News
Our regular newsletters to members include articles on all aspects of gardening, information about past and forthcoming events and updates on the work of the SGT Council and committees. Members are invited to contribute relevant articles and/or photographs to the newsletters. See more news on our Instagram pages.
REAL TREAT IN STORE FOR GALANTHOPHILES [September 2025]
As we are just beginning to enjoy the rich colours of Autumn, it might seem premature to start thinking about Spring bulbs but we bring you news of a real treat in store for lovers of snowdrops.
The popular annual Shepton Snowdrop Festival has teamed up with some of the County’s finest snowdrop gardens to create the Great Snowdrop Gardens Trail of Somerset.
Supported by Abigail Willis, author of Secret Gardens of Somerset, the tour will offer visitors to the County and residents gorgeous displays of the plants. Snowdrops helped put Shepton Mallet on the horticultural map as the birthplace of James Allen, who first bred new varieties from the wild.
The Trail takes in Dunster Castle, Snowdrop Valley, Hestercombe (where 50,000 snowdrops were planted in Rook Wood), Forde Abbey, East Lambrook (once home to another legend in the snowdrop world, Margery Fish), Shepton Snowdrop Festival, Bishops Palace and Yeo Valley Organic Garden. Not a snowdrop garden as yet, Kilver Court is also open for the Festival with a beautiful historic winter garden set against a railway viaduct and lake.
Running through February 2026, details of the Festival and Trail can be found on the Shepton Snowdops website: https://www.sheptonsnowdrops.org.uk
SGT’s PRIORITIES OUTLINED AT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING [September 2025]
Somerset Gardens Trust members heard that its priorities for the coming year were to maintain membership numbers, digitise research records and continue the successful grants’ programme for schools.
Addressing the 34th Annual General Meeting, held at Haynes Motor Museum on September 3, chairman Diana Hebditch reported that membership had dipped slightly in the past year but efforts were being made to use publicity to reach a wider audience. The Trust’s Instagram Account now had around 1600 followers.
Events remained the principal means of raising income to support the SGT’s charitable objects and eight garden visits had taken place during the year. The Garden Detectives of the Research and Conservation Committee had identified 40 parks and gardens that needed surveying and would welcome help with this work. Proposed changes to the UK’s planning process, which would affect the SGT’s role, were being kept under review and plans to deal with future applications were in hand.
Applications for grants from 43 schools had been considered, 29 of which were approved. The maximum grant was increased to £400 per school. Feedback showed how useful the grants had been in supporting pupils’ well-being and developing their interest in gardening and the environment. Other grants had supported the Mendip Hospital Cemetery bid for Listed status and Dr Sarah Rutherford for research into English garden grottos. The Trust would welcome applications for grants to further such projects.
Diana thanked all those who had contributed to the success of the SGT including Council members and Membership Secretary Mary ter Braak. She said if people wished to become ‘garden detectives’, fundraisers or members of Council, they should email: [email protected]
DROUGHT STATUS DECLARED FOR SOMERSET [September 2025]
The last few days of August saw Somerset and the rest of the south-west being acknowledged by the Environment Agency as suffering drought conditions. This will not have come as a surprise to members who have been watching trees and shrubs being stressed by these conditions.
Among the tips on offer to gardeners is to water deeply rather than frequently. Water the root zone deeply, not just at the surface even after a rain shower which might give a false impression of moisture reaching where it’s needed.
Our Research and Conservation Committee members (aka Garden Detectives), as part of their research are constantly looking at old books relating to garden history and gardening in general. One being read now is Beeton’s All About Gardening published in the 1870s.
Something that caught their attention, in view of this hot summer, appears in the book under a general overview of September and gardening jobs that must be done: “The average fall of rain is also increased considerably, falling more in the night than in the day. It abounds, however, in delicious autumnal days, when the air, the sky and the earth seem lulled into universal calm – softer and milder even than in May.”
Let’s hope so!’
