News

Prior Park recruits youngest head gardener

The youngest head gardener in the National Trust has started worked at Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath.

Alice Palfrey, 29, already has seven years of National Trust gardening. She comes to her role with experience of looking after Prior Park, and enthusiasm to take the garden forward and continue the process of restoring it to its 1764 state and the time of creator Ralph Allen’s death.

Alice’s introduction to gardens and tree work came as a teenager with weekends spent helping her father, an arboricultural professional, with tasks in private gardens..’

Basic botany for gardeners

Bristol Botanical Garden is holding a one day course on basic botany on Saturday, 22nd July. The course is based on the plant world being a magical one which constantly surprises and amazes with its diversity and adaptability. Knowing how to grow a plant can be improved by knowing where its natural environment is and what family it belongs to.

Ashe Park - new gardens opens for July visitors

The extensive new gardens in the grounds of a Ashe Park, the Georgian country house and estate, opens for the NGS in July . There are parkland and specimen trees, woodland walks, large contemporary potager, lime avenue and several newly planted areas.

Teas and refreshments available, dogs on leads are welcome, parking available.

The developing garden is, becoming established with further planting initiatives in progress and it is becoming a popular garden with visitors.On Sunday, 30th July there will be a Jane Austen theme.

Ston Easton tour of majestic hotel gardens

Somerset’s lavish country house hotel at Ston Easton Park is hosting a garden tour on Thursday, 29th June.

The tour will welcome guests to enjoy 36 acres of parkland in all its glory, as it bursts into full bloom.

Guided by Ston Easton Park’s head gardener Stephen Hargreaves, guests will be shown around the majestic gardens, designed by the great English landscape architect Humphry Repton – Ston Easton Park is the last remaining Repton landscape in Somerset, with iconic 18th Century
features including a love seat, lost grotto and original stone bridge.

Portesham open gardens weekend

Portesham open gardens takes place on the weekend of Saturday, 1st and Sunday, 2nd of July when there’s a chance to tour the selected gardens open in the Dorset village six miles outside of Weymouth. St Peter’s Church is holding an arts and craft exhibition in conjunction with the gardens open weekend. The gardens are open from 12 noon to 4.30pm both days. Cream teas are available in the Rectory garden again on both days.

Scythe away at Knightshayes

Knightshayes, the National Trust property is celebrating National Meadows day on Saturday, 1st July by welcoming a professional scythe to help the parkland looking trim using this traditional method of meadow management. Andrea Rickard , the UK Ladies Champion for scything, will be doing demonstrations throughout the day, and you will also have the chance to give it a go yourself.

Volunteer gardeners needed at Belcombe Court

Could you spare a few hours to help the head gardener at the beautiful historic gardens of Belcombe Court, near Bradford-on-Avon?

Sue Cranch took over as head gardener of this vast garden at the beginning of March, and as she told Country Gardener, “I have had to hit the ground running. It’s a challenge but exciting.”

More awards as Stewarts expand

Stewarts Garden Centres from Dorset have added another accolade to their impressive list of awards. The Dorset group with garden centres in Christchurch and Wimborne have been rated the third best ‘Destination centre’ in UK and a centre of excellence. The award comes from the influential Garden Centres Association which represents nearly 200 garden centres in the UK. The passion for horticulture has been in the Stewarts family for eight generations. The business can be traced back to 1742.

10-a-day? No problem say Riverford

New research suggests we should be eating ten portions of fruit and vegetables a day to help live a longer life. To many that may sound like a lot, but Devon organic farmers and local veg box delivery scheme Riverford believe not.

Jo and Phil Limb who deliver to customers across the county explained, “Our boxes are all about bringing the best of our fields into customers’ homes. They are a really inspiring way to cook from scratch, eat seasonally and pack a load of the green stuff into your diet.

Hare we go again!

Giant hares are set to be leaping across the Cotswolds, as part of the new Trail Festival.

Eighty five-foot sculptures will be in place across 20 towns and villages, nestling in hotel lobbies, tucked into shop doorways or taking centre stage on high streets.

The trail, which launches on Saturday 25th March, will run until Sunday 10th September, and has been arranged by Florence Beetlestone.

Country Gardener

Widely regarded as the authority on gardening in the south west