A double delight for gardeners

In the picturesque village of Clee St Margaret on the edge of the Clee Hills, two gardens will be open this Sunday for the Shropshire Historic Churches Trust.

Dr and Mrs John Bell will be opening their one-acre garden at Field House, and just a short walk away will be David and Joan Palmer's garden at the Old Post Office, adjacent to the ford.

David and Joan have an idyllic setting for their garden, with a backdrop of mature trees and the focal point being the waterfall from the ford, where the stream tumbles down some 10 feet before meandering around the boundary of the garden.

David and Joan have lived at The Old Post Office for six years and have worked incredibly hard to renovate the garden which, although planted with some choice shrubs and trees, had been allowed to grow up out-of-hand and be drawn up by too much shade.

The previous owner, who was only there for 18 months, had felled conifers to allow more light in and David and Joan have gradually reduced the shrubs to more acceptable proportions.

The small front garden is what you would expect of an English cottage garden. A central front door with Wisteria, climbing roses and Clematis around it, all to flower later in the year, also bulbs, hardy Fuchsias and ferns.

This front garden is only postage stamp size - well, it was a post office. As you enter the main garden your eye is drawn to masses of spring bulbs and a wonderfully clipped Yew tree.

"It reminds me of a guardsman's helmet," Joan remarked. This divides the garden and beyond it are the greenhouse and the raised vegetable beds.

Across the lawn and you reach a steep bank down to the stream. David has created a solid decking walkway above the stream from which they can maintain the bank and visitors can enjoy it also.

Hellebores feature strongly with some of Ashwood's prize cultivars planted here. Primroses have naturalised along here and ferns enjoy the partial shade.

Approaching the waterfall, you will see several small watercourses dripping into the stream, including one flowing through a cast iron tub. Another has watercress flourishing in the crystal clear water.

Marsh marigolds, iris and Ligularia have been planted along the water's edge. Back up in the main garden and your eye is drawn to the multitude of different cultivars of Narcissus in flower and lots of blue Anemone blanda.

"These just appeared after cutting back some of the shrubs," Joan recalled. Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis', the winter flowering cherry, is smothered in blossom, above a border of ornamental grasses.

Forsythia and Ribes are flowering well and the white trunks of silver birch stand out in the winter light. Outside the house door is a pink Camellia and a Japanese quince in flower.

David and Joan have a stunning location and are creating a garden to complement this. The garden is open this Sunday from 2-6pm along with Field House.

Cars are best left at Field house and then, after walking round that garden, there is a short walk past the church to the Old Post Office.

Teas are available 50 yards away between the two gardens. Directions will be signed off the Craven Arms to Morville road and Ludlow to Bridgnorth road.

Gardening Ground Rules:

• The cold weather over the Easter period has delayed many plans to start spring cleaning the garden. Never mind, it is not too late to start with most jobs

• Plant out broad bean plants, early potatoes and onion sets when the soil is in a suitable condition to plant and not when it is too wet to work on

• Continue with lawn maintenance and feed with a spring and summer feed to stimulate good green growth

• Feed flower borders with a slow release fertilizer and mulch to prevent annual weeds and reduce moisture loss

• Feed bulbs with a high potash fertiliser, particularly any that have not flowered well this year

By Martin Ford