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2025 [August 2025]
Click on the following link to download the 2025 Annual Report & Accounts
WELLINGTON PARK IS A GEM [July 2025]
As part of SGT’s role surveying and recording the County’s historic and interesting gardens, parks and landscapes, four members of our Research and Conservation Committee visited Wellington Park.
The public park in Courtland Road is Edwardian and Grade II Listed. It was given to the town by the clothmakers Fox Brothers and restored in 2000 with the help of Lottery funding.
Ownership passed from the County to the Town Council in April 2025 and working with the Council, the Friends of Wellington Park help to ensure it is maintained to a high standard. It covers 1.8 hectares and its original layout has survived intact.
On the day of the SGT visit, the gardeners were preparing for a visit from ‘Britain in Bloom’ judges and naturally hoping for an award with its beds of colourful annuals and well cared for trees.
Of particular interest to our garden detectives (as the committee members describe themselves) is the fact that Robert Veitch and F W Meyer were involved in its design since they were the celebrity garden designers of their day. The detectives are off to visit another Somerset park soon and will report back!
USEFUL NOTES SWAPPED DURING VISIT TO WILTSHIRE GARDEN [June 2025]
A Somerset Gardens Trust visit to the glorious garden at Cadenham Manor in Wiltshire proved fruitful not just for the feast it provided for the senses with all the careful planting but also for the notes shared with a fellow Gardens Trust officer.
The garden is owned by Victoria and Martin Nye, having been designed by Victoria’s grandmother, Elizabeth Blackwell. Victoria is a member of Wiltshire Gardens Trust Council where she is one of the Giving Team responsible for allocating grants. She was happy to swap notes and discuss ideas with our chairman, Diana Hebditch.
June was a perfect time to visit Cadenham with its sumptuous displays of more than 70 varieties of old roses and its Peony Walk. Four-acres have been laid out in the French style around the Listed 17th century manor house and even older dovecote amid a backdrop of ancient grassland.
Yew hedges and moats divide the garden’s many rooms which feature a variety of shrubs, cutting flowers, fruit trees, vegetables, fountains and statues. There is a white garden, a Phlox walk and a spectacular avenue leading to a temple-like folly. There is a water garden in a disused canal.
Victoria said: “It was a great pleasure to welcome Somerset Gardens Trust and compare notes with such accomplished gardeners and horticulturalists”.
MORE SCHOOLS BENEFIT FROM SOMERSET GARDENS TRUST GRANTS [June 2025]
Somerset Gardens Trust (SGT) has given grants to 37 schools in the County during the current academic year with 12 being awarded by the SGT Education Committee in the latest round.
The recent successful applicants had applied for funds to buy gardening equipment, seeds and plants, with one school wanting to buy materials to extend its vegetable beds so the children could grow more produce to share with a local residential home.
Under the SGT scheme, grants of up to £400 are given to new or renovation projects where pupils are fully involved and hands-on wherever possible. The aim of the financial help is to enhance pupils’ learning and skills and stimulate an interest in gardening.
Katie Hooper, a teacher at Keinton Mandeville Primary School which received a grant last year, said the funding had made a huge difference to its gardening project. “We are very grateful for the money as it has opened opportunities for the school children to be involved in all aspects of gardening from sowing seeds, potting on to transplanting into the compost beds,” she said.
“The children have learnt so many valuable skills and have worked as a team throughout this project. Learning to communicate, using both gross and fine motor skills, finding enjoyment and peace within the garden as well as connecting and respecting nature.”
The funding for the scheme is raised by SGT members through various events and there are usually three rounds of funding during the school year, funds permitting. Please see the Education and Schools website page for more information.
YOUR CHANCE TO VOTE FOR GARDEN OF THE YEAR [April 2025]
Somerset’s Hestercombe Gardens has been shortlisted for a Garden of the Year Award and the winner will be decided by public vote. The award, sponsored by Christie’s, has been run for more than 40 years by Historic Houses (HH), an association of around 1,000 independently owned and operated houses, castles and gardens of major historical importance.
