The P&GUK trustees have been exploring the possibility of merging with or becoming part of another institution that will preserve and develop the database. An obvious partner was the newly formed Gardens Trust but as Bulletin a new organisation it is unable to take on any extra financial responsibility. P&GUK has Summer 2016 engaged in detailed discussions with MERL (The Museum of English Rural Life, that is Parks & Gardens UK supported by the University of Reading) and with the Hestercombe Gardens Trust. Already Update planning to extend its existing activities, the Gardens Trust, along with many other Hestercombe Gardens Trust has welcomed County Gardens Trusts, has been an active the possibility of taking over P&GUK and and continuing contributor to the Parks & maintaining and developing the database. Gardens UK database. The database was created in 2005 with the support of a grant of nearly £1 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and is now an important resource for all those interested in historic parks, gardens and designed landscapes in the . It currently holds over 9,000 records for parks and gardens, 2,100 biographies of associated people, special sites dealing with topics of current interest, such as the Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown tercentenary, maps, modern and historic photographs and images. The future of the database is now uncertain That being so, P&GUK has obtained a grant as it was created on the basis that it would from Historic to cover running offer open access (i.e. without charge) to costs for the next few months and is now users but P&GUK can no longer afford the applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £22,000 a year required to maintain and transition funding to enable them to advance run it. While they have obtained occasional negotiations with the Hestercombe Gardens grants for upgrading the software and Trust. In the meantime, updating and making it more user-friendly, it is increasingly management of the database and website difficult to obtain a grant for day-to-day will continue. running expenses and for the general Avon Gardens Trust will, of course, keep our development of the database. Their own members informed of progress. resources will be exhausted by the end Ros Delany of September this year. The database is www.parksandgardens.org undoubtedly an important research tool and should they cease to operate not only will the initial investment of close on £1 million Annual Report be lost but so will the considerable input by & Financial Statements CGTs and many other contributors. inside Chairman’s Welcome At the beginning of June, I made my first plants. It is perhaps not surprising that The visit to the Literary Festival at Hay-on-Wye. Daily Telegraph recently listed this garden in In one very enjoyable afternoon I listened to its Top Ten of best Dutch-influenced gardens. three speakers, all of whom were gardeners On Wednesday 7 September we have an and/or garden historians. Thomas Pakenham all-day coach visit. The ‘New Perennial’ spoke on The Company of Trees, Vanessa theme is continued in the morning with a Berridge promoted her book The Princess’s visit to Durslade Farm near Bruton, home Garden: Royal Intrigue and the Untold Story of the Hauser & Wirth Gallery, to look at the of Kew and Monty Don was in conversation garden designed by Piet Oudolf, the Dutch with Helena Attlee. landscape designer. A contrast is provided in Monty and Helena were celebrating the afternoon with our visit to Pen Mill Farm, Eighteenth Century Gardens and the a romantic garden with acid-loving mature Landscape Movement by discussing the trees and shrubs in a secluded valley. work of William Kent, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Along with my fellow committee members, Brown and Humphry Repton. I look forward to meeting as many Trust It was by no means an academic approach members as can come along to either of discussing these three influential people but these visits. more a light hearted look at them and their Ros Delany achievements. A snippet that emerged was the fact that Monty had approached the BBC to see if they would commission a programme Our Annual Accounts about Brown in his tercentenary year, but A note from the Treasurer they declined. Whatever the reason it does Our income rose by £550 to £5,358, mainly due to Anne and Peter Hills generous donation of seems a shame that a golden opportunity the proceeds from opening their garden at Little to bring Brown and his work to a wider Naish last year. Meanwhile our expenditure fell audience via the small screen was missed. by £2,685 to £3,213. The result was an addition of £2,145 to our funds. Our AGM will be held on Saturday 6 August Tony Merriman at Lady Farm, to the south of Bristol. This farmhouse garden was one of the first to take up the ‘New Perennial’ continental style of planting in the mid 90s with its signature schemes of swathes of grasses, low Registered Charity No. 900377 Company No. 2357099 perennials and drifts of taller, prairie-style CREATE Centre, Smeaton Road, Bristol BS1 6XN

