IN THE GARDEN WITH…
AT East Lambrook Manor Gardens, Silver Street, East Lambrook, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5HH GArden size Two acres siTe All aspects soil Improved clay feATures Historic cottage garden; snowdrop and hellebore collections; picturesque vistas; hardy geranium collection; mature trees and shrubs; nursery visiT 1 Feb-31 Oct, Tue-Sat, 10am-5pm (and Sundays in Feb and May-July). Adults £6. Groups welcome. Free for RHS on Weds. Plant fair on 23 March, adults £4 conTAcT Mike on 01460 240328 or email mike@eastlambrook.com
Early spring is one of the most exciting times of the gardening year. In this cottage garden in Somerset, formerly owned by plantswoman Margery Fish (1892-1969), there are snowdrops, hellebores and crocuses all bursting into life. “It’s the quintessential cottage garden,” says current owner Mike Werkmeister, who lives here with his wife Gail. “But what’s really special is the fact it’s a garden on a small, human scale. People come here for ideas and feel they could do exactly the same in their own gardens.” Mike and Gail moved here 10 years ago. “The house was on the market in September 2007 and we came to look around but didn’t make an offer. The estate agent took it off hellebore haven (clockwise from above left) East lambrook manor’s hellebore collection includes ‘Harvington Double limes’ and ‘Harvington Single Red’; Crocus tommasinianus; Eranthis hyemalis and Galanthus nivalis emerge through leaf litter; The Ditch is cloaked with named snowdrops, ferns and grasses below pollarded willows
over winter and then we visited as tourists the following spring – the garden looks lovely in April. A chance meeting with the owners revealed it had come back on the market the previous day. A few days later we made an offer and the rest, as they say, is history.” As the garden is Grade I listed there are restrictions on building over it, but otherwise the Werkmeisters are free to develop the garden as they please. “We knew we were buying an historic garden, so we nurture and look after it,” says Mike. “None of its three owners since Margery Fish has gone out of their way to change it and it’s still very much as it always was. The previous
It’s the quintessential cottage garden... on a small human scale