LOCATIONS VISITED BY OUR GARDENING GROUP IN 2007
The Eden Project Cornwall, The first architect involved was Cornishman Jonathan Ball, who worked with Tim as co-founder of the Project to bring the idea to physical reality, and then passed the baton to Nicholas – now Sir Nicholas – Grimshaw.
photo: The Eden Project
*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to the Eden ProjectTwo construction companies, Sir Robert and Alfred McAlpine, worked for 18 months without payment or contract (something neither had done in their respective 175-year histories) and then, for good measure, agreed to loan Eden a significant sum only to be repaid if the Project was successful.
Eden's Visitor Centre opened to the public in May 2000 and the full site in March 2001. Since then we have seen nearly seven million visitors come through the doors and have witnessed the opening of The Core, our new education centre that Tim Smit called "the finest modern building in the world".
Eden has played host to huge, world-renowned events such as Live 8 Africa Calling and the Eden Sessions (outdoor summer gigs featuring acts as a diverse as Moby, Keane, Basement Jaxx and Brian Wilson) and wows audiences with its themed seasons such as Bulb Mania in the spring, A Time of Gifts in the winter and Jungle Nights in the summer.
Eden, however, like its plants, is always growing and will continue to develop and change. Next in the pipeline is The Edge, but plenty more is planned.
link: www.edenproject.com/
The Lost Gardens of Heligan, These gardens, near Mevagissy in Cornwall, have been restored and well marketed by Tim Smit. They have had a four part TV series on channel 4 in 1997, there is a best selling book on the "Heligan story", and there have been countless newspaper articles.
Heligan, seat of the Tremayne family for more than 400 years, is one of the most mysterious estates in England. At the end of the nineteenth century its thousand acres were at their zenith, but only a few years later bramble and ivy were already drawing a green veil over this "Sleeping Beauty". After decades of neglect, the devastating hurricane of 1990 should have consigned the Lost Gardens of Heligan to a footnote in history.
photo: The Lost Gardens of Heligan
*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to the Lost Gardens of HeliganInstead, events conspired to bring us here and the romance of their decay took a hold on our imaginations. Our discovery of a tiny room, buried under fallen masonry in the corner of one of the walled gardens, was to unlock the secret of their demise. A motto etched into the limestone walls in barely legible pencil still reads "Don’t come here to sleep or slumber" with the names of those who worked there signed under the date - August 1914. We were fired by a magnificent obsession to bring these once glorious gardens back to life in every sense and to tell, for the first time, not tales of lords and ladies but of those "ordinary" people who had made these gardens great, before departing for the Great War.
Heligan has now established a large working team with its own vision for our second decade. The award-winning garden restoration is already internationally acclaimed; but our lease now extends into well over 100 acres of the wider estate, leaving the project far from complete. We intend Heligan to remain a living and working example of the best of past practice, offering public access into the heart of what we do.
link: www.heligan.com
Trebah the garden of dreams: is a garden for all seasons, with year round colour and scent. It has something for everyone with children's activities, special events, The Gallery Shop, Planters Café, and Garden Shops.
Photo: Trebah the garden of dreams
*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to Trebah the garden of dreamsOne of the 'Great Gardens of Cornwall' and part of the 'Eden Trail' is rated among the 80 most beautiful gardens in the world. This lovely wild sub-tropical ravine paradise winds through huge plantations of 100 year old giant tree ferns, rhododendrons, magnolias, camellias, palms and 2 acres of massed hydrangeas to the private beach on the Helford River.
The Gardens: The steeply wooded ravine garden falls 200 feet to the Helford River. A stream cascades over waterfalls through colourful water gardens and ponds of Koi Carp, and winds through two acres of blue and white hydrangears before spilling out over the private beach. Glades of huge subtropical tree ferns, palms and 18 foot high Gunnera mingle with a multitude of trees, shrubs and 100 year old rhododendrons to give Trebah vistas of ever changing year-round colour and scent.
History of The Gardens: The garden was planted in the 1840's by Charles Fox. By the 1930's it had acquired a unique collection of the rarest and most exotic plants gathered from all over the world.
In 1939 the estate was sold and suffered from 40 years of neglect. The Hibbert family bought Trebah in 1980, and began a massive restoration and replanting programme. They opened it to the public in 1987, and in 1990 donated it to the Trebah Garden Trust, a registered charity, to ensure that it will remain open for everyone forever.
link: www.trebah-garden.co.uk
Mevagissey: (Cornish: Lannvorek) is a village and fishing port situated six miles south of St Austell in Cornwall. In recent years tourism has passed fishing as the dominant industry in the village.
photo: Mevagissey harbour
*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to MevagisseyThe village nestles in a small valley near the centre of east-facing Mevagissey Bay. The inner and outer harbours are busy with a mixture of pleasure vessels and working fishing boats, the remains of a once major industry. The old centre consists of very narrow, picturesque streets with a wide choice of places to eat and shops aimed at the tourist trade. The outer, newer parts are mostly residential and built on the steep slopes of the surrounding hillsides.
