Wollerton

This week, I have been mostly gardening at Wollerton Old Hall near Market Drayton in Shropshire! I have rambled on about this place before, see here, but this time around I got to spend a bit more time poking about the place and grappling with the planting schemes. As usual with these week placements I would really have liked to stay on for a fortnight, but nevertheless one week was enough to fill the pages of my notepad with lots of new plant names! Wollerton was laid out by the owners, John & Lesley Jenkins, in the 1980s. They were inspired to purchase the property as Lesley’s grandmother once lived here, and Lesley had fond memories of visiting her granny and her lovely garden. None of this garden remained in the 80s, having been turned over to lawns by the new owners (for shame!), but Lesley fondly recalled a long border filled with flowers, which happily was reinstated and now takes the form of the Herbaceous Border! The garden is wonderfully designed and is a truly delightful place to explore, but the real joy here is the planting with some incredible species and combinations on display. The head gardener is Andrew Humphris, and his skills as a gardener meld with Lesley’s abilities as an artist, creating something with horticultural merit and aesthetic delight. This is one of the best gardens I have ever been to and I would strongly encourage you to visit!

Enter

Yew Walk

Sundial Garden (Hi DD!)

Let’s just sit here a moment and have a sip of something chilled

Lysimachia punctata backing another bench

Long Walk

View back up the garden to the hall

Well Garden

Glimpse through a gate to the Herbaceous Border

Entrance to the Font with view across the garden

The Font Garden

A stream of Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' in the Rose Garden

Old Beryl came along for the ride

A Buzzard passing over Yew Walk

Some panorama shots, for a change (click to enlarge);

Lanhydrock Garden, featuring the yellow spires of Ligularia przewalskii 'The Rocket'

Herbaceous Border, a beauteous nod to Gertrude Jekyll

Some grainy moving pictures of the Herbaceous Border;



I dropped off again for a week, apologies! The bed & breakfast website advertised “free wifi” so I duly packed my laptop but I needn’t have bothered as the blasted fools could not offer interwebular connection, free or otherwise!