May News

After the wettest April in living memory, it must be time for Spring! Certainly there are some wonderful gardens opening in Gloucestershire throughout the month. On the Bank Holiday weekend the gardens in the lovely villages of Eastcombe, Bussage and Brownshill are open on Sunday and Monday and Lord and Lady Bamford’s garden at Daylesford is open on Wednesday May 9th.

Two new ngs gardens open this year, Lindors Country House and The Old Rectory at Avening. However, don’t forget some of our most popular gardens that are open this month, so check the calendar, put away the wellington boots, brush off the sun hat (we all live in hope) and enjoy the delights of Gloucestershire gardens.

Colesbourne Park

Colesbourne Park, 8 miles south of Cheltenham, will be opening for the National Gardens Scheme on Sunday 27 May after a break of several years in celebration of the NGS’ 85th anniversary.

A special feature of the opening will be guided tours of the arboretum at 2.00, 2.15, 3.30 and 3.15pm; tours will be led by Sir Henry Elwes and Dr John Grimshaw.

The church will also be open and teas are available by courtesy of the Colesbourne Church volunteers.

 

The story of a new ngs garden...

The Old Rectory at Avening opened its doors for the ngs for the first time on Sunday 13 May. A sunny afternoon resulted in some 350 visitors and was very welcome after the very wet weather of the last few weeks. The garden looked splendid and one effect of the recent weather was that the stream which runs through the garden was very fast flowing.

An important element of most ngs garden openings is the opportunity to enjoy home made tea and cake, and at The Old Rectory a special cake was baked to mark the first opening of the garden for the ngs. Not only did it look wonderful it also tasted very good.

Any prospective garden owner who would like to join the ngs scheme might find the observations of Anthea Bezant, the owner of The Old Rectory, on both the preparations for the great day and also the day itself. I think it safe to say Anthea enjoyed the experience.

“How did I do it...

In July 2011 I asked for an assessment to establish if the garden was suitable to be accepted by The NGS. I was astonished and thrilled to be accepted there and then.

My New years resolution was to make a list to help me get the garden up to scratch for the opening. I divided the garden into eight sections and listed all the jobs to be done in order and decided to try to get round each section three times over the next four months. Unlike my lists for Tescos it didn’t get lost. I pinned it to the notice board and checked it each week and pretty well stuck to it - I’m not normally this organised I can assure you but I was determined to present it as best I could!

In March there was a bit of a panic when everything dried up in the sun and all the May flowering bulbs decided to come into flower. Would there be any water in the river or would it dry up completely. No sooner had the words left my lips than the heavens opened and it didn’t stop raining for weeks. I was brought up on The Isle of Skye, I don’t mind working in the rain but even on our shallow soil it got harder and harder to get onto the ground to do anything. Everything came to a standstill and I resigned myself to green.

When I decided to open on May 13th my sister emailed me to say we would clash with The Malvern Show. My reply was Oh good! its always good weather for The Malvern Show. As time went by I wondered if it would ever stop raining - on the 3rd of May I checked the 10 day forecast and it showed sun for the 12th and 13th - PHEW this time I was going to believe them!

The last three dry days made such a difference and the help of the family and friends titivating what was an almost finished job on the morning of the opening was the icing on the cake. But if I hadn’t stuck to my list I would never have made it.

We had an amazing turnout and some very encouraging comments. The grass was dry enough for the children to sit and dabble their toes in the river and a hundred shades of green seemed to please everyone.

At one point I wrote on facebook - I think this is a bit like Christmas, you spend months preparing until one day the turkey is in the oven and hey presto before you know where you are its all over and what was all the fuss about!
Like Christmas I will be happy to do it again next year and whatever the weather will always know what it’s like to open when the sun shines. I did spare a thought for those who opened on the relentless wet days we have had over the last few weeks and will now make an extra effort to visit gardens when the weather isn’t that good."

Long Service Awards for Garden Owners

The National Gardens Scheme values the contribution of all who open their gardens on behalf of the scheme but each year recognises the achievement of gardens which have opened for a number of years. In 2012 the following garden owners will be given an appropriate long service award for the opening of their garden for the ngs.

10 Years

Lower Farm House
Ramblers
Kempsford Manor
Manor House, Blockley
The Old Chequer

20 Years

Home Farm
Willow Lodge

30 Years

Painswick Rococo

40 Years

Cotswold Farm
Abbotswood
Sudeley Castle

 

I very much hope that all of our garden owners will enjoy and value their awards. I am aware that Painswick Rococo Garden are planning to add to a collection of IIex they are introducing to the garden and a formal presentation will take place at a later date. A presentation to Cotswold Farm, who are celebrating 40 years of opening the garden for the ngs, will be made at their open day on Sunday 10 June.

Our thanks to each of the above garden owners for their very considerable support of the ngs over a number of years and which has enabled us in Gloucestershire to raise valuable funds for the ngs’ nominated charities.

Norman Jeffery
County Organiser