12th May 2007: Visit to Malvern Flower Show SATURDAY
photo: Malvern Spring Gardening Show
*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to Malvern Flower ShowThe finest and friendliest gardening event of the year!
In its beautiful setting at the foot of the scenic Malvern Hills, this truly inspirational show enjoys a national reputation as the finest and friendliest gardening event of the year.A joint venture of the Three Counties Agricultural Society and the Royal Horticultural Society, the event attracted 100,000 visitors in 2006, from all over Britain and beyond, and has a demographic profile of 84% ABC1.
Those who know the Show and its wonderful location will understand what makes it such a favourite with gardeners of all ages and expertise. It is widely acknowledged as one of the top big events on the horticultural calendar, renowned for the quality of its exhibits and high numbers of RHS Gold Medal honours!
link: Malvern Spring Gardening Show
14th June 2007: Visit to RHS Gardens Rosemoor
photo: The colourful Rosemoor woods
*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to Rosemoor GardensThe story of the RHS Garden Rosemoor begins for us in 1959 when Lady Anne Berry (Lady Anne Palmer) caught measles from her children and, while recuperating in Spain, met the noted plantsman Collingwood Ingram. He invited her to visit his garden on her return to England and encouraged her to return to Rosemoor with a few of his plants to start a garden of her own.
Lady Anne's Garden, as the original garden of Rosemoor is now known, is a plantsman's garden and is of great horticultural and botanical interest. Inspired by the enthusiasm of plantsman Collingwood Ingram, the garden development continued with the planting of specimens collected by Lady Anne on her travels all over Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Japan, the USA and temperate South America. All the new introductions have been carefully labelled and their origin documented to provide the collection with its fascinating history.
link: Royal Horticultural Society/Rosemoor
12th July 2007: Visit to Snowshill Manor and Snowshill Lavender Farm
photo: Snowshill Manor
*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to Snowshill Manor and Snowshill Lavender FarmSnowshill Manor The treasure house of the Cotswolds
Once described as 'a house for the evening hours, surely the loveliest spell of the day', Snowshill Manor is a typical, traditional Cotswold house, built of golden yellow local stone and set on a hillside above the Vale of Evesham. The Manor holds one of the most remarkable collections that the National Trust maintains and is surrounded by an intriguing and intimate garden.website link: www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Snowshill Lavender Farm
We are a third generation family farm set in the heart of the beautiful Cotswold Hills. The lavender plant loves our free draining limestone soils 1,000 feet above sea level giving the best growing conditions for the highest quality English Lavender Essential oil. Our crops are steam distilled on the farm and made into our unique range of lavender toiletries including Soap, Shower gel, Bath oil, Balms and many more Lavender Gifts.
website link: http://www.snowshill-lavender.co.uk/cm/
13th September 2007: Visit to Burford House and Gardens (home of the national collection of Clematis)plus The Picton Garden, Colwall (holders of the National Collection of Michaelmas Daisies)
photo: Burford House and Gardens
link: Burford House and Gardens*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to
Burford House
photo: Picton Gardens
link: Picton Gardens*please click the image above to access a photo slideshow of our visit to
The Picton Garden
21st April 2006 Holiday to Dutch Bulb Fields
The Group set out early on Friday, 21 April for a 6-day coach tour to Holland. Soon after 7 a.m. we were heading out of Portskewett with 43 on board. Our driver for the trip, Glyn, who several knew from previous overseas trips - could be likened to Les Dawson not only from his build but also his jokes about his wife and mother-in-law. A break at Reading Services, then Folkestone, train through the "Chunnel" and we were in France. The drive to Zeist (just east of Utrecht) passed very smoothly travelling around Antwerp and the Kennedy Tunnel. After a speedy check-in at the Golden Tulip Hotel Figi we were soon up to our very comfortable rooms to get ready for dinner.
photo: Amsterdam with its bicycles.
*Click the photograph above to access a slide show of the 21st April 2006 Holiday to Dutch Bulb FieldsNext day we set-off in the coach to see the Annual Flower Parade only to find we are not the only country with a traffic problem. The procession had over an hour lunch break at Sassenheim so some of us took the opportunity to view and photograph the spectacular floats whilst they were stationary. At 2 o'clock the procession set off again down the main street, which was now deep with people on both sides. It was a marvellous spectacle with all the colours of the flowers plus the marching bands, majorettes, etc..
