Scottish Day Trip to Peebleshire, Thursday, 13th July ....

With a lot of chatter, it seemed like no time till we crossed the Border and arrived at the first of three different, but special, walled gardens on our itinerary arranged by Jancie & Jude.

Garden I - Newhall, Carlops

Newhall became an identifable estate c.1406; when a Royal Charter was granted to the Crichton Family. Since 1998 the Kennedy Family have owned Newhall with it's baronial hall and demesne of 1,000 acres.

 http://newhallestate.co.uk

The walled garden was built about 1790, by Robert Brown. At the centre is,
"a lodestone statue of Adam, the first gardener, ready to delve".

Intent Listeners...

 

We were intrigued to find that earlier summer flowers (e.g. alliums) were still flourishing along with July's herbaceous bounties ( e.g. Lysimachia puncata - loosestrife). Someone commented that this may be due to the relative altitude, the Pentlands hill tops are just above 1,000'asl.


Garden II - Kailzie, Peebles 

This is a much younger walled garden, developed during the 19th century (1812). The present owner is Angela, Lady Buchan-Hepburn, whose daughter, Jane Percy, Duchesse of Northumberland, redeveloped The Alnwick Garden.

 

The double herbaceous border repeats in calming hues of blue, yellow & white. The view is over to  the River Tweed and the Leithen Hills beyond. 

And the backdrop to this border is a romantic two tier fountain shielded by wrought iron gates.

There is an abundant rose garden room and beside the Laburnum Walk is the potager where cut flowers grow in happy abundance with vegetable crops.

 Interestingly the kitchen garden (in French - le jardin potager) in Scotland is known as a kailyaird! 

Within the sleeper raised bedded potager sits a new sundial with this inscription in latin,

 "omnia regit lumen sed tempus"

John Simpson helped with a translation, which though didn't follow the classical latin grammer requirements, the meaning suggests that "light rules all, but time"

 

Here the Victoiran Greenhouse shelters fruits such as figs, apricots & peaches. There are tender climbers such as mimosa & plumbago. All of these are ignited by the riots of colour from the  pelagoniums & coleus.

Garden III - Portmore, Eddleston

Our final stop was to the youngest garden, which has been lovingly brought back to life and extended over the last thirty years. We were warmly welcomed by owner, Mrs. Reid and her two delightful grandchildren, Beatrice & Archie. After our garden tour we were all kindly invited into the drawing room and dining room for afternoon tea.

The current Scots baronial house was designed by David Bryce, but the estate dates back to the mid eighteenth century. The redesign of the orginial garden by Mrs Reid provided us with a masterclass in design: the "rooms"(rose / herb / potager / herbaceous borders), planting combinations for height, colour and texture. 

This together with such superb plant quality was quite simply, inspirational. A definite must see again garden.

http://www.portmoregardens.co.uk

 

The new 2002 Water Garden with statues to make you jump!

All in all a high day for us all.

TR

Local Cumbrian Evening Garden Visits - 5th & 6th July...

I'm sure we all enjoyed relaxing evening garden visits to Sylvia & Peter Thompson's eleven year old garden at Brockleymoor Farm, Plumpton. There was a lovely mix of herbaceous plants, lawn and maturing gravel gardens to savour. The veg patch was very ordered and the harvest looks to be bountiful.

The views out into the landscape from the garden enhanced the garden's setting. At one point a hot air balloon even drifted by.

Thank you Sylvia & Peter for your generous hospitality.



We also think that Monty, your 2yr old dog must have slept well after our visits!

And a special thank you to Joyce for arranging these evenings.

2017 - Social Evening - Station Master's House, Wetheral - 15th June...

Jude kindly hosted this evening event in her enchanting cottage garden which stands majestically beside Great Corby Bridge, popularly known as 'the Wetheral Viaduct'.
What started with a deluge turned into one of those special, fresh, sweet smelling summer's evenings. And the cheese & wine spread was fit for kings!

 

South Lakes Day Trip - 8th June 2017

On our snap election day, some intrepid club gardeners braved the weather with an outing to the South Lakes. Here are some photos (courtesy of Jude) from the day...

"If you go down in the woods today...."

We know what one Jeremy was up to, but where is Mr. J. Fisher?

It can only be June - Foxgloves!

"That's that one there Chris"

The Holker Fountain

The Power House - revealed

The Club's Holiday: North Wales, 22nd to 25th May 2017...

This Celtic adventure was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. Many thanks to Janice Stewardson (in her inaugural year as Outings Organiser) and Jude Jansen for all their careful planning.

Here are some of Jude's photos from Anglesey's special garden at Plas Cadnant. They can only whet the appetites of those of us who have not yet holidayed with the club...

Hope you didn't get lost Lesley

Elisabeth & Tony enjoying the world go by...

Ther's always something for everyone...

Woo - Hoo.... almost £700 raised

What a successful morning we had on the 20th May at our Plant Sale & Coffee Morning.
Unofficially almost £700 was raised! Many, many thanks go to Jude Jansen for her organisation of the event and of course to all members contributing with plants, tray bakes and helping on the day.
As Eric Robson says, "onwards and upwards".....

Denise & Alice were on tea duty, so no raffle.
However the Lotto raised £46 & the winner of half this sum
was Caroline Ritchie, who has also agreed to become
the Vice Chair of the club....

  

"Decisions, decisions, decisions"

 

The National Garden Scheme - "How it all began"

The Viaduct Gardening Club has Mrs Cate Bowman (NGS Assistant County Organiser for Cumbria) as a member. Therefore it was a real bonus for members to listen to her presentation about the history of the National Garden Scheme.

The Scheme is the most significant fundraiser of Nursing Charities in Great Britain. Last year it raised £3,000,000 from the sale of tickets to see beautiful gardens, and to enjoy drinking tea and eating cakes!

The list of NGS beneficiaries include the Queen's Nursing Institute, Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Carer's Trust, Hospice UK, Perennial and Parkinson's UK.

About 3,700 private gardens open their gates each year and detailed information can be found on social media and in the NGS handbook. Each county also has a booklet featuring local gardens.

A Brief History

In 1859, William Rathbone, a merchant from Liverpool, employed a nurse in order to care for his sick wife at home. Following his wife's death, Mr Rathbone kept the nurse on to care for the sick in his neighbourhood. This was the foundation of District Nursing as we know it today.

In 1926, Elsie Wagg had the idea for raising monies by opening up private gardens. The charge was 1 shilling and that first year, over £8,000 was raised. The following year, the District Nursing Organisation became officially named 'The Queen's Nursing Institute.

In 1948, following the war, the National Health Service took over the role of District Nursing but funds were still needed for retired nurses and for training new nurses.

The NGS also liaised with the National Trust and offered to donate funding to the NT to help them restore and preserve important gardens. In return, the NT open many gardens for the NGS.

In 1970, £52,000 was raised by people generously opening their gardens for the NGS. Last year, in Cumbria alone, that figure was raised.

1984 saw Macmillan Cancer Support join the list of Beneficiary Charities and in 1996, Marie Curie, Help the Hospices and the Carer's Trust also benefited from support. In 2013,  Parkinson's UK was also added.

Recently the NGS has benefited from the introduction of attractive new graphics and a new modern logo.

Jude Jansen