Somerset Gardens Trust

Gift Membership

Are you looking for a slightly different birthday or Christmas present for someone?  Why not give a year’s subscription to the Somerset Gardens Trust?  We can send your gift directly to the recipient, complete with a personalised card, or we can send it to you so that you can deliver it in person.  Simply download and complete the Gift Membership Form and we will take care of the rest!  

Highgrove & Rodmarton - June 2008

What were we expecting to find at Highgrove and what did we make of it? We had mixed re­ports from friends, but our impressions were almost wholly favourable. Clearly this was an expression of the ideas of one man; perhaps the table with just one chair said something. Your scribe felt that the deepest impression was made by the Stump Garden. Dead stumps, chiefly oak, had been laid root upwards and silvering, plants growing among them. This was truly memorable and hosta-lovers could not fail to be impressed by the state of the leaves without resorting to slug pesticide. The Cottage Garden was a close runner-up and made up for the ex­pected traditional herbaceous border. But why were the chairs spread out here?

An unusual feature of the garden is the four acre meadow which spreads between the more for­mal areas round the house and the varied areas of planting and the kitchen garden. Great care has been taken with this. We were told of spring displays of bulbs and even camassia. At our visit there were many grass seed heads and various yellow flowers, including yellow rattle. In August the grass would be cut and grazed. The area forms an ever-changing carpet. Other features, like them or not, are the fanciful buildings - tempietti, a meditation shrine designed on the principles of sacred geometry; a tallish cubicle displaying a plaque to the Queen Mother, and in other places other worthies; a tree house in a holly tree, known as Holyrood House, built for Princes William and Harry, taken down and re-erected on welsh slate piers; a strange struc­ture near the house, built over the dead stump of a beloved cedar.

What of the Prince’s single-mindedness in removing vast quantities of soil to a depth of four feet in order to eliminate ground elder? Some might consider this a case of reductio ad absurdum and settle for a dose of roundup! But most of us do not have eight gardeners, nor the re­sources of the duchy.

The Kitchen Garden was a joy and we would have liked to spend longer here wandering around the whole area. The charmingly carefully untidy herbaceous plants added to the won­derful impression. What would the Prince’s great grandfather, George V, a rabidly anti-ivy man, have made of the ivy on the fruit trees? This garden, though, was where this writer would have sipped champagne on a warm summers evening. By contrast the Moroccan Garden seemed to some eyes to be slightly ‘tacky’. Perhaps if the blue bathroom tiles with the failing grouting were replaced with marble conduits, a different impression would have been gained. To be coveted though was the large marble bowl in the centre!

The visit was well rounded off by those wonderful biscuits and tea followed by free samples of fudge in the shop, though only the first half of our party had time for them.

This was a truly memorable occasion. We felt highly privileged to visit this magnificent gar­den, though all too short, and one longed to be able to wander off on one’s own. We appreciated that, on security grounds, we needed to be shepherded in today’s sad world.

What a contrast at Rodmarton! It was good to see the house with its fine collection of Arts and Crafts furniture, and the garden with all its different rooms but, apart from the magnificent herbaceous border, the owners were engaged in a tough battle. Our party felt glad not to be in their shoes. Yet Simon Biddulph, the owner, still had time to cut in box a charming flock of hens, chatting and scratching, 2-3 ft high and among them a huge pig, all this in a comer of the rather under used walled kitchen garden.

Our thanks to David Freemantle for organising this wonderful day and for his unfailing courte­sy and humour throughout the trip.

Neale Hatherell

 

 

Visit to Italy - September 2008

Desperate for sun and light, I cheerfully set the alarm for 3.30a.m. and met everyone at Bristol Airport at 5.30a.m.  After an uneventful flight we set off for our first garden at Villa Reale di Marlia, near Lucca. Passing across vast, rather brown lawns in the English manner reconstructed in 19^th C by Elisa Baciocchi, we visited the now sadly unlived-in 17^th C Villa Vescovo, the original house.  There were lovely swagged terracotta pots full of blue Plumbago sitting on low walls surrounding the villa, and a cool courtyard. Many of us I am sure had dreams of doing this house up as we passed on to 17^th C Pan’s Grotto. This was in two parts, a circular grotto and square roofed, but open sided, rustic stone summerhouse with patterned floor in terracotta and pebbles.  Suddenly there were sprays of water, at the touch of a button the gardener had wetted us, a moment or two later he did it again!

