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TheChronicle June, 2008
Join us at Ness, one of Cheshire’s leading Gardens of Distinction, as we share in the celebrations for Liverpool European Capital of Culture and Cheshire’s Year of Gardens 08. Set on the banks of the River Dee with breathtaking views across to North Wales, Ness Botanic Gardens boasts international repute with seasonal flowers, shrubs and trees. ■ Visitor centre with ‘Four Seasons’ cafe (licensed) serving wholesome meals and drop-in coffee shop ■ Gift shop, plant sales and special events including outdor theatre ■ Toddlers play area and new den making facility ■ Kids can become famous planthunters exploring the garden with our special activity backpacks. ■ Extensive events programme including outdoor theatre and concerts, see website for details.
Open daily - 10 miles North West of Chester off the A540 Ness Botanic Gardens, Ness, Neston, Cheshire. CH64 4YA. Tel: 0151 353 0123 email: nessgdns@liverpool.ac.uk www.nessgardens.org.uk
TheChronicle June, 2008
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T Watch the flower festival go floating by
he summer months will see Cheshire come alive with arts projects. In partnership with Parabola, Tatton Park will host ‘Spaces’, a one-day symposium for artists, commissioners and arts organisations exploring commissioning, context and site specific artwork.
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s one of the highlights of Cheshire’s Year of Gardens ’08, the Floating Garden Festival aims to promote Cheshire’s beautiful canal network.
Four florally decorated heritage boats will depart from Audlem in, Bollington, Trafford and Ellesmere Port, from June 7. They will then meet at the Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival, which this year takes place on June 13-15. British Waterways is providing its heritage boat Lindsay, a cargo narrow boat which will be florally decorated in an Alice in Wonderland theme using the talents of Chris Harrop, a Bollington-based floral designer, and hanging baskets and tubs donated by local clubs and societies. It will depart from Bollington on June 8 through Bosley Locks and Macclesfield to arrive in Congleton on June 9. The first stop on the journey will be the Queens Head Hotel in Congleton (Park Lane)
on Tuesday June 10 for an evening of folk music, CAMRA award winning cask ales and locally sourced guest beers, from 7pm onwards. Everyone is invited and encouraged to come down to this traditional English pub to soak up the atmosphere, visit the florally dressed boat, listen to the music and sample up to seven quality cask ales. Tel: 01260 272546. The boat will then head down to Rode Heath for the funfilled Odd Rode Festival on Wednesday June 11 from 4pm onwards. Activities to be confirmed are a bouncy castle, a brass band, refreshments, a tea party, dance troupes, stalls, music and much more in the pipeline. Tel: 01260 291592. ● For more details about the event and various events en route from Audlem, Bollington, Sale and Trafford visit www.visitcheshire.com/floatinggardenfestival.
Spaces is a new initiative aimed at engaging artists, commissioners and the wider community in the debate about site specific art in Cheshire. This stimulating project forms part of the prestigious Cheshire Year of Gardens ’08 programme and the development of Cheshire County Council’s Public Art Strategy. A website has been developed to exemplify high quality projects, encourage debate and raise expectations. More information can be found at the website: www.spacescheshire.com In addition, there will be a number of artist led opportunities
Arts alive!
for communities across Cheshire and Warrington to take part in Cheshire Year of Gardens celebrations. Highlights include: creation of a night garden at Anderton Nature Park; a floating garden, made from recycled materials, in Middlewich; a community play in Ellesmere Port; and street parades in Crewe. KinderGardens will launch in June, an international rural early years theatre festival. New for 2008, the festival will involve professional theatre performances and workshops for early years children aged two to six, touring rural England in June 2008. This exciting event is possible due to the unique collaboration between Cheshire Rural Touring Network, Shropshire and Herefordshire’s Arts Alive and Somerset’s Take Art. KinderGardens will feature inspiring companies from three European countries practising the best of current theatre, especially for the pre-verbal and the very young. The companies performing are La Baracca, Italy, Mala Scena, Croatia and Bare Toed from the UK.
