will be able to go online to see what we are about, check up on events and even book them, look at pictures of past events and even read previous newsletters (a bonus if you have lost them). All this and more will be found at: www.suffolkgardenstrust.org

In arriving into the twenty-first century we’d like to thank all involved. Particularly Paul Simpson who designed the website for us and coped with Polly’s electronic autism with patience and humour, but also Tina Ranft, Edward Martin, Peter Cunard and Geof Soar, who all provided pictures and vital advice. We would also like to thank all of the County Gardens Trusts we contacted in our search for a website designer, particularly Leicestershire and Rutland and Somerset. For those of you who were not at the AGM we are pleased to report that Stephen Beaumont was elected to the Council and to become Chairman in June 2013, which is excellent news. At the AGM we announced that Peter Heath had expressed his intention to give up being Treasurer in June 2013. We are very

2 GARDENS TRUST grateful to Tony Broster who has volunteered to take over from Peter. Tony and Jenny Broster Suffolk Gardens have been members for several years and are well Trust known to the Walled Kitchen Gardens Group. It AUTUMN 2012 is a great relief that Stephen and Tony have Newsletter 36 offered to take over these key posts, following the success of the ‘Gamesmakers’ at the Olympics can we put in a plea for more CONTENTS ‘Trustmakers’?! Patron & Chairman’s Report 2 As ever, our thanks to all Council members Saving Money for SGT 4 who work so hard, the Events Team and Tina, Membership Report 4 who continues to produce our beautiful Walled Kitchen Gardens Newsletter, even though she has so much work. Group Report 5 Thanks, too, to the generosity of garden owners Geof Soar 6 whose varied and lovely gardens we have all Research & Recording Group enjoyed so much this year. Polly particularly Report 6 wants to thank Gabriella and Mark for hosting Winter Lectures 7 our garden party, which was such a warm and Beyond the Wall 8 fun event this year. News in Brief 10 As ever in autumn our thoughts turn to Hunn Wyard’s Mount, Patricia’s lectures, which are always so very 12 A Garden to Inspire 14 varied and thoughtful, but this autumn we had A Year of Anniversaries 16 the privilege of hosting the Walled Kitchen Dracula’s Gardens 18 Gardens Network’s annual Forum on the 5th For the Diary 19 and 6th October. There were lectures at Courses & Classes 20 Helmingham on the 6th followed by a tour of Book Reviews 21 the gardens. On the 7th we visited Glemham Council Officers and House, , Heveningham and Members 23 Parham. It was a great opportunity to see a good selection of Suffolk’s walled kitchen gardens in private ownership. For further information DEADLINE & DETAILS FOR about the Network please contact Fiona Grant SUBMISSIONS TO SPRING 2013 NEWSLETTER through their website: www.walledgardens.net See page 23 Final thanks in what has been a more than Disclaimer usually thank-filled report is to all of you who The views expressed in this have continued to support SGT so loyally, even Newsletter are those of the contributors and do not necessarily down to helping wash up and acting as human represent those of Suffolk Gardens Trust. Whilst every effort is made to signposts! check the information provided, the editor and Suffolk Gardens Trust cannot be held responsible for any I’d like to add my thanks to Polly for all her inaccuracies contained in this hard work on the website. [Ed.] publication.

SUFFOLK GARDENS TRUST 3 Saving money for SGT! Polly Burns

s outlined in my letter to you all earlier this year, we need to save money on Apostage, our greatest expense. We approached several organisations to see if they would allow us to use their franking machine and are delighted that Gainsborough’s House have agreed to this. We are really very grateful to the generosity of all at Gainsborough’s House, as to be able to use this facility will save us about £100 a year. This means that the spring 2013 Newsletter will be mailed to all of you from Gainsborough’s House, with their logo included in the franking. PLEASE DO NOT THROW AWAY OR RETURN ANY ENVELOPE THAT COMES TO YOU WITH THE CIRCULAR GAINSBOROUGH’S HOUSE LOGO ON IT, OR YOU WILL HAVE LOST YOUR NEWSLETTER! SGT members who have provided us with an email address will have received this Newsletter via Gainsborough’s House, as we will have contacted you in advance to advise you of this change. To keep the Newsletter light enough to attract the lowest postal rate it may be that in future some Newsletter content, such as ‘For the Diary’ and ‘Courses and Classes’, will be put on the website. We do have the capacity to put all of the Newsletter on the website, but felt that most of you would prefer to have a paper copy and certainly would not want to fiddle about with a password to access it. We are all so pleased we can make these savings and avert the necessity to increase the membership subscription. Thanks to those of you who have thrown yourselves into the spirit of saving costs by paying for events by using BACS!

Membership REPORT Susan Paul

There were 5 resignations during the year, which is lower than last year. Unfortunately, there were only 11 new members compared with 30 for the previous year so please try and encourage your friends to join our friendly organisation. As of 7 September there were 217 paid up members, but 35 members have still not renewed their membership for the year.

Membership subscriptions for next year will be due on 1 April 2013. Current subscriptions: Individual £10.00 Student £5.00 Family £15.00 Corporate £25.00 BURSARY Unfortunately, there were no new applicants for bursaries during the year.

4 SUFFOLK GARDENS TRUST Walled Kitchen Gardens GROUP Adam Paul & Tina Ranft ur first visit last season was in October 2011 to Chantry Park walled garden Oin , now owned by Ipswich Borough Council who have used it as a base for its horticultural activities for a number of years. Whilst this has taken its toll with a loss of some historic features, many others have survived, not least an interesting and rare heated wall. Our second visit was to Great Barton in November 2011, where we found a complex of walled enclosures associated with Barton Park. Although the estate was broken-up and sold off for residential development after a devastating fire to the mansion in 1914, we found much of the 19th century arboretum planting and that many walls have survived, with the added bonus of an unusual Art Deco style gardener’s cottage and a pepperpot lodge house. The third visit was to Barton Mere House in April 2012, which stands on the boundary between Pakenham and Great Barton. Although with a Georgian-style façade, much of the building and surrounding walled gardens appear to be far older, going back to the 16th century or earlier. We found an interesting fruit store and some ancient fruit trees. Prompted by the planned changes within the walled garden, this season’s visits kicked-off on 14th September with a visit to where we saw recent garden improvements and plans for further work, including the soon to be restored walled kitchen garden. Once again Nigel Surry did a fine job of preparing the initial research for our visits, and survey reports have been produced for Chantry Park and Barton Park.

Other news: After continued advice to The Museum of East Anglian Life at Abbot’s Hall, , it has received Heritage Lottery funding for the restoration of the house and complex, including the walled garden. The walled kitchen garden at Hall has been derelict for a number of years and is now the subject of a planning application to build new houses within the walls. SGT had sent a letter supporting the application to District Council but with certain provisos. After a re-think – and perhaps stimulated by advice from the Trust – the number of properties was reduced and a new application submitted, including four houses inside the walls and others on the footprint of the old glasshouses outside the walls. Members approved the application subject to some additional requirements and the formalising of legal arrangements. This is still ongoing, watch this rather large space!

Further dates for the 2012–13 season’s visits will soon be available from Nigel Surry (01787 370 953) or Adam Paul (tel: 01728 723 670), and new recruits to our group are always welcome.

SUFFOLK GARDENS TRUST 5 FRONT COVER: Suffolk Gardens Trust visit to Frythe Barn September 2012 (Photos courtesy Jenny Broster)

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