I didn’t care for the Spanish Garden, designed by J Greber around 1920 with a pool and square rills. The hard landscaping had been built of concrete and had not weathered well. On we walked to a typical Italian Giardino di Limoni with lemons in terracotta pots and beautiful magnolia grandifloras trimmed into tall soft cones, a formal pool and handsome statuary.  On an axis to the right we discovered a Theatro di Verdura, a garden theatre built around 1652, with wings of tall yew and box bushes for footlights. Terracotta statues represented figures from the commedia dell’arte. Beside the house were more pools and a cascade of tufa sur­rounded by lots of bedding, mostly lantana and cool shrubbery.

The sun was out and the temperature rising when we reached Villa Torrigiani at Camigliano, a handsome villa built at the beginning of the 1500s. As we were taken around the house interi­or we were told that the frescos, painted in 1689, had never been restored, only occasionally cleaned with bread dough, because the temperature inside remains constant, between 16-18ºC and is only used in summer. The gardens are now largely in the English style, considered to be labour saving, just trees and grass. But, as there had been no rain since the second week of June, the grass was very brown. To one side of the villa was a pretty formal fish pool, lemons and a sunken garden with clipped box. We climbed back into the bus and set off for Florence, our hotel and a huge dinner of Tuscan specialities - proscuitto, salami and bruschetta, and de­licious char-grilled beef.

On Saturday we set off for Villa la Pietra, Harold Acton’s home. The name derives from a stone indicating the house is one Roman mile from the city gate. Having heard so much about this famous house I couldn’t wait to have a look. The house, dating from the 14^th C had been the home of the Macinghi, Sassetti and Capponi families. The last reconstruction was in 1881 when a handsome circular staircase was built into the centre of the house. Arthur Acton and his wife Hortense, daughter of a Chicago banker, bought the house in 1903 and set about mak­ing a collection of more than 3,500 objects dating from the Etruscan period to the early 1900s, concentrating largely on Italian Gothic and Renaissance art. In the dining room, architectural­ly the most original room in the house, I admired an early Lotto carpet from the late 1500s, hanging on a wall behind a pair of carved angels playing harps. There were little 1930s bead­ed caps on all the light bulbs. Hortense disliked looking at bare lights and had had them made with rectangular tops and fringes of small clear, amber and green beads. 

Both house and garden have been restored since Harold Acton left them to New York Univer­sity. Nick Dakin-Elliot, in charge of the garden restoration, showed us around, explaining the vagaries of the Florentine climate. In winter the temperature can dip to -10ºC for about six weeks; in summer it becomes overpoweringly hot. In the ’20s and ’30s the Actons grew zin­nias because they cope well with the heat. Nick tried many zinnia mixes but none looked quite right until talking to a neighbour, Baroness Munchausen, (I am not kidding!) he found that she was still growing the same zinnias , having saved the seed. These, in soft tones of apricot and coral, are now sown annually and look very well. There was lovely statuary, stunning views, a “green theatre” where Judy Dench recently acted, and a walled kitchen garden or Pomario which is the most original part. We left reluctantly for Villa Maiano.

Taken around Villa Maiano by the owner, the delightful Contessa Miari, we were shown over the ground floor of the house and looked at the formal garden and Pond of Columns.  ”A Room with a View” had been filmed here, using the magnificent olive groves for the picnic scene and a room in the villa which was repainted for one of the sets. Then we were given a delicious lunch and shown the olive presses being prepared for the harvest this winter.

The garden at Villa Gameraia, on the hillside of Settignano, has wonderful views of Florence and a fantastic atmosphere of peace and calm. We explored at our leisure and found formal pools, cypress, clipped box, scented geraniums, oleanders and tree peonies. We had fun climb­ing around the Gabinetto rustico looking at the steps, statuary and rustic walls decoratively built with chips of white marble and black volcanic larva. We explored the Limonaria which houses in winter all the lemon trees and their terracotta pots. We walked up the bowling green to the Nymphaeum, a grotto with Neptune presiding over a shepherd and shepherdess.  Back at the villa, at a touch of a button, a light allowed visitors to look into the family chapel through a glass door. With thunder was rolling around the Florentine hills we headed back to the hotel just be­fore the rain really started.

Next day, our bus headed towards Sienna to visit Castle Villa Celsa, which was con­structed in the 1550s by Mino Celsi. Huge terracotta pots, each adorned with the family crest, planted with Cherry lau­rel, stood in front of the castle. On the terrace were ancient lemons and their pots, one pot had 1910 attached to it. We walked down a cypress avenue towards the fish pond on grass beribboned with thyme, marjoram and mint. It had rained lightly which made everything smell deli­cious. Passing through good farming country where they were busy ploughing, we had lunch at Vivo d’Orcia, near Mon­talcino. Then we visited Palazzo Cervini, a gloomy castle built by Pope Marcello II but much enlivened by the present owners Count and Countess Cervini and their family, who pressed us to refreshments after showing us around the gardens and their house.