Chairman: Ros Delany 01275 371398 Remember... [email protected] Renewal date for membership is 1st July. Membership Sec.: Anne Merriman 01934 833619 Please send your cheque to the Membership [email protected] Secretary at Danby, 22 The Causeway, Danby, The Causeway, Congresbury, Bristol BS49 5DJ Congresbury, Bristol BS49 5DJ Please consider setting up a Bankers Order Trust publications are edited by or paying by BACS. For any membership Emma Jones 0117 239 9715 queries please contact Anne Merriman, [email protected] Telephone 01934 833619 [email protected] www.avongardenstrust.org.uk

2 3 Members £30, guests £32 including Avon Gardens Trust Events entrance fees, morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea. Please book by Friday Members £10, guests £12. Please book 2 September using the form at the by Wednesday 3 August using the form back of this Bulletin. at the back of this Bulletin. The Coach departs at 9.00am from Little If you are attending the AGM only, Naish, Clapton in Gordano BS20 7RZ. there is no charge.

Hauser & Wirth There is ample parking at Little Naish. Lady Farm, Chelwood, BS39 4NN to frame the view of the garden for visitors www.ladyfarm.com as they leave the buildings. The surrounding Full details in the next Bulletin... Peggy Stembridge Durslade Farm hedges provide a sense of enclosure, whilst Lunch and Lecture the views of the hills and fields beyond remain Garden Visit and AGM Thursday 10 November & Pen Mill Farm visible. A series of paths cut through the A light buffet lunch at the Clifton Cathedral Lady Farm, Chelwood Day trip by coach to Hauser & Wirth Gallery at vegetation, inviting visitors to wander through Saturday 6 August, 2pm Durslade Farm and Pen Mill Farm, Somerset followed by a talk from Margie Hoffnung about the garden. Oudolf’s landscaping design Rosemary Verey. In the nine years since AGT’s last visit, the Wednesday 7 September continues around the buildings including 12 acre garden has seen many changes. the inner cloister courtyard, where the old The AGM will be in the tea room overlooking buildings meet the new. the garden which we can explore on a tour www.hauserwirthsomerset.com Dates for your Diary afterwards. Created by Judy Pearce, Judy Our next visit is to Pen Mill Farm where we shall will talk about the changes she’s made have lunch. The romantic two and a half acre Lenses on a Landscape Genius before we step out to the garden with its garden here has been tended by the FitzGerald An Exciting Contemporary natural springs feeding lakes, wildflower family since the mid 1960s. The owners will Photography Exhibition meadow, shaded walks, ‘prairie’ and take us on a guided tour of this plantsman’s Until 29 July 2016 ‘steppe’ style planting in amongst formal Hauser & Wirth garden which contains many mature and The Radic Pavilion at Durslade Farm Capability Brown works as seen through borders and vistas in the rolling landscape. unusual acid-loving plants that flourish in the In the morning we will visit Durslade Farm, near the eyes of leading contemporary sheltered valley. A cascading stream links a Bruton, home of Hauser & Wirth, the internationally photographers their personal creative series of ponds and flows down to the lake. acclaimed fine arts gallery. After coffee, we response to his world-famous legacy. When we visit, the garden should be a riot of will have time to explore the gallery and visit The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, colour as the four large herbaceous borders the gardens designed by the world renowned Fitzrovia, London WC1E 7BT Dutch landscape designer, Piet Oudolf. come to life with rudbeckia, helenium and salvias. More than 50 different salvias are www.buildingcentre.co.uk The Hauser & Wirth Gallery is regarded by grown and some are often for sale. Our visit many as the next Guggenheim. In the twenty concludes with tea and refreshments. or so years of its existence, it has opened Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust branches first in Zurich, followed by London www.penmillfarm.co.uk in association with The Gardens Trust and New York, it has established itself as a serious player in the commercial art world. Tercentenary Conference on Outside, the Oudolf Field has been designed Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and created by Piet Oudolf to the north of New Research Symposium the farmyard and new gallery buildings. This & The Gardens Trust AGM large perennial meadow is planted with a huge Thursday 1 - Sunday 4 September variety of species and the combination of plants Based at Robinson College, creates a certain softness making the planting Grange Road, Cambridge CB3 9AN. appear informal. Wide canopied trees have More details and booking form: Pen Mill Farm Peggy Stembridge been planted between the gallery and garden www.cambsgardens.org.uk 4 5 formal garden at the front of the house with Spring Visit its box hedging and dark red ‘Dark Secret’ roses. The formality of this area is broken up Tormarton Court by a line of lime trees fronting Church Road, Thursday 19 May the area there being softened by billowing The Trust’s first garden visit of the year got cow parsley. off to a fine start with a visit to Tormarton Court. Originally part of the Badminton Ros Delany Estate, the original Jacobean house was Tormarton Court in 1987 enlarged around 1812 for Lord William areas outside of the walled garden were laid Somerset, younger brother of the Duke of down to grass. There was also an overgrown Emma Jones Beaufort. Lord William was Rector of St Mary but extensive soft fruit garden, many disused The mound was constructed in 2002 utilising Magdalene Church in Tormarton. Known as sheds and the remains of glasshouses in the the large amount of Cotswold rubble dug the Hunting Rector, due to his obsession walled garden. with hunting, the new stables that he had up during excavation for the swimming pool. The current owners purchased Tormarton built have architectural features that are very Most of us climbed the spiral path up to Court thirteen years ago and since then have similar to those at nearby Dodington Park. the summit admiring the wild flowers and

