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News 2009

Norfolk NGS County Organiser Scoops Tourism Award

Anthea Foster, Norfolk National Gardens Scheme county organiser scooped the Tourism “Peoples Award, Unsung Hero” at the EDP, Tourism in Norfolk Awards Dinner on the 20th November 2009. hosted by Carol Bundock at the Holiday Inn North, Norwich.

NGS Open Garden organiser nominated in Tourism Awards

Norfolk National Gardens Scheme County Organiser, Anthea Foster has been nominated as one of three finalists in the People’s Award in the EDP “Tourism in Norfolk Awards”.

Anthea Foster’s garden at Lexham Hall, near Litcham, was first opened for the NGS by her parents-in-law over forty years ago and the garden now launches the new “open garden season” in Norfolk each year with its snowdrop walk. She is the Norfolk County organiser who coordinates the activity of each district organiser and their gardens.

Formal Gardening victory over Jungle Gardener

Competing against four formal gardeners, Jon Kelf raised the profile of exotic gardens and the Norfolk National Gardens Scheme in this year’s BBC Gardener of the Year competition. The winner Hilary Barnes from West Sussex was announced as all finalists were invited to Greenacre, winning by public vote. However NGS gardener Helen Brown, Devon was picked as the judges favourite. Well done Jon for achieving a place among these finalists!

Norwich NGS, Jungle Gardener in BBC Gardener of the Year Finals

At six years old, Norwich born Jon Kelf was hardly tall enough to reach the handles but was pushing his father’s lawnmower. Little did his father realise what a gardening influence he had been. Over thirty years later in 2007, after travel to many exotic places, Jon opened his 26ft by 60ft Jungle Garden to raise money for the worthwhile charities of the Norfolk National Garden Scheme. Now not only has Jungle Garden been voted as “Best Garden in Britain” in a competition run by the Daily Mail but owner Jon Kelf is in the finals of BBC Gardeners World “Gardener of the Year competition”.

The Jungle Garden is a small town garden with five levels of decking surrounded by dense, lush exotic planting. It has over two hundred different and unusual types of plants including palms, bamboos, bananas, gingers, cannas and more.

Visitor Numbers Bloom At Norfolk NGS Open Gardens

East Ruston Old Vicarage’s opening on October 3rd will bring the NGS garden season to a close. With very few rainy open garden days this year, Norfolk National Gardens Scheme visitor numbers have bloomed. This year with over ninety open days, nearly seventy gardens including fourteen new ones, visitors to the norfolkgardens website have increased by thirty five percent.

Afternoon Tea In The Old NGS Garden Days At Mannnington Hall

Thirty years ago Mannington Hall opened for the first time for the National Gardens Scheme. In those early days it was a person in a sun chair with an umbrella that greeted visitors and admission was only 40p. How times have changed since then.

Afternoon teas were served in the old school room with the small sinks used for washing up, before the tea room was formed. Now the Greedy Goose tea room provides a varied menu sourced from the local produce.

Norwich NGS, Jungle Garden Wins National Garden Competition

Garden owner Jon Kelf celebrated a win for Norwich this weekend. Although Norwich born and bred his victory was not in relation to the performance of his football team, Norwich City. Jon has won the Daily Mail 2009 National Garden competition for “Best Garden in Britain.” Jungle Garden was voted for on-line by the public.

Jungle Garden Video Link

Norfolk NGS Garden Gains International Fame

Devils End, Haddiscoe, is one of Norfolk’s hidden gems, a garden tucked away seven miles south west of Great Yarmouth. Yet, it has captured the interest of German and Japanese garden enthusiasts. The garden first opened for the National Gardens Scheme in 2007. Since then it has been featured in The English Garden and Country Life magazines. Now Internationally famous garden photographer Jerry Harpur has captured the essence of the garden for features in the Japanese “Bises” and German “Hauser” magazines. Both publications are renown for their interest in quality English gardens.

NGS Norwich Garden In Top Five Best Gardens In Britain

Jon Kelf of the Jungle Garden in Norwich is extremely honoured to have his Norwich garden selected as one of the final five in the national competition to find “Britain’s Best Garden” with the Daily Mail. Jon opens his garden once a year for the National Gardens Scheme in Norfolk who encouraged their garden owners to enter.

