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Apples for all: wildlife and us

We are having a good year for apples and hope you will come and enjoy them with us, on Sunday, at our Apples and Bees Day. We have a good picking of Bramleys for sale and volunteers have taken some for jellies, mincemeat and cakes for the Open Day. Visito ...

cutting the long grass

A late first cut

Like others, we are aiming to support the recovery of biodiversity by giving space to nature. In our case this includes leaving areas for wildflowers, which are both lovely to look at and support a huge range of insect species. To do this we delay cutting ...

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Beautiful borders

Just in time for the Open Day on Sunday 27 June, the borders in the walled kitchen garden and the Italian garden are becoming more colourful by the day. The veg beds are also filling up and today we had our first pickings of baby carrots and beetroot, cha ...

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Grass vetchling

We first found the grass vetchling at the Gardens a few years ago. It is a firm favourite now, flowering alongside the wild orchids in the Glade. At our Open Day on 27 June we will also celebrate the bugs, bees and birds at the Gardens, with Jono Forgham ...

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Glorious bugs

At our next Open Day we will celebrate the bugs and other wildlife in the Gardens, with Jono Forgham on hand to lead nature walks and other activities and Essex Bat Group telling all about the bats in the Gardens. Our wildflower banks had snowdrops, then ...

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Kim’s story

At this Sunday’s Open Day, 23 May, we will be remembering the Countess of Warwick’s love of animals and just in time we have put in place an information board about her baby elephant, Kim. A storyteller will weave tales for children and the ch ...

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The new season’s joy

What a joyous Open Day we had on Sunday – the sun shone all day and the Gardens were looking beautiful, with late daffodils and narcissi and early tulips and tree blossom everywhere. We are now looking forward to the rest of the season and next year ...

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Spring chores

Volunteers worked hard today, tidying the Gardens ready for the first Open Day of the year on 18 April. Maggie and Lesley cleaned the information boards ready for them to be rehung. Primroses now welcome visitors to the Gardens, in the front entrance bed. ...

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Work goes on

Despite the freezing conditions Neil helped us get some more of our pruning done. It is apples and pears this time of year: progressively pruning the heritage trees into a good shape and with the newer trees working on encouraging them to grow strongly an ...

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The snowdrops are coming

Each week, now, we are seeing more of the snowdrops’ silver green leaves poking through around the Gardens: in the grass under the trees at the front of the Gardens, down the sides of the Glade, in the woodland and in the walled kitchen garden. Some ...

november 2020

A rose on the rise

Every dead tree is a loss, but we have left this dead elm standing as it may be a bat roost. It will soon be bursting with new life too, as the Madame Alfred Carriere rose that Steph, Sue and Clare planted at its base is a rampant climber. It is from a cu ...