Susan Copeland, county organiser for the National Garden Scheme in Essex, looks at some of the glorious new gardens opening this year
Last year, nearly 100 gardens in Essex opened to the public with admission tickets and the sales of homemade teas and plants raising more than £161,000 for nursing and health charities. An amazing figure when you think how the hot weather kept visitors at home and gardeners fighting to keep their plants alive.
This year, Essex has 12 new gardens opening, as well as many returning ones, a number of them being relatively small plots. These smaller town and village gardens are particularly inspirational and relatable for visitors hoping to take some new ideas home to try for themselves. We do also have a significant and historic garden returning to the Scheme after a gap of some 12 years, which many will wish to see as it works through an ambitious programme of replanting and restoration.
In the south of the county…
On Monday 17 April and again on Sunday 18 June, 2 Cedar Avenue in Wickford is opening. This large town garden is packed with tropical-style planting as well as having many containers of succulents, carnivorous plants and alpines. Lots of inspiration here for the dry conditions experienced in Essex.
Still in the south of the county, 9 Beresford Gardens in Benfleet opens on Sunday 23 April and Sunday 4 June, and due to its position adjoining ancient woodland, it is rich with local wildlife and has interesting borders with mixed planting. Allways in Rochford opens on Saturday 10 June and is the cottage-style garden of a listed 1930s Arts & Crafts house. A new wildlife pond and bog garden were created in 2022 in the woodland area (its progress was diarised and can be viewed on YouTube) and will be interesting to see a year on.
Also, in June, on Sunday 11, Monday 12, Sunday 25 and Monday 26, 291 Thundersley Park Road in Benfleet opens. This is an intriguing garden set on a steep hill made of a number of different rooms, including a dry Mediterranean garden, a Ravello bed, a sunken garden and an English garden.
In the north of the county...
The first new garden in the Colchester area opens on Wednesday 26 April and again on Saturday 3 June. This is Pollyfield in Langham, which is a mature one-and-a-half-acre garden with a good mix of formal mixed beds, wild meadow woodland and an extensive vegetable plot. Thatched Cottage in Frating is opening on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 June and is a charming cottage garden, and as you would hope, is filled with many varieties of old and David Austin roses, as well as a wide range of perennials.
The 185-foot-long garden at 207 Mersea Road in Colchester has openings on Sunday 23 and Sunday 30 July, and Sunday 13 and Sunday 27 August. It is filled with good ideas including a fountain made from waste slates, a lovely circular lawn and borders packed with herbaceous perennials and annuals, and long raised beds with subtropical planting.
Coggeshall has a new garden this year, at 59 East Street. This is part of an old walled garden, which has been mostly replanted in the last three years by the current owners and includes a lavender walk, fruit trees, a Mediterranean garden and a wide range of perennials and roses. As well as being open on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 July, the garden owners will also be welcoming group visits by arrangement between 12 and 30 September when the grasses and exotics will be at their best.
Hidden gems in Harwich
In the far north east of the county, Harwich has some real jewels to seek out. The first new garden is at Grapevine Cottages in Little Oakley opening on Sunday 18 June. This tranquil garden is hidden behind an 18th-century cottage and is brimming with interesting plants – roses being a particular draw at this time of year.
A group of gardens has been opening around the centre of historic Harwich over the last few years, and this year five gardens, all within walking distance of each other, are opening on Sunday 16 July. A new garden joins the group at 17 Church Street and is a newly developed walled courtyard garden behind the former post office. One admission ticket gains you access to all five gardens.
The historic 12-acre garden at Saling Hall
Many will be familiar with Saling Hall in Great Saling near Braintree and may remember the gardens prior to 2011 when they were opened by Hugh and Judy Johnson. Happily, the new owners are currently mid-way through a multi-year restoration programme and this year will open their gardens to the public on Saturday 21 October when the breath-taking autumn colour can be seen in the arboretum, which is home to a collection of rare and unusual trees. The 12-acre garden itself is Grade II listed as a Registered Park and Garden of Special Historic Interest. There is plenty more to see in the garden beyond the thousands of special trees: a new orchard, a kitchen garden overlooking the beautiful village church, a wildflower meadow with beehives, a Japanese garden, an oak glade and an interesting water garden.
Organise a group visit
Some 35 of the gardens opening in Essex this year are also happy to open for groups of visitors by arrangement. This has become increasingly popular with gardening clubs and for groups of family and friends often as part of a special celebration. The garden owners will usually take visiting groups around themselves, offering an opportunity for a real insight into the development of the garden as well as for asking questions. Particularly popular gardens to visit this way are Furzelea in Danbury, Ulting Wick in Maldon and Mayfield Farm in Ardleigh, but why not browse the whole list to find ones that would appeal to your group?
This year, Blunts Hall in Witham is opening for the first time and the owners are happy to arrange visits for groups of 10 to 30 people between 1 May and 18 August. This is a restored Victorian garden with a charming combination of lawns, herbaceous borders, vegetable, fruit trees and a spring-fed pond. Garden owner Lesley Gamblin is enjoying the experience of opening: ‘After working on restoring and improving the garden over the past three years, we are excited to be opening for National Garden Scheme visitors in 2023. Our open season started in early spring, when we had four Essex gardening groups to see our snowdrops and aconites, but goes through to the end of summer. The garden is continually evolving, and we look forward to sharing our progress with the visitors.’ Visit ngs.org.uk and follow the links to Gardens by Arrangement for full details.
Feeling inspired?
Perhaps after visiting one of our gardens this year you might be inspired to open your own? It can be a very rewarding experience: a chance to share the results of your hard work and at the same time raise funds for nursing and health charities. The National Garden Scheme is now the most significant charitable funder of nursing in the UK, and beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK, Parkinson’s UK, The Queen’s Nursing Institute and Carers Trust, which is a huge motivation for everyone who is involved.
We are interested in all sizes and styles of garden, so if you are very proud of your garden and keen to see what is involved, head to ngs.org.uk and follow the link to Open your garden.
Visit ngs.org.uk for opening times and admission charges (entry for children is often free). Tea and homemade cakes are usually served and sometimes there are plants for sale too. Please check the website for any last-minute changes before setting out. The 2023 Essex booklet is now available in libraries and Tourist Information Centres around the county, as well as in some garden centres and clubs. An online version of the booklet can be accessed via Facebook @essexngs
