At the Godstone Gardeners’ Club we enjoy our monthly meetings, but we also enjoy our outings. We have a number of trips each year that are incredibly popular with our members. These are usually tailor made trips for private visits to gardens that are specially selected. A coach is laid on and our trips usually include some form of refreshment. For 2017 we have some stunning gardens to visit. A full list of our trips, (known as Jean’s Jolly Japes), for 2017 is below:
PENSHURST PLACE & GARDENS, KENT
Monday 22nd May – 9.15am to 1.30pm
In 2015, Cory Furness, Head Gardener at Penshurst Place visited the club and gave us a fascinating talk about the gardens. Cory mentioned that he guided tours of the gardens at Penshurst, so we had to take him up on that! Our first visit of 2017 is to Penshurst Place & Gardens. We’ll learn more about the work that goes on in the Gardens, including the beautiful fauna and flora that can be seen. The Gardens at Penshurst Place are among the oldest in private ownership. With early records dating back to 1346, they are considered to be one of the most beautiful in England.
Majestically surrounding the house, over one mile of yew hedging divides the Garden into a series of ‘rooms’, each with its own season and colour. Wander further afield and visit the Arboretum, Trout Lakes, Lake Park and Lancup Well. At around 50 acres they make Penshurst Place and Gardens one of Britain’s most alluring and seductive spectacles, throughout the year.
We shall have tea/coffee and freshly baked cookie on arrival, then Cory will take us around the garden – about one hour – then we’ll have time on our own to have some lunch before leaving.
ULTING WICK, ESSEX
Saturday 10th June – 9.30am to 3.00pm
We have seen it in its Tulip phase, we’ve seen it in its ‘hot’ phase and, by special request, we wanted to see it in its ‘early summer’ phase … so here it is! Another visit to Ulting Wick in Essex, a garden with wonderful old barns, glorious beds and borders, a lake and a meadow. Plenty to feast your eyes on and plants for sale to boot!
We shall have tea/coffee and cake on arrival, then wander at our leisure to see early summer’s offerings and a light lunch of filled rolls with a cold drink before we leave. This is our first Saturday trip which hopefully means that some of our younger members who would otherwise be working, can join us.
TOWN PLACE, NEAR HAYWARDS HEATH
Thursday 6th July – 6.30pm to 10.00pm
This is a private garden that is open for charity as part of the National Gardens Scheme, (Yelow Book), but we have our own private visit. The garden benefits from a whole host of features inlcuding; a long border of herbaceous beds with a combined length of about 45 metres (150 feet), a pair of mixed shorter borders with a blue-yellow colour scheme, an English rose garden, a sunken rose garden which is pre-war in origin, a hornbeam walk with 16 standard hornbeam trees clipped into balls, a potager with a mixture of vegetables and flowers, a herb garden enclosed by trees, shrubs and walls, new territories with a principal feature of a hornbeam allee representing a ruined priory church, a dell with a fishpond that has been rebuilt using knapped flints, ‘Chequers’ which is a garden planted with box and ‘The Circus’ with large yew sculptures and grasses. The gardens are all set around a 17th Century Sussex farmhouse.
This just seemed like a perfect place for our evening visit to enjoy a glass of wine and some nibbles as the sun goes down!
DIPLEY MILL, HARTLEY WINTNEY, HAMPSHIRE
Thursday 24th August – 12.45pm to 5.30pm
A romantic adventure awaits, as you wander by the meandering streams surrounding this Domesday Book listed mill! It served as a working flour mill, until its conversion into a country house in 1927. During the 18th century, the mill became so successful that the miller decided to introduce a second wheel, only to discover that two wheels working in tandem caused the whole building to shake! The shop-fronted building next door was the original bakery for the mill, and later became the notorious Old Mill Inn. Both houses and gardens have undergone complete renovation since 2000 in order to preserve this special piece of social and natural history.
On our visit we’ll be shown around by Dipley Mill’s garden designer Rose (who exhibited at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2016!) who will talk you through the inspiration for each area and keep you entertained with anecdotes about the ground’s history. If you prefer to wander at your leisure that is perfectly acceptable. Once the tour is over, there will be a silver service high tea in the barn, featuring tea, coffee and a selection of Rose’s cakes!
KEW GARDENS FOR THE GREAT BROAD WALK BORDERS
Tuesday 19th September – 9.15am to 3.30pm
These breathtaking borders sweep along the 320 metres of Kew’s famous Broad Walk, with 30,000 plants presenting a bold diversity of textures and vibrant colours through the growing season. In June 2016, Kew officially opened the country’s longest double herbaceous borders. The new borders, around 320 metres long and running parallel to each other along both sides of the Broad Walk path, have been planted for summer colour. There are bulbs for spring, and some late flowers and seed heads for autumn interest, but the planting concentrates on providing the greatest impact between June and September.
Kew’s manager of garden design, Richard Wilford, has respected William Nesfield’s original design intent, creating beds of horticultural splendour and taking into account the character of the surrounding landscape. The shape of the borders was inspired by the largest seed pod in the legume family, that of the tropical vine Entada gigas, also called the sea bean or monkey ladder. This series of circles, bisected by the path, stretches from the Orangery to the Palm House pond.
The borders also include some wild plant species and plants from Kew’s own collections that have been propagated to make the borders unique and distinct. The design includes eight different zones, each based on a particular plant family or group or highlighting specific characteristics. Star plants have been selected as examples of each theme.
We shall have our time at leisure here to view the borders at our own pace. All refreshments will be at your own expense.
Please note: Unfortunately, refunds cannot be made if cancellations are received less than 2 weeks before the date of the trip as we will already have incurred the majority of the expense.