Sunday saw us all on the coach again to travel to Lisse to visit the famous Keukenhof Gardens only to find Sunday morning traffic around Utrecht was just as bad as any weekday and caused Glyn to come out with his favourite expression "Happy Days"! Glyn was not to be beaten by the Dutch drivers and before we knew it he had turned off the motorway and was taking his 50-seater coach up a narrow road on an embankment alongside one of the many waterways. Luckily most of the other traffic was bicycles but even these were difficult to pass which gives some idea of the width of the road. Soon we were seeing field after field of tulips so we felt the gardens couldn't be far away. It is difficult to find words to adequately describe the beauty of the hundreds of spring blooms that greeted us once inside the gardens.
A canal cruise in Amsterdam was on our itinerary for the next day so we headed straight for one of the many canals when we reached the city. This boat trip took in many of the sights of the city including the beautiful facades of 17th century merchant houses and warehouses, churches, the old harbour with a floating Chinese restaurant and many river cruise ships. On our way we even passed a multi-storey bicycle park. Next we visited Gassan Diamonds, (no free gifts!) plus clog and cheese makers. The afternoon was spent at Volendam, a traditional Dutch fishing town with a pretty harbour, narrow streets and quaint houses.
For our last day 26 of us took the option of a very early breakfast to leave the hotel at 7.00 a.m. to travel to Aalsmeer to see the flower auction in full swing. An amazing venture and well worth visiting.
The next morning saw us all ready for an 8 a.m. start for the return journey. Again Glyn made it pass very smoothly for us with a stop at a chocolate factory before we left Belgium behind us and entered France. Another stop on the outskirts of Calais for wine and diesel and the coach was soon on board the train again. A quick stop at Reading services and then the welcome sight of the Severn Bridge before we were all home again with very many thanks to Norma for a wonderful holiday and to our "stewardesses", Mo and Alma for keeping us supplied with hot drinks on the coach.
David Evans
11th May 2006 Visit to Aberglasney and National Botanical Gardens
photo: Botanical Garden
*Click the photograph above to access a slide show of the 11th May 2006 Visit to Aberglasney and National Botanical Gardens
One April morning a coach full of keen gardeners travelled to West Wales and there nestling in the stunning, beautiful Tywy valley was our first delight, the National Botanic Gardens of Wales.
The weather was good to us, so we were able to stroll past the beautiful lily ponds and aromatic scented plants to the millennium square. From there you could take in the sparkling lakes and Principality house, which is all that is left of Middleton hall which was designed by Samuel Pepys and built in the 18th century, but was burned down in 1931.
The plants in the Great Glasshouse, designed by Lord Foster, have improved immensely since I saw them 5 years ago. The trees and shrubs have now grown and matured into stunning specimens and there is such an array of exotic and rare flowers in every colour and shape imaginable from all over the world.
After lunch in the restaurant, we spent a tranquil time in the Japanese garden, then walked through many other themed gardens before coming upon the Auricula Theatre, which was a display of plants in a tiered formation, wonderful to behold! We then headed back to the coach for our next destination, Aberglasney Gardens. They are one of Wales's most exciting garden restoration projects. Fully restored is the Elizabethan / Jacobean cloister and parapet walk, which is the only example of its kind in the UK. Restoration work is still on going, at present they are working on the aviary.
My favourite was the Ninfarium, a unique garden created within the ruinous rooms and courtyard of the mansion .It is covered with a huge glass astrium and contains a wonderful collection of orchids, magnolias, palms and cycads.
There was so much to see! Having wandered peacefully past the Pool garden, the formal and manicured Walled gardens and the serenity of the Sunken garden we meandered through the Stream garden to Pigeon House Wood. I understand that many a poet has drawn inspiration from these gardens and I can understand why. The beauty of the new fresh leaved deciduous trees and the scent and colour of the bluebells could only be God created!
We ended the day having a scrumptious cream tea on the terrace at the Gardeners' cafe, with the sound of birds singing, water flowing gently into a pool and the scents and colours of a beautiful garden, paradise!
Thanks to the driver of Edwards' coaches we had a safe journey home. Thank you Norma and Jenny for organising another great trip.
Beryl LEWIS
10th Anniversary Pageant 2005
*Click the photograph above to access a photo album of the
10th Anniversary PageantConvenor Norma holds the notice while Dr Aid sorts out the plants complaints. Nurse Beryl brings tears to their eyes with promises of ridding them of their green fly by dowsing them with soapy water!
14th April 2005 Visit to Kew Gardens*Click the photograph below to access a photo album of the
Visit to Kew Gardens.
