Open GardensComments from our members

The Garden Museum (formerly the Museum of Garden History) aims to become the leading national venue for exhibitions and debate on gardens and garden design offering a programme of exhibitions and events. Sited in the former St Mary-at-Lambeth church, the museum has undergone a major refurbishment completed in Autumn 2008.
The curchyard/garden is the site of the tomb of the 17th Century plant hunters and royal gardeners, John Tradescant father and son, who brought to the UK Magnolias, Bald Cypress and Tulip tree, and garden plants such phlox and asters.
In addition there is the tomb of Captain William Bligh of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' infamy.
The collection comprises three main categories: tools, ephemera and a library. The tool collection includes items purchased at auction and donations from individuals and horitcultural companies. The ephemera includeds items such as prints, photographs, bills, catalogues and brochures, and gives an insight into the social history of gardening as well as the practical aspects of the subject. The library of historical and contemporary books is accessible to anyone who pays the subscription to join the "friends of the museum". The museum covers the whole range of gardening, from royal gardens to allotments.

How do you change the marker on the map. The original poster has placed it in the wrong place!!!!

The garden site is actually south east of Elmstead Market, not west of it!

The next Open Garden will be on Sunday 25th April 2010 under the National Garden Scheme (Yellow Book)

Shrewsbury Flower Show 2010 show dates 13th & 14th August

14th &15th show dates for 2009

I could've spent a whole day here & been happy! I loved it, & got so much (maybe too much!!) inspiration for my own garden from it! It was the best day out I've had in years!
WELL worth a return visit or ten!

A great "garden" to spend 2 - 3 hours in. Visitors can wander through plantings from both N. and S. Hemishperes, and read about the plants, as well as the explorers who brought them into modern cultivation.
There is a plant sales area, filled with plants (I noted that these were "in-line" with what we had seen). For a mere £3, you can make a "World Tour" here, and believe that you had really made it, as far as the plants are concerned.

Hello, How did your Open Day go? Do you have pics?

Theres £25 and 10 minutes of our lives we'll never see again. Have all these people really been to the same place we did!? It was awful! Tiny, smelly,(my 4 year old smelt like somebody had died) boring and hugely expensive. It took us less than 15 minutes to walk round the greenhouse, (thats nearly £2 a minute) and hated every second. Don't waste your time or money.

Beautiful house with loads to see inside (takes approx an hour) - huge gardens (more of a park really) - Glass House full of interesting plants & climbers (only downside was not enough of them are actually labelled) - formal gardens - walled garden - lake - usual National Trust goodies in the restaurant & shop. Excellent place to take children as lots of open space to run around in without annoying anybody else - also plenty for them to get involved in inside the house. Dogs also welcome but must be kept on a lead.

Thanks for sharing Bertie.........I would love to visit, if we go this route again, we have been passed Tours a few times....:o)

A pretty and unusual chateau with a traditional French potager. A host of unusual plants and vegetables, including a 20 m tunnel of unusual squashes and gourds. Lots of interesting and quaint architectural features.
Only disappointment is that the gardens are not wonderfully well maintained and some labels are missing or inaccurate. But well worth a visit for inspiration. Admission cost is only 8 euros.

How to get there:-

Travel Information
Car From Central London: Leave the M4 at Junction 3 and take the A312 going south. Drive straight over the A4 and at the A30 turn right.
Keep on the A30, past Hatton Cross tube on your right and over another set of traffic lights until you come to a roundabout.
Bedfont Lakes Country Park is in Clockhouse Lane, which is the third exit off the roundabout. The Bedfont Road entrance can be reached by taking the second exit off the roundabout.

Travelling from the South, West and North: Leave the M25 at Junction 13 and take the A30 towards Central London. Pass through the Crooked Billet traffic light complex and then over another set of traffic lights by Ashford Hospital. Still on the A30 you come to the roundabout where you should take the fourth exit into Clockhouse Lane, or the third exit into Bedfont Road.

There are free car parks at Clockhouse Lane and Bedfont Road entrances.

Bus Route H26 runs between Feltham, Sparrow Farm and Hatton Cross Underground Station. Bedfont Lakes is on the route.

Route 116 operates between Hounslow Bus Station and Ashford Hospital. Alight at Bedfont Green. The park is a short walk from there.

Tube Take the Piccadilly Line to Hatton Cross and then catch the H26 bus.

Train Alight at Feltham Station and then catch the H26 bus.

http://www.bedfontlakes.co.uk/

Piet Oudolf built this four and a half acre garden. It's arranged as a series of hedged "rooms". Some are more appealing than others. There are some beautiful plants and plant combinations, and pieces of garden art, not only stand-alone pieces, but hand-made gate furniture, for instance.
Ideal for plantaholics - you get a plant list to help you identify the more unusual ones.

The flag is as near as i could get it - the address is Quatt, near Bridgenorth. I hope it's OK.
I've been there a few times. Lovely garden and footpaths as well as the hall itself.
Part of The National Trust.

The home of the Sitwell family who personally ensure the high quality of plant and garden care.
A joy in May, the azaleas were nearly over. The handkerchief tree in full 'bloom'.
Plan to visit again in August to see the herbaceous borders, whose skeleton promised great things.
Excellent courtyard cafe, several art and museum diplays.

We've been there many times.....the house is lovely and feels "lived in" unlike some other National Trust properties!!! We particularly like the walled garden and love the walk past the pond/lake where you can get close to the water's edge and watch the ducks and coots etc.,...I might even have some pics; we visited there quite recently.

We visited Heligan 6 years ago & would certainly go again - even without knowing the amazing story of it's discovery you'll be over-whelmed with the 'walk' that takes you right through the the depths of the garden with it's huge tropical trees - children would love it's jungly feel - also walked past the charcoal pits which are still in use - nice shop with lots of things made on the premises. Well worth going but try & get there first thing in the day as it soon fills up with coaches.

Visited Renishaw Hall 2 years ago - lovely fairly formal gardens - the Hall wasn't open to the public at that time but I think it is now - you should make the effort to walk around the lake which was a bit neglected but had loads of wildlife including nesting swans.