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Barony Gardening Club Spring Outing 2019
About 30 of our members and visitors made an early departure on Friday, 17th May, from the Barony College in order to arrive at Alnwick Garden in Northumberland for our guided tour. It was a sunny start, but the weather forecast for the East was not encouraging. Nevertheless, we arrived in time to be met by our guide, head gardener Trevor Jones. He was known to a number of our longer-term members, as he was one of the founder members of the Barony Gardening Club (in 1987)! And, contrary to the forecast, it was still sunny.
Our organiser, Sarah Beattie, had arranged for our bus to stop en-route for our coffee break at the small village of Bardon Mill, between Haltwhistle and Hexham, just off the A69. There was quite a surprise, here, for many of us. Sarah’s coffee and baking were excellent, as usual; but lurking in the village was the Errington Reay Pottery, a small family-run firm making high quality salt-glazed pots.
We had not long to look round here. But one of the owners of the company took us into the workshop to witness the very traditional – but effective – method of pot production, from moulding of the clay to fired product. And they were exquisite. He is very happy to receive visitors, and it was clear that many of us made mental notes to make our own private returns.
We had arrived at The Alnwick Garden in time for Trevor to take us round the garden’s main features before our scheduled lunch there. It is never quite the same to wander around a garden on one’s own as it is to have a guide who can talk about the background and the significance of the planting and other features. Trevor was able to do this very well for us.
The garden is not old at all, having been begun about 20 years ago by the Duchess of Northumberland. It is a quite separate venture (indeed, now, administered as a Charity) from the neighbouring Alnwick Castle. And its purpose is not, entirely, as a garden.
The grounds, and start-up costs, were gifted by the Duke of Northumberland in order to meet the Duchess’ vision of a garden space encapsulating notions of accessibility, inclusivity, family and activity, performance and recreation.
The site was originally landscaped by Capability Brown, in 1750, by appointment of the first duke. And evidence of this landscaping is still visible in views beyond the present garden’s boundaries. There were changes over the next two centuries, and finally a decline and abandonment in the 1950s. The 21st century revival occupies a 42 acre sloping site; and the planting and other features surround a central water cascade. Although the garden has been opened since about 2001, the development continues, and may take several more years yet, as well as another £15M.
Trevor alerted us to the ‘unique’ remit of this garden, perhaps so we might see its development in context. The Serpent Garden, for example, contains large stainless steel vessels holding fountains and whirlpools. These are all ‘hands-on’ features, and great favourites with children (whom, we were told, really do need supervising). Access is through narrow lanes of tall, well clipped beech hedges, so each one is a surprise. A serpentine, low-clipped, box hedge threads its way through them.
There is a maze, too – the Bamboo Labyrinth. We found this very intriguing. It might seem an unusual plant to choose for such a purpose, but it worked most effectively. A hardy bamboo variety was densely planted on raised beds, creating tall and over-arching screening. It was ideal: cool, dark, disorientating and impenetrable. Fortunately Trevor knew the way out.
The Rose Garden consisted of a long border between the Labyrinth and a gatehouse, with an exit to the town of Alnwick. We were too early to see any of the roses in flower, but the outstanding health of these plants caught everyone’s eye.
In a curiously opposite way we had missed the flowering of the cherry trees. We did our best to imagine the sight of several hundred flowering cherries in an orchard sloping down to a large pond. There were adult swings among the trees, so completing that garden idyll.
As we climbed we passed an extensive sweep of hornbeam hedges, all tightly planted and contour-clipped to waist height with a smooth top and impressive width. Trevor explained that the garden designers (the Belgian company Jacques & Peter Wirtz) planned with a modern architectural eye, which does not always include the practical implications for maintenance. Hornbeam is very tough, and to ensure the comfort of the male gardeners, who had to push their way into this thicket to swing their hedgeclippers, a cricket box was a wise acquisition!
There is a very large walled garden at the top. It is planted with ornamental beds and parterres, with central ponds and rills. By this time our lunch was imminent, so we had little time to explore this area then. On our way to the Treehouse restaurant we passed some struggling tree ferns and rhododendrons. It might be that the site is not moist enough or perhaps not sufficiently acidic to favour these plants. But most plants are worth trying.
We enjoyed our lunches in this intriguing building, and most of us found time afterwards to explore other parts of the garden. Some returned to the walled garden and others visited the poison garden, which was made more dramatic with locked gates and surrounding fences.
Small groups were conducted around the poison garden by knowledgeable staff, who pointed out such horrors as hemlock, deadly nightshade, castor oil and strychnine plants, opium poppy, coca, yew and laburnum. Some, like cannabis, even had their own locked cages! There were stories, too, to go with each of them, like the numerous medical men who had administered strychnine to help their patients on their way. It is also mostly the case that, once the plant extract is ingested, the effects cannot be reversed. Even the odours should be avoided. (Crushed laurel leaves release dangerous amounts of the almond-scented prussic acid – cyanide.
Yew is exceptional in offering a sweet and succulent berry. It is an attractive red colour, too. Most of these poisons are bitter tasting, and that is a warning. Birds are quite eager to eat the yew berries, and the seeds pass unhindered through them. It is thought that human deaths have arisen when the seed within the fruit is chewed. But it was a chastening experience for those of us having this tour – to see just how many of these common plants we are encouraging to grow in our own gardens!
We were ready to head home by middle afternoon, remembering that a three-hour journey lay ahead of us. And we managed this without a stop, arriving back at the Barony College about 6 pm. And the Sun still shone.
The Barony Gardening Club now has a break from talks until September, when, on the 5th, Anne Radley will speak about preparing the winter garden for wildlife in her talk ‘To Cut or Not to Cut’. All are welcome at 7:15 pm at the SRUC Barony Campus, Parkgate. Telephone 01387 830 257 for details.
Text and images courtesy of John Lethbridge
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