Searching for ideas? Check out these six great gardens
ACROSS England and Wales, thousands of private gardens welcome visitors every year as part of the National Garden Scheme, raising money for charity. Whether you’re looking for inspiration for your plot or simply fancy a day out, here are six great spaces that are open over the next seven days.
The Hollow, Swanage, Dorset
SET above the seaside resort of Swanage, this lovely sunken garden was created by Suzanne Nutbeem in a former stone quarry. The west-facing plot is protected on three sides by dry-stone walls that contain chunks of the medieval London Bridge. The 130ft by 72ft space boasts shrubs, roses, grasses, perennials and displays of succulents and air plants.
Open August 24, 2pm-5.30pm, adults £4, children free.
The Folly, Charlton, West Sussex
THE Folly nestles in the downland village of Charlton, a stone’s-throw from Goodwood Racecourse and the cathedral city of Chichester. Developed by Joan Burnett and David Ward over 14 years, the cottage garden wraps itself around a 16th Century period house and features lawns, shady places to sit and herbaceous borders brimming with shrubs, roses, perennials, grasses and annuals.
Open today, 2pm-5pm, adults £5, children free.
Aberclwyd Manor, Derwen, Denbighshire
OCCUPYING a four-acre sloping plot overlooking the Upper Clwyd Valley, this lavish landscape contains an Italianate-style garden of neatly trimmed box hedging, curved beds filled with shrubs and perennials, and a rustic stone archway that leads to a pergola dripping with climbing roses. Elsewhere, there’s a kitchen garden, lawns, orchard, mature trees and ponds brimming with plants and wildlife.
Open August 24, 10am-4pm, adults £4, children free.
23A Perry Road, Buckden, Cambridgeshire
A LOT has been crammed into this quirky plot in a village close to the market town of St Neots. Owned by David and Valerie Bunnage, the one-acre garden contains follies, a bog garden and a Japanese-style space with a tea house, bamboo water features, ornaments and a dry ‘river’ made from slate. It contains masses of rare and unusual shrubs, including more than 150 Japanese maples.
Open August 26, 2pm-5pm, adults £4, children free.
Millrace Garden, Garforth, West Yorkshire
DEVELOPED over the past 20 years by Carol and Martin Carthy, this three-acre plot overlooks a secluded valley and boasts herbaceous borders crammed with more than 3,000 varieties of trees, shrubs and perennials. Elsewhere, there’s a vegetable garden, wildlife lake, a woodland walk and meadow. Visitors are encouraged to collect seeds and take cuttings.
Open today, 1pm-5pm, adults £5, children free.
The Garden of the Wind, Walterstone, Herefordshire
CLOSE to the Welsh border and with views across to the Black Mountains, this swanky four-acre garden was just a field when it was taken on by Rupert and Antoinette Otten in 2001. Set around a 19th
Century farmhouse, the contemporary space boasts a parterre garden with geometric beds, a rose garden, arboretum, fountains and a dry garden.
Open August 27-28, 2pm-6pm, adults £5, children free.
For further information and a list of open gardens, visit the National Garden Scheme website at ngs.org.uk. For gardens to visit north of the border, go to the Scotland’s Gardens Scheme website at scotlandsgardens.org.