EAST RUSTON OLD VICARAGE
> About an hour’s drive east of Pensthorpe (approx. 35 miles), this privately owned garden in north Norfolk is an inspiring mix of the traditional alongside highly innovative and exuberant designs. Created by Alan Gray and Graham Robeson, who bought the property in 1973, the garden has been gradually extended from the original two-acre plot to its current 32 acres, 20 acres of which are formal gardens, with the remainder given over to orchards and parkland.
Although the garden is set on what could be judged as an unpromising site, just 1.5 miles from the North
Sea, in an exposed landscape of mainly large-scale arable fields, Alan and Graham have planted mixed and formal hedging as well as shelterbelts of Monterey pine, Italian alders, Holm oak and eucalyptus.
These, alongside numerous enclosed garden areas, mitigate the strong wind that would whip through the site (their “main enemy”) and the garden now has various micro climates, allowing a range of delicate, tender and exotic plants to flourish.
The garden areas are too numerous to list, but some of the many highlights include a new Walled
Garden, a Dutch Garden, Rose Garden, Exotic Garden, Mediterranean Garden and the dramatic Desert Wash inspired by the landscape of Arizona. To help encourage wildlife, there is also a wildflower meadow and wildlife pond, as well as an extensive woodland garden. You will also find numerous architectural features as well as sculpture by local artists.
The couple’s passion, creativity, originality and horticultural savvy are evident throughout this spectacular garden and you’ll find plenty of inspiration as well as an impressive number of interesting, unusual and rare specimens. Fortunately for visitors, each year a good number of plants used in the garden are propagated, so you can track down things you’ve spotted in the plant sales area next to the main house.
East Ruston Old Vicarage, East Ruston, Norwich, Norfolk NR12 9HN Tel: 01692 650432. eastrustonoldvicarage.co.uk. The garden and tea room are usually open Wednesdays to Sundays and Bank Holidays, 12.00-5.30 pm from 7 March until 24 October 2020. The tearoom opens at 12 pm.
Roughly 50 miles from both Pensthorpe and East Ruston (south-east and south-west respectively), are the gardens of Bressingham Hall, the home of the late, great Alan Bloom (1906-2005), an internationally renowned plantsman and founder of Blooms Nurseries. Throughout the garden you’ll find a huge range of interesting hardy perennials – the nurseries’ speciality – many of which Alan originally collected from all over Europe.
Alan began the gardens in 1953 and during the ’50s invented a series of freestyle, curvaceous shapes for plants that became known as “island beds”. Today, his first garden, known as the Dell Garden, extends to six acres with 48 variously sized beds containing mainly moisture and shade-loving perennials, with a circular ornamental pond and a charming thatch-roofed summerhouse at its centre.
Alan’s son Adrian joined the family business in 1962. Also eager to experiment, Adrian created a new garden on the site of an empty meadow behind the main house, which he named Foggy Bottom. This garden is filled with a huge range of conifers and heathers, as well as trees and shrubs all carefully selected to provide year-long colour and interest;
Today, the 17 acres are divided into six distinct gardens. Alongside the Dell Garden and Foggy Bottom are the Summer Garden, the Fragrant Garden, Adrian’s Wood and the Winter Garden. Adrian ensures the garden continues to evolve and the wide range of plants and innovative combinations means the garden remains a Mecca for plant lovers.
Interestingly, Alan was also a keen collector of steam trains. Alongside the garden you’ll find Bressingham Steam Museum, and on certain days visitors can take a ride on a narrow gauge track that runs through fields of flowers. Bressingham Steam & Gardens, Low Rd, Bressingham IP22 2AA; 01379 686 900; bressingham.co.uk; Normally open every day from 27 March until 1 November 2020. Mondays and Tuesdays (outside of school and public holidays) are “Gardeners’ Days” (Non Steam Days); Wednesdays to Sundays are always Steam Train Days.