Kicking your heels post lockdown? Recently graduated or still on furlough? The Gardens have always been dependent on a fantastic band of happy and hardworking volunteers. Lockdown has been hard on many of them who are itching to come back to enjoy the friendship and the beauty of the site. It’s lovely to welcome many…
Summer’s progressing Our sense of time is a bit out of alignment these days – lockdown has meant that many of us have been looking inwards and at our gardens. We’ve been noticing change and growth perhaps more acutely than ever before. But even so .. we lockdown and the beginning of spring and now…
We expect the government and scientific advice to change from time to time and have no doubt that sometimes things we plan or hope to do in the Gardens will have to be changed at the last minute. We would like to share with you some of the basic assumptions and safeguards the Gardens will…
The high street is opening… If that urge to shop is strong, we have some lovely goodies in our shop you may not find elsewhere. …And of course you can feel good about buying from the Gardens because every purchase helps the charity survive for another day to preserve and keep the Gardens open. Jams…
So how does visiting the Gardens now we’re open post Covid lockdown differ from the past? We are still taking advice from with the RHS, other visitor attractions and of course the government about best practice to keep us all safe. We have risk assessed and made changes please bear with us if it things…
The Gardens are re-opening! Starting with 2 special weekends for Members Only: 6th/7th and 13th/14th June. Opening to the general public will start on Wednesday 17th June (Wednesdays to Sundays). We are really pleased to be able to welcome people back into the Gardens again. We know spirits will be lifted by a wander –…
Thanks to our lovely supporters we have hit, and exceeded, our target to ensure we can buy our spring bulbs next year! Whoopee! That really is a great relief to our gardeners, who are always thinking seasons and seasons ahead. Your help now, and in the future, really will make a difference to the Gardens’…
Dracunculus vulgaris: the Dragon lily It’s arrived! Also known as ‘snake lily’ and ‘devil’s tongue’ -we can see why. We’ve been lucky with warm springs of recent years and has given us quite a few years of spectacular moments. It grows wild in the eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. The flower is also noted for…
Gardens inspire poetry, poetry inspires Gardens. The urge to be creative during lockdown has been fuelled, happily, by many tv programmes, blogs and online memes. Hopefully the creativity will not be lost as we emerge slowly from our hibernation. The radio poet Ian Macmillan, the Barnsley Bard, works extensively with arts groups in Yorkshire. Attached is…
4 selections of photos from long, and not so long, ago. Plus some of the photos we have from the beginning of the restoration. 1 2 3 4 Some of the pictures from before the restoration.