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March & Apr; daily except Tues & Sat; 10am - 5pm
May & June; daily except Tues; 10am - 5pm
July & Sept; daily except Tues & Sat; 10am - 5pm (closed Aug)
1st - 20th Oct; daily except Tues & Sat; 10am - 5pm
Welcome for day and evening visits. Guided Tours available.
17 May; 2pm - 5pm; £2.50
28 June; 2pm - 5pm; £4.00
1 July; 6.30pm - 9pm; £4.00
11 Oct; 2pm - 5pm; £2.50
April - July Sept - Oct
Spring- Woodland and Shade lovers
Summer - Herbaceous Borders
Autumn - Asters, Hardy Chrysanthemums, Sedums
See NGS Days & Prices
Nursery Shop, Teas on charity days, and for parties and coaches
Wed June 27th, open evening, 6.30pm - 9pm
NGS open evening; five different village gardens and 30 allotments will be open; Admission £4
Nursery selling over 1,000 different plants, many rare and unusual. Biggest range in UK of Trilliums and Hardy Chrysanthemums. Now included in the highly prestigious Great Gardens to Visit 2013 book.
Willoughby House B&B, Norwell, 10 mins walk
The Caunton Beck (10 mins drive)
The Plough, Norwell, 5 mins walk
Gardens in very attractive village with many footpaths, 15 mins away from historic Market town of Newark (markets Weds & Sats) Also Southwell with Minster and race course.
A beautifully landscaped plantsman's garden which on a shallow, south facing slope holds over 2,500 different plant species and cultivars. Various areas provide interest throughout the year and include, Woodland, hot beds (summer reds, orange and yellow beds) daisy beds, (late summer-autumn colour) scree areas where plants that need good drainage thrive, raised flower beds around the patio with Penstemons, Campanulas and Dieramas, colour themed beds and large herbaceous borders. One area where visitors often congregate to is the large pond, beautifully and naturally planted with bog gardens.
In early spring the shade garden is at its stunning best, raised beds are stuffed with rare Hellebores, Snowdrops, Erythroniums (Dog toothed Violets), Trilliums, Epimediums Pulmonarias, Primulas, Wood anemones and snakes head Fritillarias by the hundred . Although this area is predominantly a spring garden Orchids, Veratrums, Cardiocrinums (8' high giant Himalayan Lilies), the tropical looking Cautleyas, Tricyrtis (Toad Lilies) and Japanese Saxifrages provide interest until well into the fall. In the darkest areas a Hosta walk provides an unexpected delight.
As the shade garden loses its initial spring vibrancy herbaceous borders and colour themed beds take over. There are traditional long twin herbaceous borders with old roses and clematis and towering perennials intermingled with many rare jewels that mean that you have to work hard so as not to miss anything.
Many visitors make a special effort to come again in autumn as the beds have a second flush of vitality with the many Asters, Sedums and above all Hardy Chrysanthemums which provide a myriad of colour to the end of October. The autumn gardens have more colour than many gardens have in the height of summer. These colours are complemented by the strong structural form of the grasses seen in prairie style plantings as well as on their own in a 'grassoretum'
The nursery is a continuation of the garden which is appropriate as the garden provides the propagation material for the nursery so visitors can see plants flourishing in situ and know their height, habit and growing requirements.
My wife and I started the garden in 1993 in a frost pocket (down to -16 most winters and -21 in 2010) and on intractable clay which , just round the corner was used for brick making. It was a plain field up to waist height with nettles and brambles. Just after we had started a retired, farmer, neighbour told us that we could never make a garden on that land.
The twin herbaceous borders and plant amphitheatre came first and then shade garden. As the garden flourished so did the nursery. Each year new beds are designed and the on going battle to make the soil workable continues.