Dinner that evening was at the Palazzo Corsini sul Prato by invitation of La Principessa Georgeana Corsini. From the terrace of the palazzo, with a drink in our hands, we looked at and discussed the garden. The house was built in 1575 and the garden is 1625. It is a typical Ba­roque garden of clipped box and lemon trees but the statuary is Roman of the 2^nd C. The house is full of fine paintings and magnificent gilded side tables. We ate a tomato jelly, in the shape of a rose, surrounded by lamb’s lettuce, croquettes of ricotta and spinach, with melted butter lightly flavoured with garlic, thin slices of rare roast beef served with courgettes cooked with thyme, followed by ice cream and fig confit. A selection of wines was served from the family’s vine­yards including a sweet wine made in the Sauternes fashion. The evening made an excellent end­ing to our tour and, although the weather had not matched our expectations, we all had a wonderful time.  A warm thank you to James and Primrose for their hard work and organisation.

Camilla Carter

 

 

Education

The Education Group was formed in 2005 and offers support  to schools undertaking garden projects. This support takes the form of visits to schools, grants of money (up to £350 per school) and advice leaflets covering a wide range of topics.

In recent years there has been increasing emphasis on outdoor education and healthy eating in the school curriculum.  Initiatives like Forest School, the Healthy Schools Awards, the Year of Food and Farming(2007/8) and much media interest in school meals reinforce this.  Many schools are now involved in developing garden and wildlife areas and many run garden clubs. Children are thus becoming increasingly aware of the environment, the growing of plants for food and pleasure, the sensory impact of plants and how they support wildlife.

The Education Group has been able to help increasing numbers of schools (12 in 2006, 20 in 2007 and 7 so far in 2008) and these encompass a wide age range and type of school.

Tyntesfield & Lady Farm - August 2008

 A good antidote to yet another dampish and cool August day is surely to go garden visiting. About 50 Trust members did just this with a trip to the gardens at Tyntesfield and Lady Farm; both were previewed in the last Newsletter, clearly indicating how very different they would prove to be.

Tyntesfield’s Acting Head Gardener, Paul Evans, told of the foundation of the garden by William Gibbs in the 1840s and its subsequent development. The grounds continued to be a passion of the late Lord Wraxall so, whilst the house fell into disrepair, much of the garden continued to be cared for, although there remains much to be done if it is to do full justice to its glorious setting. The lawns at Tyntesfield have never been ‘improved’ by weed killers or fertilizers, so contain all the meadow grasses and other plants that would have been flourishing more than 100 years ago. Thus they are of real significance to conservationists. Some of us, who are reluctant to use the word lawn when talking of our own garden grass, may now feel that it has acquired a new dignity!

Continuing a Tyntesfield tradition, all the bedding plants are raised in the glass houses (80,000 I think), and are used in the terrace beds and the rose garden, still laid out in its original form but sadly only one rose, Dorothy Perkins, creating a tunnel along the central path. The free access of rabbits and deer provide the explanation.  From the elegant Broad Walk, we sauntered through the Yew Walk and crossed the soon to be replaced Laurel Walk on the long but worthwhile trek to the well stocked Kitchen Garden and where the Orangery is being restored. Time did not allow an exploration of the Arboretum or an inspection of the failed boating lake, but before another visit it is to be hoped the NT might review the car parking arrangements and/or the running of the mobility vehicle.

At Lady Farm, we were welcomed by Judy Pearce who began the garden just 13 years ago by planting boundary trees for shelter and moving a great deal of earth to create an interesting and gently undulating site. The fortuitous discovery of a natural spring in 1994 led to the construction of a watercourse and the formation of two lakes. Lady Farm has achieved a degree of fame as a result of the prairie/steppe planting which is beautifully executed but is not the whole story. There are more formal aspects that are well planted, shrubberies and borders as well as developing mar­ginal planting at the waterside.

Comments on the garden statues have been less than enthusiastic but this is a private garden and visitors must remember it has been created primarily for the delight of its owners - but perhaps part of that delight is in watching the reaction of visitors. It would be interesting to visit Lady Farm at a different season to see this lovely late summer/Autumn garden in spring or early summer. We were made most welcome, the sun shone (briefly) and Judy Pearce was on hand to answer questions and provide tea and delicious cake.

Thanks are due to the Events Sub-committee for setting up this stimulating day.

