Time Off - local garden visits Gardens to visit around Somerset during March
Spring is certainly on the way – time to get out and about to see the emerging colour. We advise readers to make contact before embarking on a long journey.
Sherborne Garden, near Litton, Radstock
Go to see the spring flowers, the snowdrops at Sherborne Garden, near Litton, Radstock
Go to see the spring flowers, the snowdrops, hellebores and daffodils in the holly wood at Sherborne Garden, then wander among the four and half acres to find the pinetum, the three linked ponds
with romantic bridges, the rills and wadis. Open for the Yellow Book on Sunday 13th March, the garden is regularly open during the summer when the old rose species, the day lilies, many unusual trees, shrubs and water lilies are at their best. Owners Mr and Mrs John Southwell welcome groups to this garden with its wealth of horticultural interest seven miles north of Wells, so call them for more details. There is a hosta walk leading to a pear and nut wood, a gravel garden, a cottage garden leading to a privy, and an area for giant grasses. The various contrasting areas are divided, everything is well labelled, and there are plenty of seats as well as a picnic area.
Location: Sherborne Garden, near Litton, Norton-Radstock BA3 4PP. Telephone: 01761 241220. Next opening for the NGS: Sunday 13th March from 11am – 4pm. Admission: £3.50, children free. Teas available and dogs on leads allowed. Car park in field next to the garden.
Forde Abbey, Chard
March is a wonderful month for spring bulbs at Forde Abbey, the 850 year old former Cistercian monastery, where there are ten acres of naturalised crocuses growing throughout the garden. The Abbey’s free draining soil provides perfect growing conditions for the carpets of purple Crocus tommasinianus and C. vernus, which, interspersed with
Forde Abbey where there are ten acres of naturalised crocuses growing throughout the garden
the pretty yellow Lent Lily, form quite a spectacle. Visitors may also be lucky enough to catch the stunning display of pink Cyclamen coum.
In addition to Crocus Week, which takes place from 5th
to 13th March, Forde Abbey will be holding its annual Plant and Gardening Fair on Sunday 6th March, 10am-4pm. Entry to the fair, together with the tearoom, Abbey nursery, gift shop and kitchen garden is free.
Forde Abbey’s renowned tearoom - housed in the atmospheric medieval Undercroft - will be open from 1st March onwards. Serving a delicious selection of home- cooked lunches and cakes (made with fresh fruit and vegetables grown in the Abbey’s magnificent walled Victorian kitchen garden), the tearoom is the perfect way to follow up a vigorous walk around the gardens.
The Cotley Hunt Hedgelaying Competition takes place on the Forde Abbey estate on Saturday 19th March, an event which attracts entries from as far afield as Yorkshire with a standard that is extremely high. Also on the same day, the Abbey will be hosting a meet of the Cotley Hunt.
From 1st April, the house will reopen and visitors should make a point of seeing the exquisite 17th Century Mortlake tapestries, which were woven from drawings made by Raphael for the Sistine Chapel. The tapestries were ordered by Sir Edmund Prideaux when he remodelled the Abbey as a palace, but he never lived to see the tapestries installed.
Location: Forde Abbey, Chard, Somerset TA20 4LU. For further information, call: 01460 221290
www.fordeabbey.co.uk
House open: 1st April to 31st October, 12-4pm, Tuesday to Friday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays. Gardens open daily, 10am-4.30pm (last admission).
Special interest heritage and garden holidays in the UK and Europe 0845 1212863
www.brooklandtravel.com
Country Gardener 43
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