Yellow Signs Highlight Open Gardens at Royal Norfolk Show

On many occasions when travelling one must have noticed a yellow arrow highlighting a nearby open garden. This year the National Garden Scheme in Norfolk will design their stand with one hundred yellow NGS arrows. The stand In the Norfolk and Norwich Horticultural tent will encourage visitors, garden enthusiasts and potential new private garden owners. There will also be a plasma screen featuring all the Norfolk open gardens during the remainder of the 2009 open garden season and a prize draw in aid of the National Gardens Scheme.

Norwich - A NGS Open Garden Destination

Norwich is known as a city of history, culture, shopping and a tourism destination. Now it is becoming known for its collection of gardens of quality and character and interest. Two new gardens, Strangers Hall and Hawthorn House, open in Norwich this year for the National gardens Scheme. Norfolk a county known for its magnificent rural gardens and its great horticultural product now has an urban area that has eight NGS city gardens to visit, with more to open next year. They are all accessible by public transport. Discover what is over the garden gate and hidden behind the city’s walls!

A popular place for many years and still a favourite, attracting visitors yearly is the Bishop’s garden open on the last Sunday in June (28th,1 - 5). It is a four acre walled garden dating back to the 12th century.

Now a quarter of an acre garden hidden behind Strangers' Hall, the home of wealthy merchants and mayors of the 16th and 17th Centuries opens on July 5th (11- 4) for the first time for the NGS. It is an unexpected peaceful oasis in a busy part of the city. Strangers' Hall museum, St Gregory's' Church and the Maddermarket Theatre enclose the garden.

Visit The Norfolk NGS Garden Show

Norfolk has seven new National Gardens Scheme “Open Gardens” this June. In 1927 when the NGS was formed the gardens were large and formal. Now in keeping with the changing times so have the NGS gardens. This year the Norfolk gardens vary from the small and quirky to the natural wildlife garden and reputably the best kept allotment in Norfolk.

Jean Austen, 4 Mill Road is open on the 21st June (11 – 5) along with Spring Grove, two new Marlingford NGS gardens. Jean was delighted when she moved to Marlingford that she could design her garden before planting. She had studied garden design and horticulture in Kent and has taken her gardening interest further by studying advanced design at Easton College.

New NGS Garden Featured On The Norfolk Gardens Lovers Guide

The “NEW” National Gardens Scheme garden Conifer Hill, Starston will have been seen by nearly sixty thousand people already this year. It’s garden image was chosen for the front cover of the 2009 Norfolk NGS guide, the local county leaflet. It is open for the first time on May 24th (11-5) although it was open previously, over 20 years ago. It is one of fourteen new NGS gardens open in Norfolk.

National Gardens Scheme Days Are Blooming In Norfolk

With the increased interest for gardening and the great British love of home made cream teas; the National Gardens Scheme open days in Norfolk are blooming. The Tulips at Holme Hale Hall stood to attention for Radio Norfolk’s award winning “Treasure Quest” programme and Becky Betts. Owner Simon Broke not only provided the hidden treasure location but a great day out for over two hundred and forty visitors on Sunday.

Allotment Association Opens With NGS Garden

Garden owners Ruth and David Mountain of 11 Bank Road, Dersingham, open their garden on June 7th for the first time for the National Gardens Scheme in Norfolk. It is a small ¼-acre landscaped garden with interesting features, pond, shrubbery, island beds, rock garden.

There is a Mediterranean area with seating and a collection of favourite and unusual plants including bearded iris, heucheras, hostas, ferns. However It is the six acre allotment site, reputedly “One of the best kept in Norfolk,” adjacent to the garden that will also attract attention from a lot of the garden enthusiasts and visitors.

With the changing trends from growing flowers to vegetables over the last ten years, this allotment will provide interest not just for its vast stock but the actual design that has earned the allotment it’s title. The Dersingham Allotment Association have thirty plots of various sizes and sixty tenants. David and Ruth have two plots in which they grow enough produce to provide all they need.

