New Garden Prepares For First Opening This Weekend

Tina and Bill Bennell of 10 Hudson Close, Warrington open their garden on behalf of the NGS for the first time in July. Tina takes up the story of how the garden was created and has evolved. 

“We moved into the house in the summer of 2007, and were faced with every garden designers dream, a blank canvas. A square of grass were we could plan and plant exactly as we wanted.

Shortly after, our enthusiasm waned a little with the realisation of two major flaws that our garden has:

1. The soil is very heavy clay, with a hard pan about 1m down. This means the soil is rich and fertile but is waterlogged for most of the winter.
2. A completely blank canvas means we had no established trees or shrubs to incorporate into a design which would create a sense of maturity.

We were literally starting from scratch.

We planted a hedge and 16 trees, which were to form the backbone of the design, in the autumn 2007. This original English Yew Hedge died in winter 2009 due to the water-logging problem and was replaced by Hornbeam in Spring 2010.

The main hard landscaping was started in Easter 2008, finally completed Easter 2010. I think it took so long because Bill and I did the work ourselves. Land drains in the wettest part helps with water logging problem, as does the raised bed in the centre of the garden, but we still have to choose plants carefully.

Getting into The Yellow Book is quite an achievement for us, and we are very proud of what we have achieved in such a short space of time in the garden. In early summer 2011 we approached Derek and Sandra who own and run Harefield Water Gardens to ask if they would be the sponsors for our Cream teas. Derek and Sandra were only too keen to help raise money for such worthy charities and agreed to help by generously sponsoring the Cream teas.

As well as carrying one of the largest ranges of pond plants, fish and supplies in the North, there is also a herd of Alpacas at Harefield Water Gardens which produce top quality yarn for knitting. A selection of the yarn will be is available for visitors to the garden to purchase.

Further details on 10 Hudson Close can be found here

Opening dates and times: Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th July 1-5pm

Admission: £3, children under 16 years of age free admittance