Robin Ray

 

Sherwood & Shobrooke Gardens - May 2008

There must have been fifty members travelled to see these two unique and contrasted gardens. At Sherwood we were shown round by Sir John Quicke, who spoke of the garden and house’s history and the plants: Camellias, Magnolias, Berberis, azaleas. There is no room here to recount all it contained in 30 acres or so of woodland valley. I was impressed by the taste and skill of the planting, allowing space for each tree and shrub to show its best, and to give shafted views, opening and closing, across the valleys and down to the house; highlighting blossom here, coloured foliage there. Mown paths wove along the contours and criss-crossed. The underplanting was varied with many wood anemones and other natives. The whole was very well kept. I have never seen yew so resemble green cut stone. We enjoyed there a picnic, part shared, part private, enhanced by the wonderful views.

Shobrooke, by contrast, has been restored and is maintained with less resources by Dr and Mrs Shelley. The grand house was burnt down in 1945; but the splendid garden terraces remain. Here is geometry: rectangles, circles, triangles. An amazing laurel spread, cut as a lawn with trees poking through. The garden spoke to me of an Italian influence, but the 19th century designer is not known. A bungalow, designed and built in the late 60s, had replaced the big house, and was sited to have the most spectacular views.

Visit Reports

Reports of visits that took place in 2008 are as follows:

12 April - Caerhays & Chyverton

7 May - Sherwood & Shobrooke

25 June - Highgrove & Rodmarton

19 August - Tyntesfield & Lady Farm

September - Visit to Italy

Caerhays & Chyverton - April 2008

The cold and blustery morning with heavy showers did not augur well for our trip to Cornwall, and sure enough, we began our visit to Caerhays in a heavy downpour. This did not deter Charles Williams whose welcome was nearly drowned out by the noise of rain on umbrellas.

Charles William’s grandfather, J C Williams, started developing the gardens in the 1890’s and established a reputation for hybridising Magnolias and to a lesser extent Rhododendrons and Camellias, work that Charles enthusiastically continues. J C Williams sponsored several plant hunting expeditions by E H Wilson and others mainly to China. This policy was continued by sponsoring Sir Harold Hillier in the 1920’s. 

The gardens are near the sea about five miles south of St. Austell, and are exposed to both southwesterlies and north winds. The soil is neutral to acid. They do not often get frosts late in the year, but unfortunately had caught a particularly severe frost four days before our visit. As a result, all the exposed magnolias had suffered. There is a continuous programme of replanting, work, which was intensified after the gardens were badly damaged by the hurricane in 1990.

Charles delivered a master class on the breeding and growing of Magnolias as he led the group off the beaten track round the garden. He explained they had 60 distinct magnolias and 600 cultivars and were continuing the hybridising programme. The plants he pointed out to us were far too numerous to list in this report, but I mention a few. He opined that magnolia Sargemtiana Pura would be a much better tree than the Sargentiana Robusta, its better-known sister. He drew attention to the huge Michelia doltsopa and the hybrid “Silver Cloud” with its distinctive cinnamon scent. Other specimens mentioned were the late flowering Magnolia Appolo, the lovely scented Magnolia Nitida and the Caerhays Surprise, which is suitable for small gardens.

The visit to Caerhays finished with an excellent buffet lunch in the 1806 Nash Castle. This was a very good visit, the gardens are sensitively laid out with an unusually detailed plan. It is clearly very well run by an inspired plantsman.

Half an hour in the coach took us to Chyverton and here we were met by Nigel Holman whose father started developing the garden in 1925. He was advised by Sir Harold Hillier and the Williams at Caerhays, a liaison that continues today. Like the Williams, they have sponsored plant-gathering visits to China and elsewhere, and Nigel Holman himself has made plant-gathering trips to China. Nigel took us on a fascinating tour of his garden, which was much less structured than Caerhays but like its neighbour was predominantly planted with Magnolias. This is not surprising knowing the interchange of seeds and cultivars between them. They use no sprays so there are plenty of weeds, and the grounds are criss- crossed with rough paths, which lead from glade to glade. The overall impression being of an exotic wilderness.

On our tour, we crossed a streambed, which had been completely overrun by Lysichiton Americanus (yellow skunk cabbage), which had overwhelmed the Candelabra Primulas, which once grew there. Close by there was an excellent specimen of a giant tree fern, the largest in Cornwall. Nigel pointed out a brown fungal growth on Camellia White Nun and on some of the magnolias and the mycelium inside the flowers. This is an unknown fungus, which is attacking camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons throughout Cornwall and for which at present there is no antidote. A recent addition has been a number of small statues placed in the glades, not quite on the scale of Worlitz ,but attractive nonetheless.

