Ludlow Open Gardens preview

Shropshire Star

We get a first look at three of the amazing gardens that will be open as part of the Ludlow Secret Gardens open event. There will be around ten open on the day mid June.

Transcript

00:00Could you tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind your garden?

00:05Well I come from New Zealand and I come from a family of gardeners and architects.

00:10So I think it's in the blood and when my father was over here many years ago,

00:16we walked the house 30 years ago, he designed a vegetable garden for me

00:21and then we sort of discussed the layout of the garden and much later on we put the pond in

00:26and then just last year we put the Japanese garden which was because we've got family living in Japan

00:34and Chris loved the idea of having a Japanese garden so I made one for his 80th birthday.

00:40How much is your favourite spot in the garden?

00:43Now it's the Japanese garden.

00:47How much time do you spend out in the garden?

00:51Well I've got a retail business that's open 7 days a week and I've had it for 26 years

00:58so I can only do really early mornings and in the evenings and Sundays

01:03but I have the wonderful Jackie Percival who's here today who does 5 hours and works a miracle

01:09keeping it all in order. So I'd love to do more, one day if I retire maybe that's what I'll be doing.

01:16And are you looking forward to welcoming visitors as part of the Secret Gardens?

01:19Absolutely, yes I think people are always fascinated to see what's behind these houses in the middle of town

01:26It's amazing.

01:27Because they don't realise how large they are, you know, so no I think

01:31and that we've got beautiful scenery all around so yeah I think it's lovely.

01:37Hi, my name is Olivia Stevens and this is my garden in Ludlow at Sundown.

01:52I'm outside every day as possible gardening with my dog Wilson.

01:58I love this area because it's a shady area, keeps me out of the sun and I like my hosta area which is just behind me

02:10and I've just put in a new bed of yellow roses where we took out a tree

02:16and I'm very much looking forward to seeing you all at the open gardens in a few weeks time.

02:26Good morning, I'm Richard and this is Jane Harding. We've been living here in Ludlow for about 15 years now.

02:33The house was built 10 or 12 years before we bought it on the site of an old Augustinian friary

02:41which was then excavated in the 1980s and the house built on the ruins.

02:47So quite a lot of the features in the garden are based on the remains of the refectory of the friary.

02:55So a lot of the walls you see are actually medieval.

02:59The shape of the garden therefore is dominated by the ruins, hence all the steps.

03:06And since we've lived here, the trees around in the old churchyard have grown in height

03:13so we're a bit limited for light.

03:16The little gazebo you see behind me we put in last year and it catches the sun at coffee time from 11 and 1 o'clock.

03:24So it's a short place to sit with a cup of coffee in a newspaper or a book.

03:29And the border down there to the south faces east-west and we've put in some posts to give it some height and some ropes.

03:41And there are roses in particular along those to give the big border some shape.

03:47And that's the basis on which the garden is.

03:51The house is in the middle of the site which means one's constantly walking around in circles to get things.

03:57The shed is on the far side so it's very good for keeping fit and practicing on steps.

04:03.

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