SURREY GARDENS TRUST

Garden Visits 2020

WEDNESDAY, 6 MAY – 2.00pm

WEIRS BARN London Road, Hartley Wintney, Hook, Hampshire RG27 8HS By kind permission of Terence & Jane Lyons

Weirs Barn is a Grade II* listed barn surrounded by a beautiful Arts & Crafts garden both of which were designed by architect Robert Weir Schultz. In the early 20th century Robert Weir Schultz bought a farmhouse and surrounding barns, converting the 16th-century barn for his own occupation and lived there until his death in 1951. He gradually transformed the land from fields into a series of ‘garden rooms’, by planting topiary hedges and a shelterbelt of trees to give protection and privacy. The overall structure of the garden remains much as it was in Schultz’s time, having been lovingly restored by the current owners who acquired the property in 1986 from Schultz’s cousin. Schultz was a friend of Gertrude Jekyll and he worked on several local projects with her. True to the Arts & Crafts style, this 2.5-acre garden contains topiary peacocks, hedges, a tennis lawn, sunken garden, croquet lawn, an old mulberry tree, hooped border and a nuttery. The owner continues to extend the garden and has created many areas of naturalised bulbs, wildflowers and cottage-style informal planting. The garden was featured in the January 2020 edition of The English Garden and is only open by invitation to local garden and history societies.

Brief introduction and history of the garden by current owner Terence Lyons.

Members: £8 per person, Non-members £10 per person. To include tea, coffee and cake.

Please note that The Phoenix Inn is almost directly opposite Weirs Barn and would be an ideal location for lunch in advance of your visit. Booking is recommended. www.phoenixinn.co.uk or call 01252 842484. Further details will become available at time of confirmation. 1 | Surrey Gardens Trust THURSDAY, 4 JUNE – 10.00AM (FOR 10.30AM)

CLINTON LODGE GARDENS Fletching, East Sussex TN22 3ST By kind permission of Lady Collum

Over the past 30 years Lady Collum has painstakingly developed a beautiful 6-acre formal and romantic garden at Clinton Lodge, with spectacular views overlooking parkland. The house itself, not open to the public, dates from the 17th century with a significant 18th- century façade (a Carolian and Georgian house). The garden has been largely divided by hedges into smaller gardens or rooms, reflecting various periods of garden design. Starting with a small knot garden, a copy of an Elizabethan herb garden with chamomile paths and turf seats, a Medieval style potager, wild flower meadow, a pre-Raphaelite allee of white wisteria, clematis and lilies, broad double herbaceous borders of white and blue, the enclosed garden of old roses trained at nose height so that one can enjoy the scent, and a 20th- century swimming pool encircled by an arcade of apples. Lady Collum continues to develop the garden and current projects include: a small, shady glade, a canal garden, an orchard under planted with crinum and an 18th-century style Banqueting Hall.

Brief introduction by Lady Collum and/or the Head Gardener and then explore garden at your leisure. Both will be available to answer questions.

Members: £16 per person, Non-members £18 per person. Includes tea, coffee and homemade cake upon arrival.

NB: If you are attending both garden visits (see Town Place Garden below) you will need to make your own arrangements for lunch. We will provide recommendations in advance.

THURSDAY, 4 JUNE – 2.00PM

TOWN PLACE GARDEN Ketches Lane, Freshfield, Sheffield Park, West Sussex RH17 7NR By kind permission of Anthony & Maggie McGrath

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Artist Maggie McGrath and her husband Anthony have created a stunning 3-acre garden around their 17th-century Sussex farmhouse. Having acquired the property some 30 years ago the garden has originated from the transformation of pastures into a garden with a growing international reputation for the quality of its design and planting. The structure of the garden is defined by extensive use of topiary using yew, box and hornbeam and includes shapes inspired by the sculptures of Henry Moore. The topiary provides a wonderful backdrop for exuberant herbaceous planting and an extensive collection of over 700 roses. Additional features include a herb garden, selection of ornamental grasses, an 800-year-old oak, potager, and a unique ruined Priory Church and Cloisters created in hornbeam.

Brief introduction by owner and then free to explore garden at leisure.

Members: £10 per person, Non-members £12 per person. Does not include refreshments.

THURSDAY 18 JUNE – 10.30AM (inc. lunch)

GODDARDS Abinger Lane, Abinger Common, Dorking RH5 6JH

Goddards was designed for Sir Frederich Mirrielees by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1898- 1900 and enlarged in 1910. Lutyen’s commission was to build a holiday rest home for ‘ladies of small means’. It is considered to be one of his most important early houses designed in the traditional Surrey style and with a garden laid out in collaboration with Gertrude Jekyll. There are three main elements of Goddards - the house itself, the garden courts and the pasture beyond. Hedges, terraces and walls, connected by axial routes, define each garden room. Throughout the house, Lutyens drew on the vernacular traditions of Surrey, and applied the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement. Mr and Mrs M W Hall gave Goddards to the Lutyens Trust in 1991, in memory of their architect son, Lee Heath Hall. However, running the house proved too expensive and in 1996 they handed it to the Landmark Trust on a long lease, keeping the Library as their headquarters. The restoration of the garden, which is being funded by the Rufford Foundation, is intended to reinstate the ‘architectural' role of the hedges as originally intended, later planting alterations are being simplified, and beds are being replanted with the grey, silver and scented plants that were listed in Jekyll's plan for Munstead Wood as no planting plans are known to exist for Goddards. This is a rare treat to see both the house and gardens at Goddards as the Lutyens Trust only has full use of the house for one week each year. Refreshments upon arrival followed by 1 ½ hour guided tour by member of the Lutyens Trust and then lunch. Explore garden at leisure afterwards.