The visit ended with tea in the elegant Georgian Chyverton House.

(Dougall Clark)

Links

Other websites that may be of interest are listed below:

Association of Gardens Trusts

County Gardens Trusts

Avon
Buckinghamshire
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Devon
Dorset
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Kent
Lincolnshire
London
Norfolk
Northamptonshire
Surrey
Sussex
Welsh Historic Gardens Trust

Local Organisations

Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance Service
Friends of Quantock
Somerset Building Preservation Trust
The Old Deanery Garden, Wells

National Organisations

BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers)
Country Gardener
Folly Fellowship
Forestry Commission
Garden History Society
Georgian Group
Garden Organic (Henry Doubleday Research Association)
Hardy Plant Society
Historic Houses Association
Institute for Garden & Landscape History
Lutyens Trust
Museum of Garden History
National Botanic Garden of Wales
National Council for the Conservation of Plants & Gardens (NCCPG)
National Gardens Scheme
National Trust
Natural England
James Pulham & Son
Royal Horticultural Society
Tree Register of the British Isles
UK Database of Historic Parks & Gardens

The Somerset Gardens Trust does not necessarily endorse the websites listed here, nor imply any association with them.

A History of the Trust

In the summer of 1990 Lady (Elizabeth) Gass, now Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, with the support of Ken Brown (a senior planning officer with Somerset County Council) and Stephen Pugsley (who was for many years the Chairman of the Exmoor National Park Committee) convened a meeting of those known to have a particular interest in recording and protecting historic gardens and parks, with the objective of forming a Trust that would be primarily concerned with furthering those aims.  Other counties had already done so and currently 34 of the English counties have a Gardens Trust and they, together with the associated branches of the Welsh Gardens Trust, have a combined membership of 7500.  The meeting was well attended and the proposed formation of a Trust attracted wide support.  In due course, and with the active help of the County Council, a committee was formed under the chairmanship of David Tudway Quilter, with Sylvia Ray (Lady Gass’s sister) as Honorary Secretary. 

The Trust is a charitable organisation and its key objective is to keep before the public matters connected with garden landscapes, and to preserve, enhance and re-create for the education and enjoyment of the public whatever garden landscapes may exist or have existed in their various counties.  Although each of the Trusts is independent, there is an umbrella organisation - The Association of Gardens Trusts - based in London, which represents them at national level to Government, English Heritage, The National Trust and many other organisations involved with the national heritage of parks and gardens and the environment. 

The Trust has three sub-committees; one concentrates on the surveying of properties throughout the county, another organises events and publicity and a third works with schools and other educational establishments. The Survey sub-committee compiles a list of gardens of interest and importance and surveys them (with their owners’ agreement) depositing the surveys in the County Record Office. So far 44 surveys have been completed, 5 are nearing completion and surveys have started at 6 others. Having selected a site, members of the sub-committee then approach the owners; visit the garden to record all its features, any artefacts and important and unusual trees.  They follow up their visits by conducting research into the history of the site at the Local History Library and the County Record Office, both of which are in Taunton and, when necessary at The National Monuments Record Centre in Swindon, The British Library and the Public Record Office. The gardens surveyed so far range from Alfoxton Park, with its associations with Wordsworth and Coleridge, to East Lambrook Manor of Margery Fish fame, Wayford Manor near Crewkerne, a Harold Peto garden, and Crowcombe Court, a garden that must at one time have been as magical as the 18th century garden at Hestercombe that is currently being restored by Philip White.

The Events and Publicity sub-committee organises visits to such gardens as Highgrove, courtesy of HRH The Prince of Wales, Iford Manor (designed by Harold Peto and beautifully restored), Cothay Manor, the magical garden created by Mr and Mrs Robb, The Laskett, that astonishing and individual garden created by Sir Roy Strong and his late wife Julia Trevelyan Oman in Herefordshire and Tregerhan with its wide range of trees and shrubs.  Members can also join foreign tours of  gardens in other countries not normally open to the public and in recent years have been to Holland, Ireland, Normandy and Germany.  They can also enjoy lectures on such diverse topics as the gardens at Hadspen House, plant hunting in Tibet, the dovecotes of Somerset and the gardens of Italy.

The Education Group was formed in 2005 and offers support to schools undertaking garden projects. This support takes the form of visits to schools, grants of money (up to £350 per school) and advice leaflets covering a wide range of topics.  In recent years there has been increasing emphasis on outdoor education and healthy eating in the school curriculum.  Initiatives like Forest School, the Healthy Schools Awards, the Year of Food and Farming (2007/8) and much media interest in school meals reinforce this.  Many schools are now involved in developing garden and wildlife areas and many run garden clubs. Children are thus becoming increasingly aware of the environment, the growing of plants for food and pleasure, the sensory impact of plants and how they support wildlife.

