of the trout stream and lake planted informally with drifts of colour.


A large vegetable garden, a fruit cage, a small mixed orchard and an arboretum with specimen trees are among the varied areas on show.


White Gables also has a collection of interesting trees, including a young giant redwood, not what you’d expect to see in a cottage garden. But it is offset by the more traditional plantings of old roses and herbaceous borders. The garden of a third of an acre leads down to Pill Hill Brook.


Hutchens Cottage has another cottage garden, filled with scented plants: old roses, clematis, daphne and a patch of mixed thymes. The garden of three quarters of an acre has a kitchen garden with compost and leaf mould systems on show – and that’s something most gardener/visitors like to see.


Geoffrey Jellicoe, the landscape architect, designed part of the Durmast garden in 1936


Admission: £3.50, children free (share to Delhi Commonwealth Womens’ Association Clinic).


Telephone: 01425 402132 Email: philip@daubeney.co.uk Website: www.durmasthouse.co.uk


Holywell


A colourful organic vegetable garden is one of the highlights of a visit to Holywell, the Countess of Clarendon’s garden at Swanmore near Winchester.


A balance of wildlife and gardening is evident here, showing how the two can go together. The large garden has woodland and a lake, the woodland garden home to many acid-loving plants.


Green manure sustains the fertility of the kitchen garden, but away from that and the greenhouse there is a wide variety to interest visitors. There are many shrubs and trees, borders and roses, and added structural interest with the pergola walk.


Round off a stroll around the garden with a home made tea. The garden has already had one open afternoon, in May, and the second one is on 20th June.


Location: Holywell, Swanmore, Hampshire SO32 2QE. 12 miles south east of Winchester, on the A32 south of Droxford between Droxford and Wickham.


Open: 20th June, 2pm – 6pm. Home made teas and plants for sale. No dogs.


Admission: £4, children free. Website: www.ngs.org.uk


Catch these village gardens open over the late May Spring Bank Holiday at Monxton and Amport


These two pretty villages near Andover, with many thatched cottages and linked by the Pill Hill Brook, have a group of gardens open over the late spring Bank Holiday weekend of 30th and 31st May.


There are three open gardens for visitors to explore. Bridge Cottage is a haven for wildlife in its two acres, the banks


Location: Monxton and Amport Gardens, near Andover, Hampshire SP11 8AW. Three miles west of Andover between the A303 and A343. Parking is available in the field on the left in Chalkpit Lane.


Open: Sunday 30th May and Bank Holiday Monday 31st May, 2pm – 5.30pm.


Admission: combined ticket £4, children free. Cream teas available in the village hall. Plants for sale. No dogs. No wheelchair access to White Gables, nor at Bridge Cottage’s vegetable garden.


Website: www.ngs.org.uk


...and just over the border in Dorset – Mews Cottage


If you love the combined colours of agapanthus, penstemons, hardy orchids, watsonias and so much more, then head to Mews Cottage on the Isle of Portland to see them in their summer glory.


Peter and Jill Pitman have been busy reorganising their garden, with new paths and new beds for their National Collection of cultivar penstemons. They also have made a raised crevice bed for species penstemon grown from APS seed.


There are more than a hundred agapanthus in this high- summer garden that has several openings between June and the end of August. The Pitmans also welcome visitors by appointment during this period.


Light lunches are available on the garden opening of 10th July and 14th August, with home made teas on the other dates.


Location: Mews Cottage, 34 Easton Street, Portland, Dorset DT5 1BT. Three miles south of Weymouth, at the top of the Island of Portland. Find the cottage 50 yards past the Punchbowl Inn, in a small lane on the left. Park in the main street and follow the signs.


Open: Sundays 13th June, 27th June, 2pm – 5pm. Saturday 10th July, 11am – 4pm. Sundays 11th July, 25th July, 2pm – 5pm. Saturday 14th August, 11am – 4pm. Sundays 15th and 29th August, 2pm – 5pm. Visitors also welcome by appointment.


Admission: £2, children free. Teas/ light lunches according to the date of opening. Plants for sale. No dogs.


Telephone: 01305 820377 Email: penstemon@waitrose.com


Country Gardener 17


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