A second very special visit to the west of the county, to two outstanding gardens in the South West of England. Arrive for coffee or tea at 10.30 am in the Fortescue Room at The Garden House in time for a garden tour to be led by the Head Gardener, Nick Haworth at 11.00am.
As Toby Buckland says, the garden is a true plantsman’s paradise which holds delights for both the seasoned gardener and for those who simply enjoy exploring and immersing themselves in the beauty and tranquillity of 12 acres of stunning gardens.
Lunch will be served back in the Fortescue Room as self-service paid for individually.
After lunch we head across to Wildside for a tour led by Keith Wiley at 2.00pm.
Wildside has been hailed by many as the most imaginative and adventurous garden in England today. Over the last 20 years this Devon garden has evolved from a flat, featureless field to a rich and complex landscape that not only offers ecological niches to a vast array of plants but creates a complete and satisfying dreamworld of rare emotional power.
By manipulating scale, a three acre site feels much bigger than it is, evoking deep mysterious valleys and distant mountain tops, or the journey of water from a sacred spring to the oxbow lakes of the plain. The garden captures the essence of remembered landscapes, ranging across the globe from the Temblor hills of California to the rockscapes of Utah, from the flower meadows of South Africa to the mossy walls and tumbledown barns of England.