I have visited Barnsdale Gardens several times over the years. It is about an hour from home and makes a nice day out. I was lucky to be invited to a press day at Barnsdale the other day, so I of course said yes.
The gardens are part of the legacy of Geoff Hamilton, the reknowned garden writer and presenter. He presented Gardeners World from 1979 until his death in 1996 at the young age of 59. In 1985 he moved Gardeners World to be presented from Barnsdale. The gardens still contain the 'garden sets' he made for television as small distinct gardens. They were planned to be the size of an average town garden. Sadly, nowadays, they are more than twice the size of some gardens with new builds. Times change.
We were given a tour of the gardens by Geoff's son Nick who is now the owner. He talked us through the history of some of the gardens always emphasising that they stayed true to his father's values of being organic (ahead of his time) and to reuse and recycle. The garden Nick is standing in above was designed for the first Gardeners World Live Show in 1992, rather than have it thrown away they brought it back to Barnsdale.
As you walk through you discover these small gardens. This is the Japanese Garden, small but rather lovely.
You cannot walk into all the small gardens as they were not designed for the high footfall Barnsdale now attracts. But you can see enough so that is good.
There are shady places to sit and enjoy the view. Nick told us that they continue to garden in an accessible way. The plants they grow are able to be bought from garden centres or online. Some may be a bit special, but they are not impossible to source. I liked this.
What is impressive is how much is achieveable in a relatively small space. This makes the gardens inspirational as you can more easily convert it to the space you may have at home.
Sometimes you can just take away the idea of growing more agaves in terracotta pots. You do not need to have a garden to gain inspiration.
The vegetable gardens are impressive. Wonderfully laid out. They do use some of the produce for the cafe but they would need to grow far more to completely supply it and whilst the total Barnsdale Gardens area is 5 fives, that does not allow much room to give over the vegetables.
The gardens were all looking good.
This is a black mulberry tree in the Parterre Garden. It is lovely but Nick told us it is also too big for the space now that it has grown. They prune it to keep it under control and I cannot throw the first stone at planting trees that will outgrow their space.
I mentioned above the gardens are organic: we were all impressved by the largely unmunched hostas. Nick explained that the gravel helps as slugs do not like travelling over it. I have total failure of growing hostas in my garden if I put them in the ground. They are devoured in seconds. I have some that I grow in pots and they seem to do much better.
and not all the gardens are small 'tv' gardens. There are peaceful borders to walk along,
and wildflower moments.
You walk through arches and around hedges, discovering what it is next. What I really liked about this visit was the clear sense of honouring Geoff's memory and also continuing to develop the gardens. I remember when I visited many years ago and the movement around the gardens did not feel so natural. It felt like I was visiting small gardens where now it feels more like discovering areas as you walk around.
Whenever I visit Barnsdale I always enjoy seeing the Lily Sawtell sculptures. Why these speak to me so much I do not know, but I love them. Seeing them dotted around the garden is a joy.
and I always make a point of going to the formal water garden to say hello to them.
Did I mention I find the gardens inspirational?
I rushed home, emptied the weeds out of Mavis and planted some hosta divisions. She is a treasured possession.
I know I will be visiting Barnsdale again. I go to Rutland Water quite often and it feels rude not to pop in.
I want to thank Nick and the team for a lovely morning and also to Francign Suermondt of Rabbit Attach PR for the invitation and organisation.
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