A late winter walk

 

The usual Wednesday morning walking group got a bit of a surprise this week, when mid walk the heavens opened and the world turned white. With a late winter snap the weather delivered a generous scattering of hail, which while making things colder than expected, was a great opportunity to take a few photos of the Thornham Estate looking like a winter wonderland.

The walking group activity takes place every Wednesday morning, and is an activity that takes advantage of being based out in the Mid-Suffolk countryside.

“I get to go out for walks everywhere really, usually near where I work. I quite enjoy them, its nice getting out for a walk” Simon

On the first Wednesday of the ,month our group joins the Health walk (starts 11am at the Thornham Estate Overflow carpark) with other members of the public, which is run by Walking for Health, a group who Both Beyond the Wall staff members Phill and Lisa have recently trained with to do walk leading.

Posted by Phill VWilliams, April 2017

 

Plant donations

With lots of rejuvenation projects going on in the walled garden in recent months, there has been much activity in organising and preparing outdoor spaces for new uses and planting schemes. With new planting schemes comes the need for new plants, and with the scale of the garden being what it is, we are not talking about just the odd one or two new plants, hindered of plants have been needed fill newly prepared beds and to fill in gaps in older planting schemes.

Our volunteers have been amazing, in propagating existing plant cultivars, as well as bringing in plant material of plants that are new to the garden to propagate ready for planting out. We have however had the need for more plants to build our collection. With using twitter and getting out into our local community, staff have built upon and made new connections with amazingly generous people who have come to our aid with gifts of numerous plants. Roses and tomatoes from Philip (Head Gardener at Canterbury Cathedral), Succulents and pelargoniums from Pete (Head Gardener at Croxton Park), herbaceous perennials form Irene, (a member of our local community), Herbaceous perennials fro Jan (a personal assistant to one of our clients) and an array of herbaceous perennials, roses and evergreen plants from Jan (one of our fabulous trustees) as well as many other generous donations, the list of generous donors goes on.

With donations of plants such as these, that so thoughtfully key into the planting wish list that we have had, we have managed to complete the first phase of restocking the garden with new plants in our borders, at a vastly reduced cost.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has been so generous in donating plants for the garden, your donations are all much appreciated, and will help to ensure that with our summer events coming up, that the garden looks splendid for welcoming the many visitors that we expect over the summer of 2017.

Posted by Phill, April 2017

The greenhouse roof

Its not only the garden that is getting a makeover ready for our summer openings this year, our greenhouses are also getting a little attention.

With the greenhouses being fully restored some years ago now, time and weather have taken their toll, paint has peeled and putty cracked, causing them to let in water during periods of rain. The start of April saw work commencing on two sections of the greenhouses. The aim, to make them watertight and to ensure that the buildings remain in good condition for years to come.

With work starting, a cherry picker arrived, so that the full extent of the roof could be accessed safely while work takes place. This provided us with a great opportunity to get a camera into the air and capture a few snaps of the garden from above. How great to see from the air sectiosnof the garden that have been rejuvenated in the last few months, and to catch a glimpse of the double herbaceous border from up high as it nears being fully planted.

The walled garden will be opening to the public from the end of May, for more information please check out our events page… https://beyondthewallthornham.wordpress.com/events/

Posted by Phill, April 2017