In June the gardening group visited two gardens in one day.
In March 25 our guest speaker was Eddie Harland who came along to tell us about the development of the garden at Littlethorpe Manor Gardens near Ripon. Eddie has been Head Gardener at Littlethorpe since 1998 so has an extensive knowledge of the garden. Shortly after we arranged the visit as this is a private garden, only open on request.
The owners the Thackwray family purchased the house and gardens in 1985 and have overseen the development. The gardens consist of 11 acres, 4 acres of formal gardens and lawns around the house and 7 acres of parkland.
On arrival we were given refreshments then we had a full tour of the garden led by Eddie who has extensive knowledge of the garden and is rightly proud of how amazingly good the garden looks. There are only 3 gardeners including Eddie and they do a wonderful job of maintaining the garden in an immaculate condition. We marvelled at the walled garden which is divided into four quadrants planted to represent the four seasons with alliums, salvia Caradonna, Astrantia and delphiniums in bloom. The sunken garden was looking beautiful with peonies in bloom.
The Fountain Pool and Terrace with a new balustrade was complete and looked very grand and immaculate with steps down to the new levels. The large pond by the pavilion was well stocked with water lilies in flower and dragonflies flying around. Finally, we viewed the Physic Garden which was recently developed and laid out in what had been the tennis court with herb beds cut into the tarmac. The Thackwray family money had been made through the design and manufacture of specialist surgical instruments for a global market. The focal point of the physic garden is a statue of a hip joint designed by a member of the family.
This was a fascinating visit made more interesting because of the talk the previous year. Littlethorpe Manor is also open on 5th July under the National open Garden Scheme.
After this we travelled to Ripley Castle Gardens, the coach dropped us in the village, so we were able to take a look at the quaint houses with roses climbing up the front of some houses, visit the church of All Saints, the Boars Head public house and the famous ice cream shop. Ripley Castle has a walled garden with herbaceous borders and a kitchen garden as well as a series of Hot Houses with exotic plants. Beyond this are the pleasure gardens and deer park which stretch down to the ornamental lake.
On Friday 3rd July we will be travelling to Scampston Hall gardens in North Yorkshire which has the walled garden designed by Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf.
On Friday 7th August we will visit Sutton Park.
Report by Julie, Fran and Kate