Members: £16 per person - To include refreshments upon arrival, guided tour of house and garden, buffet lunch (2 courses)

Maximum number of attendees is 30 people and will be restricted to members only. 3 | Surrey Gardens Trust

WEDNESDAY 8 JULY / THURSDAY 9 JULY

IFORD MANOR/HESTERCOMBE Please see separate flyer and booking form for this planned overnight trip to these two gardens.

THURSDAY 16 JULY – 1.00PM (for 1.15PM)

FOLLY FARM Sulhamstead Hill, Sulhamstead, Berkshire RG7 4DG

Photo Copyright: Folly Farm

Designed in 1912, Folly Farm is considered to be one of the most complex and interesting of all the garden collaborations between architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll. The main gardens were laid out in tune with the Arts & Crafts principles employed at the time with a collection of contrasting garden rooms divided by yew hedges and linked by herringbone brick paths. Thanks to the original fine craftsmanship and use of quality materials the garden continues to stand the test of time, although the current owners who arrived in 2007 found it in much need of repair.

After extensive historical research many elements, including the glasshouses and brickwork paths, were reinstated. In 2009, Dan Pearson was asked to develop further parts of the garden bringing a new, contemporary feel to the historical landscape. New planting schemes sympathetic to Jekyll’s ‘spirit’ were devised for the borders in the main garden rooms that had been more recently laid to lawn. On the outer edges of the property, Dan Pearson has adopted a more naturalistic style of planting, including meadows, rilled watercourse and new pond thus taking into consideration the wider landscape. In addition, a kitchen garden has been installed in one of Lutyen’s original walled gardens that was never formally laid out in his time.

Welcome and introduction followed by 1 ½ hour guided tour with Head Gardener and members of the garden team. Please note we will be divided into two groups.

Members: £30 per person - To include tea, coffee and cake. All proceeds go to Perennial – Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society.

Please note that this is a private estate. No photography will be permitted.

Maximum number of attendees is 24 people and will be restricted to members only.

4 | Surrey Gardens Trust THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER – 10.00AM

SUSSEX PRAIRIE GARDEN Morlands Farm, Wheatsheaf Road, nr Henfield, West Sussex BN5 9AT

Photos courtesy of Marianne Majerus

Sussex Prairie Gardens is Britain’s largest ‘prairie’ or ‘naturalistic’ garden with 8 acres of interlocking arcs of large planted borders consisting of over 30,000 plants of 600 different varieties. The garden was created by its current owners in 2008 and planted entirely by themselves, friends and family. The borders are planted in a shape of a spiralling nautilus shell and combine the beauty of perennials and grasses to provide an extraordinary long season of interest. In addition to the borders, there are two naturalistic pools that are a magnet for wildlife. New to the garden is a cutting garden and small vegetable plot. The entire garden benefits from its rural setting, is surrounded by mature oak trees and has tremendous views of Chanctonbury Ring and the South Downs. It is interesting to note that the plants and seed heads are left standing until February when the borders are set on fire in advance of the new growing season.

Introduction and brief history of the garden by owners Paul and Pauline McBride.

Please note that this is a combined visit with Borde Hill (see page overleaf) and cannot be offered separately.

Members: £28 per person, Non-members £30 per person To include entrance to both gardens, introductory talk at Sussex Prairie, guided tour with gardener at Borde Hill and cream tea at Borde Hill. Does not include lunch but the teashop at Sussex Prairie has a selection of sandwiches, homemade cake, ice cream and beverages and The Gardener’s Retreat at Borde Hill offers a more extensive lunch menu. Picnics are also allowed in both gardens.

5 | Surrey Gardens Trust THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER – 2.00PM

BORDE HILL GARDEN Borde Hill Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1XP

Borde Hill Garden is a Grade II* registered botanically rich heritage garden that was created in the early 1900s with plants gathered by the great plant collectors from the Himalayas, China, Burma, Tasmania and the Andes. Col Stephenson R Clarke sponsored some of these expeditions from 1893 to 1937 and had many of the plants collected were grown at Borde Hill. The garden has since been developed by four generations of the Stephenson Clarke family.

Borde Hill Paradise Walk Borde Hill Italian Garden

Borde Hill also contains the best private collection of champion trees in Britain. This 35-acre garden and woodland is set within over 200 acres of traditional parkland and provides a spectacular backdrop to Borde Hill House, an Elizabethan mansion built in 1598. The formal garden is laid out in a series of linked ‘garden rooms’, each with a distinctive style. Over the last 100 years the garden has continued to evolve with seasonal colour and interest complementing the original plantings of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and magnolias. Highlights include the Rose Garden with over 750 David Austin English roses, the Round Dell consisting of exotic plants, the Italian Garden with its formal lily pool and the Garden of Allah with its champion trees, magnolias and camellias. The garden also includes a range of Victorian glasshouses, some of which have been restored. This year Borde Hill celebrates its 55th year of being open to the public as a registered charity.

Please note The Artist’s Garden Exhibition of sculpture and paintings inspired by the countryside will be open at the time of our visit.

Guided tour with member of gardening team. Tour will last approximately 1 hour and you will be free to explore the garden further afterwards. Cream tea will be provided after the tour.

Please note that this is a combined visit with Sussex Prairie Gardens (see above for costs) and cannot be offered separately.

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