As the work of the Education Group has become better known, the Trust has been able to help increasing numbers of schools, with the pupils’ ages ranging from infant, through primary, to teenage and has made grants in support of projects ranging from the creation of a scented area to the construction of raised beds for growing vegetables; refurbishing an unused area to providing dyeing ingredients for Textiles Technology; and helping a school for teenage children with behavioural problems to buy gardening tools and basic equipment for use in a nearby rented allotment.

The Trust also offers grants of up to £1000 for projects in Somerset that forward its aims, such as research, surveys, management plans and restoration works, and bursaries of up to the same amount to support horticultural students whose normal residence is in Somerset to help fund training placements and for research into gardens and parks in Somerset.  In 2007 the Trust supported a student expedition to Peru for the study of medicinal plants, and in 2008 helped a group of students travel to Holland for a botanical tour.

The Trust publishes a newsletter three times a year, giving details of its activities and including articles of general interest.

(Anthony Pugh-Thomas, Chairman - April 2008)

Join Us

If you would like to become a member of Somerset Gardens Trust, please download our Membership Application Form

Membership Rates are as follows:

Annual (single) - £10.00
Annual (2 adults at same address) - £16.00
Full time student - £2.50
Primary school - £5.00
Secondary school - £10.00
Further Education College - £10.00
Corporate - £30.00
Life (Adult) - £75.00
Life (2 adults at same address) - £100.00

Standing Order - payment by Standing Order reduces our administrative costs.  If you would therefore like to pay by Standing Order, please download the Standing Order form  and send it off with your membership application form.

Gift Aid - as a Charity, the Trust is able to reclaim income tax on members’ subscriptions.  This makes a major difference to our income.  Please help us by completing the Gift Aid declaration on the Membership Application Form.

Surveys

The Survey Committee concentrates on the surveying of properties throughout the County.  It has listed gardens of interest and importance and has surveyed many of them, with their owners’ agreement, the surveys then being deposited in the County Records Office.  It hopes, with the owners’ consents, to pass details of many of these surveys to the national database that is being created at York University.

Members of the Survey Committee first select a site, then approach the owners and visit the garden to record all its features, any artefacts as well as important and unusual trees.  They follow up their visits by conducting research into the history of the site at the Local History Library and the County Records Office, both of which are in Taunton and, when necessary at The National Monuments Record Centre at Swindon, The British Library and the Public Record Office.

The gardens surveyed so far range from Alfoxton Park - with its associations with Wordsworth and Coleridge - to East Lambrook Manor of Margery Fish fame, Wayford Manor near Crewkerne, a Harold Peto garden, and Crowcombe Court, a garden that must at one time have been as magical as the 18th Century garden at Hestercombe that is currently being restored by Philip White.

School Projects 2008

Ashcott Primary had begun their garden and were planning to add rabbit-proof fencing, a cold frame and a polytunnel.  They have contact with a school in Kenya and will establish a Kenyan keyhole garden.

Cossington Primary had plans for raised beds, planters and water butts. They will grow vegetables for their own home-made soup which they make once a week.

Courtfields School want to create a sensory garden for the disabled children to have as a nice place for break time and lunch time.   At the moment they can only access the tarmac playground.   The scheme is being promoted by the new deputy head. During activities week, she will get the art students to create pieces of art to fulfil the sight and sound elements and has already lined up and costed everything necessary.   The area is a mess at the moment but will look splendid at the end of the work.   Her second scheme is to provide an area for bereaved children to plant something that has meaning for them.   This will be a long term project to create whatever comes out of the planting, e.g. a woodland, a shrubbery etc.

Merriott First School already have vegetable plots and children were seen working on them during our visit; the whole school is becoming involved. Broadbeans and potatoes were already growing but they need garden tools. The greenhouse was in the process of being erected by two parents and they need to buy staging for it.

Shipham First School will revitalise a corner of the grounds to provide a quiet, sensory garde which can operate as an outside classroom, useful to many areas of the curriculum but also a focus for their Green Club which promotes environmental issues.

Trinity School has a garden club and which has become rather a mess.   The application asked for various things to be done - most of which have already been done - but the fruit, herb and raised beds also need the same treatment.   The installation of proper containing edges and hard paths would be of real benefit, as they are overgrown with pernicious weeds because the membrane has broken down.   Children from the garden club were on hand to show what was wanted as they are quite keen.   The work that has been done so far has been well done and has vastly improved things for the teacher who runs the club.
 
