SPRING 2025

There’s no shortage of things to do in a garden even in January, including the last stages of the paving project. This was one of the biggest projects undertaken in the past couple of years, requiring a huge input of funds, skill and effort. We are particularly grateful for Nick’s knowledge, craft and sheer hard work in guiding the team, and personally moving this huge project towards its last phase.

John and Nick getting down to work!

The hamamelis (Witch Hazel) is looking particularly good this year.

We always enjoy seeing the first Snowdrops of the season in the Woodland Garden.

At the February team meeting, we reflected on how far we had succeeded in reaching our annual targets, the most significant being the near-completion of the paving project.

One idea for a future project was a suggestion that we create a chamomile seat for the new Sensory Garden.

Another idea put forward for the Sensory Garden is to make a noticeboard, like the slate versions we already have around the site, as seen in the picture of the Woodland Garden above.

Of course, by now that same Woodland Garden is full of colour: alongside the Snowdrops, the vivid pink Cyclamen and golden Winter Aconite look stunning.

By the end of February the paving project had literally turned its final corner! The reclaimed stone matches extremely well with the building fabrics. Over 18 months of hard work is complete: our heartfelt thanks to Nick.

There are flagstones and cobbles left over from this mammoth project: but they won’t be wasted. We shall use them to install hard surfaces in front of seats and information boards, to offset erosion from visiting feet in those areas.

Our thoughts now turn to the interior of the Bath House. The team are sharing ideas to make the upper chamber more welcoming – a real ‘warming room’.

But meanwhile, John’s find of a Victorian cast-iron boot-scraper will serve as a useful and attractive finishing touch at the Bath House. At least some of the mud will be kept out of the warming room when volunteers gather for tea and treats after their morning’s work!

We also want to decorate and furnish it in a more appropriate Georgian style.  We made a start with the purchase of a Georgian corner cupboard a year ago.

Here are two perfect examples: Dandelion and Coltsfoot. Along with many other native wild plants, both of these fulfil the purpose of a Physic Garden: to grow plants with medicinal properties.

The flower heads look very similar at first glance; but Coltsfoot is unusual in producing flowers before its leaves. They appear later, after the flowers have died back, and are shaped like a horse’s hoof – hence the name. 

Often maligned as ‘weeds’, Dandelions are actually great plants for pollinators; and incidentally create a cheerful and completely unmanaged yellow border along many a roadside, replacing the carefully planted and cultivated daffodils that lined them earlier.