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TheChronicle June, 2008
Cheshire's blooming stars
Floral walk to the RHS Show
By Felicity Goodey, chair of Cheshire's Year of Gardens '08 Steering Group. ‘A TANTALISING glimpse of what is possibly the best representation of Paradise in the country.’ That is how Chris Beardshaw, one of television’s most knowledgeable gardening experts, describes the Gardens of Cheshire. They are special, very special, and that’s why across the county gardens big and small have started to work together to reveal one of the UK’s best kept secrets, the Cheshire ‘Gardens of Distinction’. 2008 has brought together some of the finest examples of gardens in the country for the first time. These are a few examples picked out by Chris Beardshaw: ● ‘Temple gardens overlooked by the magnificent Gothic architectural showcase of Cholmondeley Castle.’ ● ‘300-year-old, rolling parkland that wraps its way around the Jacobean style Capesthorne Hall.’ ● ‘Ness Botanic Gardens, internationally famous, especially in late spring when the azalea and rhododendron collections light up the landscape with glamorous and vibrant blooms.’ ● ‘The 35-acre arboretum at Jodrell Bank where horticultural spe-
cimens vie for attention next to the space-age architecture of the research station.’ ● ‘The finest herbaceous borders in England tended by the same family for 300 years at Arley Hall and Gardens.’ ● ‘Tatton Park where the rolling landscape encircles topiary, Japanese and walled gardens of great abundance.’ ● ‘The oldest Lime Avenue in England at Adlington Hall.’ ● ‘Gawsworth Hall where the Elizabethan pleasure gardens are enhanced with open air theatre.’ And many more... But that’s not all. To celebrate their Gardens of Distinction in style, the people of Cheshire are hosting a huge variety of events and exhibitions throughout 2008. More than 360 special events across the county ranging from a major sculpture exhibition in the grounds of Tatton to Cheshire’s Floating Garden Festival. ■ The Pumpkin Games at Arley Hall. ■ For a visit with a difference, bring your bike and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of Chester Zoo whilst cycling around the grounds.
■ Or help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park which offers a truly unique day out for all garden lovers. ■ And Cholmondeley Castle will again be the magnificent backdrop for the annual Cholmondeley Fireworks Concert and Garden Party. Cheshire Year of Gardens ‘08 is supported not only by major national institutions like the Royal Horticultural Society and the National Trust but communities big and small. Even the railway stations are about to bloom!
THIS year, take the scenic route to the 2008 RHS Show – travel by train, enjoy Knutsford’s spectacular Floral Walk, and arrive at the show in style through Tatton’s town gates. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the RHS Show in Knutsford, the Floral Walk will link Knutsford Station with the town gates of Tatton Park. Visitors can book a combined rail and show ticket, saving £2 on admission to the show, and avoiding the queue for tickets at the gate. From the station, the Floral Walk follows Knutsford’s historic King Street, a most attractive street filled with restaurants, exclusive shops, galleries and cafés, which will be literally festooned with floral creations. Every few yards, delightful little ginnels, cobbled alleyways and hidden courtyards lead to more shops and cafés,
and to unique attractions such as Knutsford Heritage Centre, home of the town’s Millennium Tapestry. Knutsford is, of course, famous as the setting and inspiration for Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel, Cranford. It is a gentle 10-minute walk from the station to the gates of Tatton Park, where visitors can hop on board the RHS shuttle bus for a ride through Tatton’s scenic parkland to the showground itself. Look out for special offers in the shops, restaurants and cafés along Knutsford’s Floral Walk. Knutsford station will be specially decorated for the how, in a project which has involved groups of students from the local high school. ● To book your combined rail and show ticket, call Northern Rail’s specialised sales team on 0113 247 9659.