23rd April 2005 Cardiff Flower Show
*Click the photograph below to access a photo album of the
Visit to the Cardiff Flower Show
12th May 2005 Visit to Batsford Arboretum and Sezincote
*Click the photograph below to access a photo album of the
Visit to Batsford Arboretum and Sezincote
6th/11th June 2005 Holiday in Austria
*Click the photograph below to access a photo album of the
Visit: 6th/11th June 2005 Holiday in Austria
7th July 2005 Visit to Hampton Court Flower Show*Click the photograph below to access a photo album of the
Visit to the Hampton Court Flower Show
3rd August 2005 Visit to Ball Colegrave trial grounds
*Click the photograph below to access a photo album of the
Visit to the Ball Colegrave trial groundsBall Colegrave Ltd is the major supplier of flower seed and plug plants to commercial growers and local authority departments throughout the UK.
It was a most enjoyable day where everyone enjoyed the vast colourful displays of the established plants and those that were on trial, everyone was allowed to place a blue flag against the new varieties that they thought would sell well.
(Thanks to Terry Williams for the photo's)
Gardening Group Visit to Normandy
*Click the photograph below to access a slide show of the Gardening Group Visit to Normandy
The Gardening group and driver, Ray (centre) on a recent trip to Normandy, France, where we were made so welcome by everyone - Thank you
Our day out to Hestercombe
*Click the photograph below to access a slide show of the Gardening Group day out to Hestercombe
1st & 2nd May 2004 Visit to Barnsdale Gardens, Rutland and the Spalding Flower Parade
Above two photo's from Barnsdale Gardens, which is in heart of Rutland. The gardens were set up by the late Geoff Hamilton of BBC "Gardeners World".
An enjoyable and memorable visit was had by all to these works of art by Geoff Hamilton and the present staff.Below a selection of photo's from our visit to the Spalding Flower Parade and the new Springfield outlet shopping centre attached to the Festival Gardens
The photo on our home page was taken of one of our members admiring a water feature in the Festival Gardens, how nice if we could have one like this in Caldicot.*Click the photograph below to access a slide show of the Spalding Flower Parade
Was this an engine bound for the Severn Tunnel!
Welcome to spring time
(photo taken by Ann Taylor-Heard on a recent walk in the Usk area)
We must return to this beauty spot in 2005
Photograph taken by Rosa Morgan during our visit to Clyne Gardens, Swansea, in 2003
Visit to Highgrove
During August, 25 members of the Gardening Group were invited by His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, to tour the garden at Highgrove.We were met on arrival and introduced to our Garden Guide. After being requested to all stay together we entered the garden through the Laurel Tunnel and across the wild flower meadow, which had been cut at this time of year. Our first stop was at the water feature at the top of the thyme walk leading to the house.
Our tour lasted one and a half hours and it would be impossible to describe it in detail. It is a quite unique garden, small and intimate in some areas and bold and dramatic in others. I am sure we all had our own personal favourites, but we all agreed it was a wonderful experience, that concluded with coffee and a visit to Highgrove Shop, where, amongst other purchases, we bought a video of the garden. If anyone would like to borrow this video, please contact me. Norma Shreeve.
U3A Gardening Group Loire Valley Tour 2003
*Click the photograph below to access a slide show of the Gardening Group
Loire Valley Tour 2003
'Past and Present' ( From left to right ) Caldicot and District U3A Past Chairman Jean Imrie seen waving with our Chairman Peter Shreeve from a balcony in the Chateau of Chenonceau in the Loire Valley. Norma Shreeve, convenor of the Gardening group and organisor of the trip is seen next to Peter.
Loire Valley Tour
Another stop was at Chinon Castle where we were kept spellbound by the English speaking guide. I know I went to the Loire Valley with the Gardening group but came away bursting with knowledge of French and English History, after visiting the Castle.
A trip to the bottom of the Valley, a meal in the Town square, washed down with French wine, a group photograph in front of Joan of Arc Memorial and we were on our way again, after another wonderful day
Thank-you Norma.
Three photos of our visit to the Hampton Court, Herefordshire.
*Click the photograph below to access a slide show of our visit to
Hampton Court, Herefordshire.
Give an idea of the breathtaking variety of scenes we were to see in the gardens as we strolled around the grounds of this beautiful house, built in the early 15th century.
8th May 2003
Visit to Clyne Gardens & Swansea Botanical Garden.*Click the photograph below to access a slide show of the visit to Clyne Gardens & Swansea Botanical Garden.
7th August 2003 Visit to Taunton Flower Show
During the Gardening groups visit on the 7th of August to the Taunton Flower Show four of our lady members were caught on camera admiring the exhibits or were they part of it.
MAISON ET JARDINS CLAUDE MONET*Click the photograph below to access a slide show of MAISON ET JARDINS CLAUDE MONET
The gardening group had a wonderful and memorable time when they recently visited France. Their first visit was to Monet's Garden, then they went on to visit other beautiful locations, including Paris.
© Caldicot and District U3A mmviii