embarked on an ambitious renovation of Emma Jones Even the weather vane is identical. grasses that had been sown. A monkey pine both the house and the garden. The grounds Moving round to the South Terrace, we heard stood as a sentinel on the summit. In the second part of the 20th century, the continue to be restored and maintained how overgrown the hedges and shrubs had We went through the wildflower meadow, estate was purchased by the 1st Baron by a Head Gardener and one assistant. become in this part of the garden and how looked at the restored pond and then into Altrincham. Following her husband’s death, The current layout of the grounds aims to they have been severely pruned or removed. the walled garden. The walled garden had Lady Altrincham lived alone at the Court for accommodate a changing taste in the use A new planting of ‘Little Lady’ lavender with become very overgrown and neglected the next thirty years until her death in 1987. It for such gardens as well as catering for the their light blue flowers complemented the old but over the last few years, it has been was during this period the extensive grounds requirements of the owners’ four children. went into a period of gentle decline as all wisteria growing up the side of the house. transformed to a mixture/blend of traditional David Purkiss, the Head Gardener, met us The Glade was a deliberately natural area and modern so as to cater for the needs in the front courtyard with its serried rows of with plantings of thousands of bulbs. Some of the family. pleached hornbeams. He led us to the more camassia were still clinging onto their flowers but were being swamped by the cow parsley. Some headstones of former pets and some cleverly positioned metal pigs added to the informality of this area. Emma Jones Ros Delany Emma Jones 6 7 Activities, Bluebells and Primroses May Day at Tortworth Forest Centre Many families came to Torthworth Forest Centre’s Arbor Fest Day on 1st May. So much hard work during the winter had achieved a transformation since I was there last summer.

