THE WINTER GARDEN – ANGLESEY ABBEY Written by Sue Huckle, www.poshplants.com


February has passed us by; weather-wise it was a dull and unexciting damp squib of a month. It spread a cold, heavy blanket, ruffled only by fierce winds that ripped through my nursery with devilish intent. Virtually every plant, including many of my tall topiary specimens, I have had to pick up time and time again.


of spring - my birthday. S


A couple of years ago I reached one of those milestones in life that some like to celebrate with raucous, brash and expensive celebrations. Not for me, the crowds and noise. No, my idea of heaven was to have my family round for my favourite meal of salmon and Jersey new potatoes, accompanied by a bottle or two of pink bubbly!


The day dawned cold and clear and the sun promised a little spring warmth. When my brother said ‘come on Sue… what would you like to do today?’, it didn’t take me long to decide on my favourite National Trust garden, Anglesey Abbey.


Little over an hours drive away, just outside Cambridge, this has been a regular haunt since my first visit while studying Garden Design at Writtle College. In those days the Winter Garden was very new, having been designed and created by National Trust gardeners and opened on the centenary of the birth of Lord Fairhaven in 1998. The gardens are approached through a recently refurbished and extended Visitor Centre. The restaurant to the left is sheer architectural genius: the large airy building gives visitors ample space to enjoy excellent food and relax, with views to the garden through glorious windows of ecclesiastical proportion.


Opposite is the National Trust shop, selling all manner of goodies, from fudge and great gardening books to many of the plants used in the Winter Garden. So, show your pass or pay your money and enter the Winter Garden! At first the path is heavily bordered by dark green box, yew and conifer. Is it claustrophobic and oppressive, or is it like a


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o, I long for March. I long for a month of clear blue skies and sunny days, and of course I always look forward to the official first day


comforting arm, gently guiding you to what comes next?


As you exit this tunnel of green, notice the pair of steel gates, one of three pairs in the Winter Garden, made recently by John Creed. They are very sculptural, linking a practicality with Lord Fairhaven’s vision of including art in the landscape. They really are beautiful, made of weathered Corten steel. They are solid and strong and serve a purpose, yet they are visually light and fluid. They seem to be organic, like oversized snowdrops, blades like leaves curving upwards from bulbous bases. The polished metal pointed buds reflect raindrops on the smooth, silvery surface.


Quite breathtaking!


Through the gates, the well kept path curves into a vision of stunning planting, sure to stop any plant lover in their tracks. The success of this garden is its simplicity, grouping lots of just a few species gives real visual impact.


The blazing colour of the Cornus sanguine (Winter Beauty) is intensified by mass planting. Rubus thibetanus (Silver Fern) with its ghostly haze shimmers as the path leads on past a group of Prunus serrula. These small trees are planted amongst low growing foliage so they appear to hover.


Close enough to entice you to stroke the smooth stems, they look and feel like polished mahogany.


This garden is such a winter delight, all around early flowering shrubs are about to burst into blossom. Mahonia, winter flowering Honeysuckle (Lonicera purpusii), Viburnum and Sarcococca, all sweet scented beauties, give the promise of good things to come. In their demure way they are saying ‘look – it has been a long, cold winter, but hey, look at us, we made it through!’


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They are ghostly, ethereal, magical… and I love them! The ‘White Forest’, as I call it, is the culmination of the Winter Garden. There are many interesting areas to explore at Anglesey Abbey; acres of formal and informal gardens, a working water mill, an Arboretum, a Pinetum and snowdrops and aconites everywhere. Then there’s the house!


Many things to interest many people, but, for me, for as long as I live, I hope I will always be able to walk along the enticing path to the ‘White Forest’… ’Wow!’


For opening times… 01223 810080 www.nationaltrust.org.uk


For almost a quarter of a mile the path winds its way, revealing explosions of fiery colour and also subtle plant combinations along the way. But what is to come is a real spectacle. A glimpse of fine, silvery branches in the distance is just a taster of what’s ahead. Around a curve in the path, and then another, then suddenly - and don’t hold back on the gasps and ‘wows’ - you will be faced by a miniature forest of the whitest stemmed Birch trees you will ever behold!


They really are a glorious sight, especially in the winter and early spring. Imagine walking through a fairytale land or a stage set for a ballet. This is a place to sit for ten minutes or so, just to take in the wonderful surroundings.


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