Tiger Lily (Lilium tigrinum)
Explore over 110 acres of beautiful gardens at Chester Zoo. Oh, and watch out for the tigers. The Tiger Lily (Lilium tigrinum) is one of the thousands of plants in Chester Zoo’s 110 acres of stunning gardens. Here are a few things you perhaps didn’t know about your local Zoo: Our award-winning gardens are over 50 years old. Over 33,000 bedding plants are planted twice a year. We care for nearly 200 endangered species of plants. We hold National Collections of Cacti and Orchid. In 2008 we will be holding a number of garden events, including an Orchid Festival and Plant Conservation Day. You can meet the gardeners and pick up some hints you can even become a Zoo ‘Gardener for a Day’. We are one of Cheshire’s ‘Gardens of Distinction’. In 2008, over 1 million people will visit this amazing landscape of rare, exotic and vibrant plants and may come across the occasional tiger, elephant, lion or even bear… So why not join them and see what everyone is talking about? Visit www.chesterzoo.org for opening times, prices and details of our special events.
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TheChronicle June, 2008
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TheChronicle June, 2008
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new contemporary art change and globalisation. biennial for the North The biennial supports the work of West of England has emerging and mid-career artists and is a launch pad for future been launched.
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Tatton Park Biennial opened to the public on May 3 and continues until September 28 during Cheshire’s Year of Gardens ’08. Curated by Danielle Arnaud and Jordan Kaplan from commissioning group Parabola, the biennial will commission up to 30 new works from artists, performers and writers, all developing responses to Tatton's internationally renowned gardens of distinction. Artists will investigate botanical collections and collectors amid concerns surrounding climate
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1 GAYLE Chong Kwan is ● developing new work for the conservatory, which houses an orangery, and plans the construction of a ‘mask’ that references both the history of the building and the effects of increasing extreme weather patterns on the fluctuating global prices for citrus crops.
Artwork inspired by Tatton gardens
● 2 DAVID Cotterrell – Little Sheep. Works embedded throughout the gardens suggesting trompe-l’oeil and the rationale of the park’s late 18th century landscape designer Humphry Repton.
3 HEATHER and Ivan Mor● ison are developing new work for the pond, adjacent to the Japanese Garden that will act as a point of meditation within a structure built from Tatton Park’s annually felled trees.
4 DAVID Blandy plans a ● new ‘outing’ for his Pilgrim with a series of filmed performances in which his English character in Shaolin robes attempts to live out aspects of the samurai ‘Hakagure’ amid an English recreation of a Japanese tea garden.
events that will further the understanding of exceptional artistic practice within this acclaimed historic property. With six semi-permanent works, 12 works that will evolve through the months, artists’ residencies and a film programme, the biennial will also feature tours, performances, film events, symposia, walks and talks for a wide range of visitors. A stimulating programme of workshops, performances, tours and events run alongside the permanent works. Dates include this weekend June 7 and 8.
5 JO Coupe will work in the ● Orchid House, which contains many valuable specimens. An orchid and its root system cast in solid gold and set with precious stones to emulate decay, the work will be of monetary value, questioning the collector’s interest in beauty, rareness and the precarious nature of life.
6 SIMON Pope will explore ● memory and walking through a series of performances, symposia and tutorials. He will travel to the Italian Alps (which Lady Anna Egerton painted regularly) and take walks. On return to Tatton Park, he will relay his memories to watercolourists, who will paint his remembrance.
TheChronicle June, 2008
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Lady Baker Wilbraham, Rode Hall AS Rode Hall has a working kitchen garden my tip for June is to stock up the larder with vinegars, sugars and spices for the home-made chutneys and jams. I especially look forward to the gooseberry crop grown by our head gardener, the gooseberry champion of the world, as this fruit combined with elderflower makes a delicious conserve. In the garden I keep a look-out for that new comer, the bright red lily beetle and continue to get rid of slugs and snails, by torchlight, as I walk my dogs. I visualise frosty days and plan the winter bedding and grasses for the snowdrop walks in February, perennials for summer 2009 and try to help with weeding which can smother all those plants so lovingly raised and just planted out. However, our best tip is to enjoy the view on an evening when all is quiet, from a garden seat with a glass of wine, and watch the sun go down.
