Last Sunday I ventured to the nearby village of Gringley on the Hill, North Nottinghamshire, tempted by no less than seven Open Gardens to explore, and a Classic Car Display to boot! Gringley is a beautiful village with a rich history and some rather grand buildings and gardens. As the name suggests, it is built on a hill and reputedly the minsters of York, Beverley and Lincoln may be seen from it on a clear day.
Each garden, whether large or small, offered something special and it was a real pleasure and honour to be given the opportunity to wander through them freely and enjoy each of their different characters. It was refreshing to see that many of the gardens, even the most manicured, had sections set aside to allow the grass to grow long and give the natural flora a chance to grow and set seed.
Here are some of my highlights from the gardens I visited…
One of the larger gardens, at over an acre, with a history stretching back five generations in the same family, is home for many mature trees and shrubs. Honeysuckle, clematis, white briony, ivy and other climbers weave their way through them, making the walk along the mowed paths between the trees both relaxing and delightful. The garden is very much geared up to attracting wildlife, with sections of the garden around the boundaries being allowed to grow wild with brambles, long grass, wildflowers and nettles.
At the next garden we were greeted by an ancient, gnarled, English walnut tree with a huge of canopy of leaves providing dappled shade for a lovely woodland garden beneath it. Next to it is a self-fed wildlife pond. Beautifully maintained, formal mixed borders and sensitive hard landscaping fit in well with an area of the garden that has been allowed to grow wild.
I particularly enjoyed the garden that was described as an ‘English cottage country garden’. It has a fabulous mature rose garden with roses climbing and rambling over a large circular pergola. Sweet peas, with deep pink wings edged with pale pink and a darker pink nose, in turn scramble up the roses. This rose/sweet pea combination completely blew me away! Next year I’m going to try it for myself. I think these sweet peas must be self-seeded as they are so advanced. My pot-sown sweet peas are still only about a foot high even though they’ve been in the ground for about six weeks and were sown very early in the year under glass.
Much of the garden is packed with well established, lush green herbaceous borders bursting with flowers. A beautiful dogwood tree, adorned with rich pink flower bracts drew a lot of attention from visitors. Additional wildlife interest was provided by a pond, complete with fat tadpoles, and a non-mowed area under a group of trees.
One of the more petite gardens has the most beautiful brick herringbone walls set around a grass terrace. Brick paths lead between the small terraces and mixed borders. An old Bramley apple tree is a focal point on the top terrace. Somehow the gardener has also managed to squeeze in a greenhouse and small area to grow vegetables and soft fruit!
I had the most fabulous afternoon looking around the gardens at Gringley on the Hill, and all for just £5.00, including the extensive classic car display. I would happily have paid more! Thank you to everyone who helped to organise this superb event. I look forward to the next one very much.
Deb Digs Plants 