Ros Delany A year ago what had been impenetrable scrub below trees now had a cleared path to walk through and one can begin to see the shape of the original layout of the arboretum. I reached an amazing old goat willow its branches spread out along the ground with seemingly only a tenuous relationship with

their trunk and roots. Many bluebells and Wendy Pollard

Ros Delany primroses are now flowering in a newly for tea or coffee and delicious vegetable were happy to supply them with the tools The walled garden in 1987 cleared open area with even white narcissi stew to follow. The cooking was an initiative they needed and we can see the results in There are still the expected vegetable braving some brambles. You may remember by a women’s group who come up to the all the cleared areas. She now has funding growing areas, espalier fruit trees and apple Rebecca Cork’s piece in our Autumn Bulletin forest every week from Bristol. A small group for five Interns and to quote Rebecca “I was ‘step overs’ are the traditional features. There about plans for the Forest Centre. of women who have overcome addictions; lucky to receive money from Awards for is now a white border, a tropical border and The May Day activities were based in this they come to the forest to take part in forest All, part of Big Lottery Fund, for a weekly a border where flowers for cutting for the large, newly created open area. The day activities, write journals, talk to each other or session with five interns for one year starting house are grown. Other parts of the walled featured forest school activities, a campfire, just to reflect. The calm atmosphere of the last April. They learn different aspects of garden have been laid to lawn to provide tree identification walks and much more forest is therapeutic. sustainable woodland management as well recreation area for the family. The swimming including children’s ‘have a go’ activities such Beautifully finished wooden spoons were as carrying out conservation work in the pool lies in the centre of the garden as building with wattle and daub. Story time displayed with a demonstration of the initial arboretum. They also receive lunch, travel concealed behind high hedges. related to the lives of children who had once carving of them together with traditional May via minibus, and some money for safety lived in Iron Age sites. We finished our tour In the Mediterranean Whistles, a skill the carver had been taught clothing. Partners who will be teaching on Garden which lived up to its name with by her grandfather. Bee the Change have the internship include conservationists, its bougainvillea, hibiscus, olive and fig a programme inviting people to sponsor bat and bee experts, veteran tree experts, trees. Here we all enjoyed well deserved a beehive. They offer training in beehive woodland managers, wildlife experts and refreshments. management and they will set up beehives more. We also hope to visit woodlands to Ros Delany where people request them. Based in Bristol see how they are managed.” they are a legacy initiative from the 2015 Wendy Pollard Green Capital year. Forage and Fire were www.tortwortharboretum.org Wendy Pollard demonstrating good food to be had on A surprise was the substantial wooden hut your doorstep. They had very hot wild garlic for two contented looking goats. They are flower buds to taste though marinated wild to be tethered in parts of the woodland to garlic leaves I found less strong and much eat the brambles, bamboo and other more delicious. Good-to-eat plants and unwanted scrub. They proved a great berries are to be found in our hedgerows, attraction for the children. woodlands and fields. Under a shelter in the forest clearing It is thanks to Rebecca’s unremitting dedicated helpers had set up stalls with the dedication to the Forest Centre arboretum