The owners of some of Cheshire’s most impressive homes reveal the secrets of their beautiful gardens.
Glorious gardens Lord and LadyAshbrook, Arley Hall.
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une is one of the best months of the year in the garden at Arley. All the deciduous trees are by now in leaf and the fresh light green foliage looks magical in the sunlight against a blue sky. The herbaceous border is just coming into its own in early June, with alliums, herbaceous geraniums, cephalaria, scabious, delphiniums and other plants. The predominant colours are blue, yellow and silver, which look beautiful against the pale greenofthelawnsandthedarkgreen oftheyewhedges.Laterinthemonth, at the time of the garden festival,
Sarah Callander Beckett, Combermere Abbey
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JUNE is a wonderful month for visiting our gardens at Combermere, but a lot of upkeep is needed to keep us looking good. Everything is growing at its fastest speed and there is much to be done to make sure the walled gardens look wonderful for visiting holiday cottage guests and wedding parties. In the maze, the redcurrants and gooseberries are beginning to ripen, so the nets have to be put over them to make sure that we have something to harvest and make into our Walled Garden Collection of jams and jellies. In the past we have seen whole crops disappear on a single weekend when the local
many more perennials are in flower. The large collection of shrub roses are showing well. Many flowering shrubs are blooming in the walled garden in the centre of which is the pond and sculpture installed as a memorial to my mother, Elizabeth Ashbrook. This is surrounded by Iceberg roses and alchemilla mollis which go so well together. I have a particular affection for the Grove, a woodland garden the other side of Arley Hall, which I have been primarily responsible for developing over the past 30 years or so.
Mrs E. W. BromleyDavenport, Capesthorne Hall
bird population has a ‘Redcurrant Taster Weekend’ on their calendar! Weeding, hoeing and edging is the order of the day for our gardens team, and the lush herbaceous borders are full of colour. The rose beds are awash with colour, but every evening I wander up with my secateurs to dead head, encouraging a second flush of blooms
later in the season. The vegetable garden has started to produce huge quantities of fresh, unsprayed salad leaves, sorrels, spinach and blackcurrants, which are picked fresh as we need them to get maximum flavour. We offer some of these to our holiday guests on their arrival, and they are very popular.
JUNE is a wonderful month. It is an exciting time watching last year’s plants looking bigger and stronger, spreading further, noticing the way combinations successfully grow together, and weeding here and there to create a perfect visual picture. It is exhilarating to experiment and to find it works! I am sure it is important to have ‘surprises’ and to mix the exotic with the traditional. A garden thrives on variety, so you can always have colours that clash here, soft and subtle foliage there, a Rose Tent or folly here and sculpture, banana leaves and ferns there. Plant what appeals to you, and keep an open mind. You can’t beat the house with a garden!
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TheChronicle June, 2008
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Home compost brings your garden to life AS 2008 is Cheshire’s Year of Gardens, bring your garden to life with home compost. Home composting has a number of benefits for your garden; it improves important nutrient levels in the soil, improves the soil structure and helps to increase the soil’s water retention. All of these benefits combine to help plants grow stronger and healthier and you’ll be well on the way to a beautiful garden. Not only is home composting great for your garden, it is a good way of getting rid of your kitchen and garden waste, benefiting the environment too. As summer approaches, help your new plants and flowers bloom by digging a four-inch layer of compost into the soil prior to planting. Fresh plants will enjoy the benefits of compost’s fertility, disease-protection and moisture control. If the flowers have already been planted, simply spread a thin layer of the material around the base of the plants – the nutrients will work their way into the roots. If you haven’t actually got any home compost to put on your garden this summer, then this is the perfect time to begin, with the warm weather being essential for optimum composting conditions. And don’t stop once the winter starts – keep going – you’ll be glad you did when next summer comes and you’ve got lots of lovely rich compost for your garden. ● For more on home composting, visit the website: www.recycleforcheshire.org.uk
PEACEFUL SPOT: The new garden at Halton Haven Hospice. To find out what initiatives are happening in your area visit www.yearof gardens4u.com and click on the community programme page.
