An award-winning garden will be open this Sunday under the National Gardens Scheme.
Windy Ridge at Little Wenlock is home to Fiona and George Chancellor who have created a spectacular garden which was winner in the Garden of the Year Competition in the over one third of an acre category in 2005 and South and West Country Garden of the Year in 2006.
The garden has been created from scratch in the past 22 years, which was previously grazed by horses. Fiona is a garden designer who has very successfully combined colours from flowers and foliage.
She has used many less common plants with outstanding characteristics, which she has planted informally in a garden with formal landscaping features, particularly circles.
The front garden slopes away from the house and has a formal pool with associated planting. Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’ is producing its lovely purple foliage.
Hostas feature strongly as well as various ferns and grasses which will be at their best in autumn.
Viburnum ‘Lanarth’ has been flowering profusely and a surprise garden can be found beyond this. Beside the house is a small topiary garden and Hydrangea petiolaris is climbing up the house wall.
As you enter the back garden the first area has a Japanese feel with Cornus contraversa ‘Variegata’ looking spectacular.
Against the house wall are various tender plants such as Corokia and a variegated Ceanothus ‘Silver Surprise’.
Walk forward onto the main circular lawn and borders of choice shrubs and herbaceous perennials surround you.
Sambucus ‘Black Lace’ is always an eye-catcher and is just starting to flower. Oriental poppies, lilies, Iris and Peonies are all flowering.
Below the lawn is the gazebo garden and below that is the water garden - a large pool with many marginal plants and fed by a stream from right down the side of the garden. It is hard to imagine that this is man-made.
The stream garden is planted with lovely ferns and Japanese Acers on its way to the pool and the bog garden beyond with giant Gunnera, hostas and other marginal plants. Look out for the pitcher plants beside the stream.
Making your way to the top of the garden you may spot Cornus kousa ‘Satome’, the unusual Hydrangea ‘Quadricolor’ or Persicaria ‘Red Dragon’.
Actinidia kolomikta is showing its bright pink and white splashed leaves and Pacific Coast Iris hybrids are flowering well. Windy Ridge is a plantaholic’s garden with over 1,000 different species of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants.
Windy Ridge is open this Sunday for the National Gardens Scheme.
It will be open again on Saturday June 30 and Sunday July 1 for the Little Wenlock Gardens Open weekend along with around nine other gardens in the village and again on August 19 and September 2 for the N GS.
By Martin Ford
Share this article:
What are these?