Upton Noble Primary needed a grant to enable them to take their garden club to visit the Eden Project; this would provide encouragement and ideas for re-vamping their school garden.

 

School Projects 2007

Ansford Secondary in Castle Cary wanted to refurbish an unused area of ground to provide a quiet area, to grow fruits, herbs and vegetables for Food Technology lessons, and to provide dyeing ingredients for Textiles Technology.

Churchstanton Primary planned to provide raised beds in a playground area to give good access to growing areas and to meet the needs of their eco-school status.

Dunster Pre-School has an allotment.  This is used for herbs, vegetables, fruit and flowers, some of which are eaten at school, some taken home and some entered in local garden shows. Parents, grandparents and other allotment holders all help and our grant was used for a motor mower and waterproof clothing.

Evercreech Primary planned an hexagonal garden with six raised beds, one per class, surrounding a paved teaching area.

Fiveways Special, who already provide varied garden environments, planned a sensory garden to meet the needs of their increasing numbers of pupils with greater physical and mental needs.

Halcon Primary in Taunton has a pupil action group, the eco-saviours, and needed raised beds and a greenhouse to grow vegetables.

Ilchester Infants had space outside a classroom already successfully used for growing.  The classteacher wished to extend this, with the science curriculum in mind, to include weather monitoring equipment, habitats for worms and insects and study materials. Our grant was to provide the equipment, including a small greenhouse and shrubs to demarcate the area.

Long Sutton Primary used a comparatively large area to provide an outdoor classroom and to follow the local tradition of growing fruit trees. They intend to screen the oudoor classroom with shrubs.

Meare Primary’s Garden Club, run by a parent, promotes care of the school grounds and the wider environment, raising awareness of growth and lifecycles and respecting wildlife. They needed tools, raised beds and a polytunnel to extend the season.

Milford Infants in Yeovil planned to further develop their wildlife area, with the help of the children in the Environmental Club. They needed tools and to provide paths and seating.

Nether Stowey Primary runs a garden club and has a project to create a scented area, a willow area and an outdoor learning area.

Othery Primary has a disused area of garden that once belonged to the old school house. It adjoins the playground and could provide an alternative to tarmac at breaktimes. This project was still at an early stage of planning and the member of our Education Group who is a garden planner was able to help them with this.  Fencing for safety will be their first expenditure.

Redstart Primary in Chard has established a Forest School which provides outdoor education for all of its pupils and planned to build raised beds for growing fruit and vegetables.

St. Andrew’s  Primary in High Ham has a garden club run by a parent and needed to develop the available piece of ground using railway sleepers and the natural slope to create beds for plants for flowers and food.

St. Andrew’s Primary in Taunton, a town school with no field, has taken a corner from the playground and established a green area. Funds were needed to improve this facility by making birdboxes and feeders, by growing plants to enhance other areas of the school, to add to the small pond and to make log seating.  

St. Michael’s First in Minehead’s garden club had two projects. They planned to grow flowers and vegetables and to develop a wildlife area, including a pond with resident newts. They needed tools, seeds and a small greenhouse.

The Priory in Taunton is a school for teenage boys with behaviour issues, some of whom are boarding.  Excluded from mainstream education, they need a curriculum that engages them.  They have rented a nearby allotment and the local allotment association is encouraging and supporting them. Their pressing need was for tools and basic equipment.

Timberscombe First, a small school of just 28 children, had been given a derelict allotment next to the school which they had cleared of rubbish. They now needed secure fencing, better access, raised beds, and plants and shrubs to encourage wildlife.

Wadham Secondary in Crewkerne wished to cultivate the disused garden of what was once the caretaker’s bungalow and is now a learning support unit.  This will be used by children with special needs, some of whom may later work in agriculture.

Wells Central Junior have an area of ground used by their farm club. A polytunnel has been built and raised beds will extend gardening activities to every class. Units of Study will link gardening to the curriculum.

Events

Each year the Events Committee organises a programme of visits, talks by specialists on garden history and other garden topics, such as plant hunting and gardening skills.  Members are encouraged to become involved in these activities.