Haven's haven A
n innovative project, part of Cheshire’s Year of Gardens ’08, has just been completed.
Staff at Norton Priory Museum and Gardens have been working with the volunteer gardening group from Hough Green Park Social Services to design and build a community garden at Halton Haven Hospice. The garden is now growing well and will be a joy for the residents in the months and years to come. Volunteers have learnt gardening skills and gained knowledge about plants. The work involved understanding which plants can thrive best in different conditions, following research carried out in the Walled Garden at Norton Priory. This project received a grant of £500 from the Cheshire’s Year of Gardens ’08 Grant Fund, without which the project could not have gone ahead. This grant was one of 90 Cheshire’s Year of Gardens ’08 Community Grants that have been awarded to
local groups, schools and parishes. It just goes to show that there is a great interest in gardening throughout Cheshire. Right from the start of ’08 there has been a staggering variety of projects, from school wildlife gardens to gardening art exhibitions and food growing projects taking place, thanks to these grants. The overwhelming amount of projects will be continued throughout the year and that’s just projects that have got grants – there are many other groups out there which are also engaging in the celebrations. Helen Carey, chairman of the Cheshire’s Year of Gardens Community Grants Panel, says: “We are delighted that so many communities in Cheshire are getting involved in the celebrations for Cheshire’s Year of Gardens in so many different ways. This project demonstrates just how much commitment, time and effort volunteers are putting in and it’s a great example of how local people can make a real difference.”
Philharmonic in concert at Ness Gardens
NESS Botanic Gardens is hosting a gala concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday, July 5. The open air performance will be a unique opportunity to listen to the orchestra in new surroundings. The stunning backdrop of Ness Gardens and the views across the Dee estuary will complement a specially chosen musical programme and culminate in a choreographed firework spectacular. Pre-booked tickets cost £25. Tickets on the night (if still available) will cost £27.50. The orchestra will be performing on a main stage but the music will also be amplified into selected areas of the gardens through loudspeakers. Visitors are asked to bring their own low back seating but seating will also be available for hire. The concert will run from 7.30pm until 9.30pm, with an interval. The gardens will be open from 5.30pm for early arrivals. Visitors are welcome to bring picnics but refreshments will be on sale. Concert picnic hampers can also be ordered in advance. ● To book tickets and order picnic hampers for the evening, contact Val Hall, visitor services manager, Ness Botanic Gardens on 0151 353 0123 or e-mail vhall@liv.ac.uk
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BRIDGEMERE
TheChronicle June, 2008
A Gardeners' Paradise
Bridgemere is a unique shopping experience with thousands of plants for the home and garden from the unusual and rare to the much loved. A leisurely stroll around the Bridgemere Gardens, provides visitors with inspiration and ideas. With many different styles of gardening - cottage and formal, woodland, water and winter - you can visit a world of gardens in a day!
• Award winning Restaurant and Coffee Shop • 6 Acres of Stunning Gardens to give you inspiration for your own. • Undercover Shopping • More plants, in more varieties than anywhere else in Britain • Join the Gardening Club • Ice-cream Parlour • Open until 8pm weekdays, 6pm weekends. Winter hours differ.
• Children's Shop • The Bridgemere Emporium • Florista Fresh Flowers • Largest Range of BBQs, Garden & Conservatory Furniture • Children's Play Area • Free - Endless Parking
Bridgemere Garden World, Near Nantwich, Cheshire. CW5 7QB. Tel: 01270 521100 website: www.bridgemere.co.uk BUILDINGS FOR LEISURE
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