centrepiece being a camp fire; a kettle boiling that so much has been achieved already. We Wendy Pollard Ros Delany 8 9 some of these, especially gardens in London Garden visit Booking Form Bookshelf where he was spending more time by around 1592 Lady Farm, Chelwood The first recorded London Shakespeare Saturday 6 August, 2pm Shakespeare’s performance is The Comedy of Errors at Gray’s Inn on 28 December 1594. The Inns of Court (Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Gardens Your name: by Jackie Bennett Inn) had good gardens and law students made with photographs by good audiences. Address: Andrew Lawson There’s no indication that Shakespeare had a As a teenager I had a poster of a famous picture home in London. He probably stayed in lodgings; on my bedroom wall: Ophelia by Millais (1851). his home was in Stratford upon Avon. She’s lying in a stream with weeds, flowers and What would it have been like then and how is herbs around her. I read Hamlet, but I didn’t realise it now? Shakespeare’s father made gloves so Postcode how frequently plants and gardens appear in the back yard would have had lime and ash for Shakespeare’s plays. cleaning animal skins, tanning pits plus stables for E-mail: If you would like to be kept In the introduction to her book, Jackie Bennett horses, orchards with a few livestock, vegetables informed by e-mail of news and herbs to help feed the large household. and events connected quotes briefly from Richard II Act 3 Scene 4. with the Trust, please So I had a look in the Collected Works. The Duke Over time this changed. Recently, deciding which Telephone: tick this box of York’s gardeners are talking about the state period the gardens should display, it was felt that Confirmation of booking will be by email. If post is preferred please enclose a stamped of the country: there are weeds, unpruned the existing formal layout with 1860s standard self-addressed envelope with your cheque. Send completed form with your cheque to: fruit-trees, choked-up flowers, ruined hedges, hollies and a wide central path would make it Peter Hills, Little Naish, Naish Hill, Clapton in Gordano, Bristol BS20 7RZ disordered knots and ‘wholesome herbs accessible for huge numbers of visitors. Herbs and swarming with caterpillars’. flowers mentioned in the plays have been added. E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: 01275 858 80 Shakespeare’s Gardens is a hugely informative Tudor food production is on display at Mary Please complete the details on the reverse of this form and return it by 3 August book organised around the family homes and Arden’s Farm, demonstrating hedge-laying, gardens during Shakespeare’s lifetime (1564- traditional ploughing and falconry. There are " 1616), and the later interest by the public wanting sheep, cattle, horses, pigs, poultry and herbs and to visit them. In fact ‘Shakespeare’s Birthplace’ vegetables that were available at that time. Durslade Farm Booking Form appears on a plan of Stratford-upon-Avon in The farm we know as Anne Hathaway’s cottage & Pen Mill Farm 1759, and when the ‘Birthplace’ was put up for became famous for its cottage gardens. When the sale in 1847, there was a national campaign to SBT bought it in 1892, it was already a destination Wednesday 7 September save it for the nation. A joint London-Stratford for painters, poets and writers. Now the gardens are committee which bought it at auction became the planted following the design by Ellen Willmott in the Your name: Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT). 1920s, with the addition of woven willow sculptures. The SBT has continued its involvement with all Hall’s Croft , the house built by Shakespeare’s the Stratford houses and gardens important to daughter and her physician husband, was bought Address: Shakespeare’s family and has also played a part by SBT in 1949 and has retained its formal mid- in the creation of this book. Separate chapters 20th century gardens with the addition of a herb explore the history of these places: Shakespeare’s garden representing the four coloured “humours” birthplace; his mother Mary Arden’s farm; his that physicians treated. wife Anne Hathaway’s cottage; Shakespeare’s Postcode daughter’s home, Hall’s Croft; and the home Shakespeare’s own house was pulled down in the mid 18th century. The site was bought by SBT in that Shakespeare bought for himself when he E-mail: If you would like to be kept was 33 years old, New Place Garden. The SBT 1884. Now, with soil protecting the foundations of informed by e-mail of news the house, a new conceptual design with zones and events connected commissioned Conservation Plans from English with the Trust, please Heritage for all five of these sites in 2014. representing 400 years of history is to be added to Telephone: tick this box a 1920s knot garden. The book begins by looking at plants and flowers Confirmation of booking will be by email. If post is preferred please enclose a stamped in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Most people were I look forward to seeing these gardens. self-addressed envelope with your cheque. Send completed form with your cheque to: familiar with herbs which were grown widely. Emma Jones Peter Hills, Little Naish, Naish Hill, Clapton in Gordano, Bristol BS20 7RZ There were flowery rich textiles at that time, not to Published by Frances Lincoln in association E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: 01275 858 80 mention the amazing gardens created at palaces with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 2016 and grand houses. Shakespeare may have visited ISBN: 9780711237261 Please complete the details on the reverse of this form and return it by 2 September 10 11 Number of AGT Members: @ £10 each subtotal £

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If you or any of your party have any special requirements total £ please list them below or on a separate sheet

I enclose a cheque (payable to ‘Avon Gardens Trust’) for £ "

Number of AGT Members: @ £30 each subtotal £

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Number of Guests: @ £32 each subtotal £

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I enclose a cheque (payable to ‘Avon Gardens Trust’) for £ 12