New North Norfolk National Gardens Scheme Garden

Burgh House, Burgh Road Aylsham, is the first “New” North Norfolk 2009 National Gardens Scheme garden to open this year on the 10th & 17th May (12-6). Once part of Aylsham Manor garden, it is a slow project to uncover its history and reclaim paths in the four acre mixed deciduous woodland bluebell walk, with ponds, free range fowl and a large rookery.

Mannington Hall Celebrates Opening For The National Gardens Scheme For Thirty Years

This year Mannington Hall is celebrating opening for 30 years for the National Gardens Scheme. It is open on the 10th May and 27th September for the NGS (12-5). In the early days a person in a sun chair with an umbrella greeted visitors and admission was only 40p. How Mannington has changed now! By the kind invitation of Lord and Lady Walpole, garden owners, sponsors and tourism representatives attended a presentation at Mannington Hall to commemorate the occasion, including a visit to the garden.

Raoul Curtis-Machin, (National Trust Regional Gardens Advisor), presented Lord and Lady Walpole of Mannington Hall with a ceramic pot and the Earl and Countess of Romney, Gayton Hall will receive a tree later for the National Gardens Scheme Long Service Awards, both for opening 30 years. The National Gardens Scheme (NGS) has supported the National Trust Careership in many of the Norfolk properties, a national joint initiative, designed to ensure a continuous supply of suitably qualified graduate gardeners, competent to work in historic and fine gardens. Head gardeners and students from Felbrigg Hall and Blickling Hall gave a presentation outlining what the NGS careership meant to them.

Raoul Curtis-Machin said, Today is an opportunity not only to thank the NGS for their support for the National Trust Careership. It is a chance to thank all the garden owners like Gayton and Mannington Hall, who continuously open for the scheme year after year. The NT Careership continues to go from strength to strength and now receives thousands of applicants every year. People of all ages, experience and backgrounds apply for this hugely successful training programme. Students are trained in all aspects of horticulture as well as being equipped with the necessary more specialist skills to work in historic gardens open to the public”.

Sign of the Times – New Mid Week NGS Open Garden

Lexham Hall is one of the National Gardens Scheme gardens that are opening mid-week this season, and for the first time, on Wednesday May 13th. Traditionally NGS gardens have always been associated with Sundays. When the NGS was formed in 1927 garden visiting was a shilling a head. Work-weeks ran from Monday to Saturday, Sunday was a day of rest, a family day and businesses were closed.

NGS Yellow Book Encourages Visitors to Norfolk

Three hundred and seventy five visitors and sixty children enjoyed the gardens and spring sunshine darting through the woodland walk, with clean fresh spring water running through the streams at Gayton Hall on Sunday 29th March. Many garden enthusiasts included visitors with the garden lover’s bible the National Gardens Scheme “Yellow Book”. Visitors had travelled from other counties and enjoy following the Norfolk gardens for a day out. One couple from South Cave, North Yorkshire staying regularly in Sheringham followed the Norfolk gardens, revisiting those opening during the different seasons. Another couple staying in Great Yarmouth drove across the county to enjoy the Gayton garden.

NGS Secret Gardens!

Follow the Norfolk National Gardens Scheme trail this April. Many of the gardens hold the mystery as in the book “The Secret Garden” and admission for children is often free. Parents and children are invited to peep over the garden gates and explore. A lot of the gardens have many features that interest children, woodland walks, nature conservation and vegetable plots and the special secret garden look. There are also tropical gardens, Aladdin’s Cave garden, secret rooms and a new one with a Spinney. The Norfolk National Garden Scheme spring garden trail provides gardens of high quality and interest and a variety of garden designs. There is the opportunity to pick up few garden tips from the owners and often plant sales to help create your garden to the NGS standard. Home made cakes and often soup help complete a relaxing garden day out while contributing to worthwhile charities.