The 2009 programme has not been finalised yet, but here are some dates for your diary:

14 February - Digby Memorial Hall, Sherborne - 2.30 p.m.
Talk by Jonathan Holt “The Follies of Somerset & Dorset”
Cost: £8 including tea

18 April -the first Stephen Desmond Lecture at Ruishton, nr Taunton
All day lecture, lunch included

24 May - Plant Sale (venue to be advised)

2 June - Garden visits to Littlecourt, West Bagborough and Reeds Court, Lydiard St. Lawrence
Basic picnic provided

2 July - visit to Milton Lodge and the Bishop’s Palace, Wells

18 July - AGM at West Monkton Church followed by Garden Party at Glebe Court (by invitation of Mr & Mrs Anthony Pugh-Thomas)

30 July - visit to Aberglasney and Botanic Garden of Wales (both near Carmarthen)

17 September - visit to Rousham in Oxfordshire (a William Kent garden)

10 October - the second Stephen Desmond lecture at Ruishton
All day lecture, lunch included

November lecture - speaker on William Robinson, influential Victorian gardener and garden writer, who advocated the planting of wild and native flowers

Do come to our events and bring your friends/family.  Friends of SGT members pay £1 over the event price, members of the public pay an extra £2 over the event price.

Help with food and wine, chairs etc. at events is always appreciated.

Home

The Somerset Gardens Trust was formed in 1990, one of a growing number of County Trusts affiliated to the Association of Gardens Trusts.  It is a voluntary organisation and educational charity working with garden owners, local authorities and the community in order to protect and care for the county’s parks and gardens.  It is financed through members’ subscriptions, donations, legacies, grants and fund raising events.

The Somerset Gardens Trust:

• Records historic gardens, parks and green spaces throughout Somerset and advises on their conservation.
• Advises on restoration projects and their funding.
• Supports the protection of parks and gardens from adverse development and road improvement schemes.
• Encourages garden related projects and an appreciation of plants and gardens in schools.
• Organises talks and lectures on garden subjects.
• Arranges visits to gardens not normally open to the public.
• Publishes a regular newsletter.

Click here to read about the History of the Trust

Grants & Bursaries

Grants
The Somerset Gardens Trust offers bursaries of up to £1000 to support horticultural students whose normal residence is in Somerset wherever they may be studying, to help fund training placements and for research into gardens and parks in Somerset and similar activities. Further details from Anthony Pugh-Thomas at pugh.thomas@btinternet.com

The Trust will also make grants of up to £350 to schools for the development of school gardens and to promote the understanding of gardens, gardening and horticulture generally in schools and educational organisations. Further details from Eileen Meiklejohn at demeiklejohn@yahoo.co.uk

Bursaries
The Trust also offers bursaries of up to £1000 to support horticultural students whose normal residence is in Somerset wherever they may be studying, training placements and research into gardens and parks in Somerset and similar activities. For further information apply to Anthony Pugh-Thomas at pugh.thomas@btinternet.com or 01823 412224.

Can You Help?

The Somerset Gardens Trust is a small charity whose members are at the heart of its work.  When new members join they frequently complete the “Can You Help?” section of our Membership Brochure and some existing members also do so when renewing their membership.  This is enormously helpful as, like all small voluntary charities, we rely on members volunteering to help with our activities, as follows:

• Surveying and recording the history of gardens
• Checking planning applications that may affect Somerset parks, gardens and open spaces
• School and college liaison
• Publicity / public relations
• Fund raising
• Lectures and talks
• Practical gardening projects
• Administrative or clerical assistance
• Computer operations
• Helping to organise events
• Assisting at open days, exhibitions, plant sales

If you would like to help with any of the above or if you have a particular interest, skill or professional involvement in horticulture or landscape design, please either email us at info@somersetgardenstrust.org.uk or write to the Membership Secretary at Harcombes, Trendle Lane, Bicknoller, Taunton TA4 4EG - telephone 01984 656633

Activities

Bursaries & Grants
The Trust offers grants for conservation and similar projects, and bursaries to help with research and academic and practical training connected with Somerset.

Research & Conservation
Although 38 historic parks and gardens in Somerset are currently listed, there are certainly more that should be protected.  Under the guidance of an experienced Chairman, a group of volunteers from our Surveys Committee records the County’s historic public and private parks, gardens and garden features.  The Trust also offers advice on garden restoration projects and their financing.

Events
Each year the Trust offers members a programme of visits, talks by specialists on garden history and other garden topics such as plant hunting and gardening skills.  Members are encouraged to become involved in its activities.

Schools
Encouraging a love of gardens and landscapes in children is an important part of the Trust’s activities. Our Education Group supports the gardening activities of Somerset schools with advice sheets and financial grants.  Every school involved is visited and contact is maintained as gardens progress.

Contact Us

To contact the Somerset Gardens Trust, please use the form below or contact:

Mrs Mary ter Braak,
Membership Secretary, Somerset Gardens Trust,
3 Trendle Lane,
Bicknoller,
Taunton,
Somerset TA4 4EG

Tel: 01984 656633

Email: info at somersetgardenstrust dot org dot uk