Any garden of an HH member, that is regularly open to the public, may be entered for the award. Whittled down to a shortlist of eight by the judging panel, the finalists compete to win the votes of the public and HH members all summer. In addition, the panel will make a second, direct award to a garden it feels embodies excellence on a smaller scale which might have less opportunity to influence the popular poll.
This year the shortlist for the main award consists of Arundel Castle Gardens, West Sussex; Hole Park, Kent; Ilford Manor Gardens, Wiltshire; Lowther Castle, Cumbria; Penshurst Place and Gardens, Kent; Raby Castle, Park and Gardens, Co Durham; Wollerton Old Hall Garden, Shropshire and Hestercombe Gardens, Somerset. If you wish to vote for Hestercombe, here is the link: https://www.historichouses.org/vote-goya/
“THESE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR PLANTING” [April 2025]
A pair of boots belonging to Gertrude Jekyll – co-designer of the formal gardens at Hestercombe in Somerset – is among the highlights of what promises to be a fascinating special exhibition at the British Library in London this Spring. Drawing on an incredible collection of books, papers, photos, art and tools, Unearthed: The Power of Gardening aims to show how vital gardens and gardeners have been for our wellbeing and society.
Alongside Miss Jekyll’s boots, visitors can expect to see beautiful botanical illustrations, short films, the world’s oldest mechanised lawnmower and ancient herbals. Other exhibits include a 16th century guide to tending a garden, a container for collecting plants used by Darwin and a mini travelling greenhouse. According to the British Library, ‘Unearthed celebrates gardening as a force for creativity, resilience and community through the remarkable stories of the people and plants that shape our gardens.’
The exhibition runs from Friday 2 May to Sunday 10 August 2025 – click on this link to book tickets Unearthed: the Power of Gardening
THE GARDENS TRUST FIGHTS FOR THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD BY PLANNERS [March 2025]
The Gardens Trust, of which Somerset Gardens Trust is a member, has launched an urgent appeal for help in the light of the Government’s proposed changes to the UK planning system.
Ahead of a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the Government has indicated that it intends to strip a number of organisations – including The Gardens Trust – of their right to be consulted on relevant planning applications.
Currently the Trust is a statutory consultee for all planning applications that might affect a site nationally designated on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
Explaining the move, the Government has said the reforms are designed to remove the bureaucratic burden and speed up building as part of its agenda for growth.
In response, The Gardens Trust asks: ‘who will stand up for the landscapes we love? Who will safeguard our green heritage for future generations?’ It argues that its expertise ensures that development is done sensitively, respecting all that these special places have to offer while still allowing for progress.
Strong opposition to the proposed reforms has been mounted by the Trust which is asking for help in the form of donations towards legal fees, research, lobbying and advertising. It also wants people to spread the word and consider writing to their MP about the reforms.
Somerset Gardens Trust has an active role in researching historic parks, gardens and landscapes in the County and feeding into the comments made on planning applications by The Gardens Trust as a statutory consultee.
HELP PAINT THE COUNTRY YELLOW [February 2025]
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is asking for our help in mapping the UK’s daffodils and in tracking down three of the rarest varieties.
Celebrating 100 years since it played a crucial part in preserving this cheerful harbinger of Spring, the RHS has launched a Daffodil Diaries project running until St David’s Day, calling on us to record where we see the flowers and describing them. By entering our findings on its website, we will be helping the RHS understand the environmental influences on the plants and come up with ways of preserving this diversity for the future.
The RHS is also keen for us to look out for three varieties it fears might be disappearing -Sussex Bonfire, Mrs R O Backhouse and Mrs William Copeland. Pictures and descriptions of these can be found on the project pages of the website: https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/daffodil-diaries
With their sunny colours and nodding habits, daffodils are a sign that Spring is coming but they are not just a pretty face. Grown originally for medicinal uses, the plants are currently being harvested for their source of galantamine which is used to treat Alzheimer’s.
Daffodils originated from the Iberian Peninsula and north Africa and may have been brought to Britain by the Romans but certainly we have made them our own now as 90% of the world’s cut flower daffodils are grown here.