NATIONAL GARDENS SCHEME - GAYTON GARDEN TRAIL

The Earl & Countess of Romney begin the National Gardens Scheme Gayton open garden trail on Sunday 29th March at Gayton Hall, six miles east of Kings Lynn, just off the B1145. This well-established, 20 acre woodland garden is laced with streams and ponds, bordered by stunning moisture-loving plants and spring bulbs. It is typical of the gardens that one would associate with the history of the National Gardens Scheme when visitors paid a shilling for entrance. The days when the visitors could have been characters from Pride and Prejudice! The admission is still only a nominal amount.

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NGS SNOWDROP WALK – VISITORS JUST KEPT DROPPING IN!

The National Garden Scheme in Norfolk Snowdrop walks at Bagthorpe Hall and Lexham Hall launched the garden season with a great impact. This is an annual NGS Norfolk experience not to be missed. £2589 was raised at Lexham Hall with over six hundred visitors and children and dogs, with additional record number visitors raising £1200 at Bagthorpe Hall. The brilliant sunlight raised the heads of the snowdrops to reveal the ruffles of the aconites underneath in the woods. The additional walk at Lexham takes you across the park land, complete with frozen mole hills with several parts of the land covered in snow, that and the woodland and many bridges were a delight to the many children. The open air out of the sunshine was sharp but refreshing. There was also an opportunity to explore the local church whose volunteers provided refreshments to raise church funds.

It was an action packed day for Anthea and Neil Foster, owners of Lexham Hall and NGS country organiser and treasurer. Radio Norfolk’s Treasure Quest Becky Betts arrived shortly after the garden gates opened to find the clue in Bears Cottage in the wood. Time running out Maggie Secker provided Becky with the treasure. “Maggie’s Brew” provided those travelling to or from the garden and other listeners with an insight into the history of the NGS and Lexham Hall.

You can also visit Lexham Hall on Wednesday 13th and Sunday 17th May and Wednesday 23rd September to view the garden in all seasons.

NGS NEW 2009 BROCHURE - A MUST FOR GARDEN LOVERS!

The National Garden Scheme in Norfolk launched a new look 2009 Norfolk NGS leaflet at Bagthorpe Hall on Tuesday 3rd February by kind invitation of Mr & Mrs Donald and Gina Morton. Nearly fifty garden owners and sponsors attended the event followed by a snowdrop walk. The leaflet still features the design of the traditional National NGS Yellow book, the bible of garden visiting. However the map leaflet now has been replaced with an A5 colour leaflet with more garden images to entice more visitors to peep over the garden gate.

Over £3 million was raised last year £70,000 in Norfolk through the generosity of garden visitors and the hard work of garden owners and volunteers. During 2008 the NGS donated over £2 million to its beneficiary charities including include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Crossroads - Caring for Carers and Help the Hospices.

The Norfolk leaflet has grown from strength to strength as has the awareness of the NGS in Norfolk. It has four extra pages and an increased print run from 40,000 to 50,000. Five years ago Norfolk County Council provided the initial funding. The Norfolk leaflet is now self financing with thanks being paid to the advertisers that support it and the hard work of the volunteer organisers. This has led to Norfolk now receiving the highest volume of NGS garden visitors in East Anglia compared to the other counties. The open gardens have increased in number to nearly seventy with nearly a hundred open days this summer.

County organiser Anthea Foster said “Fourteen new gardens open for the NGS in Norfolk this year. The gardens vary with a range of features, from formal to intense planting, from young to established including wildlife features and probably one of the best allotments in Norfolk. The gardens highlight the diverse and historical horticultural product around the county to the gardens in the city as in the old 16th century hall, the old home of wealthy merchants. Other gardens also have many new features to encourage visitors to return. These are the traditional characteristics that attract the garden visitor form the novice to the expert, or for just a family day out with tea and cakes. It is a chance to purchase a few plants and pick up a few handy garden tips while supporting worthwhile causes”.

However if you were one of the many people who followed a yellow sign to visit a garden over the years now is the time to visit your local Tourist information Centre to pick up a Norfolk National Gardens Scheme 2009 leaflet or visit www.norfolkgardens.org to Follow the Norfolk National Gardens Scheme garden trail. If your garden is of high quality, character and at least forty five minutes interest contact County Organiser Fiona Black to discuss opening your garden or recommend a friend’s garden! Tel 01692 650247.