When Richard Jackson’s Garden launched its Gardening Club, the idea was to engage and inspire more and more gardeners into the wonderful hobby of gardening. Even experienced gardeners need a little advice and encouragement sometimes, so the team decided to invite the Gardening Club members to a very special day out.
Garden day out
We set the date just before mid summer, a time when our gardens are simply bursting into growth and gardeners start to get overwhelmed with garden queries. After much discussion, we booked the perfect venue. A garden not widely known, but with a lovely range of vistas, features and borders and plenty of room to host our event. We wanted somewhere that offered refreshments for the visitors, a room for our Q&A session and a good garden story and we found it. Easton Walled Gardens, just off the A1 near Grantham has been creatively and charmingly rescued from its rampant descent into disrepair to shine again among the fabulous gallery of garden reclamations of the 21st century. It’s simply stunning. What’s more there is a pretty plant nursery, a delightful shop and a great tearoom too.
Guests signed up from far and wide taking advantage of the chance to meet Richard Jackson and some of the website team and pose questions to the QVC plant experts who also attended.
We planned two action packed sessions, with complimentary tea, coffee and cookies provided. Each group of Gardening Club guests were welcomed by Richard Jackson and then introduced to garden owner, Lady Ursula Cholmeley, who gave a fascinating insight into the garden and its rise from the overgrown undergrowth and decay into a veritable beauty and wildlife paradise.
Borders and meadows
Lady Cholmeley herself treated each group to a very personal and interesting tour of the garden, where we learned more about the garden rescue and her aims and ideals for the 12-acre space. Every section of the garden is a delight with fresh and interesting plant combinations, original garden design and some true botanical wonders.
There’s a stunning velvet border that explores the texture of leaves and flowers with dramatic plant combinations and contrasting foliage effects. The White Space garden blends a more modern design with the ancient structures of the garden. It’s a garden meets outaspace kind of place, complete with orb like garden features, a cosmic feel and some intergalactic sculpture and inferences.
The meadows are awash with wildflowers, bees and insects. One plant in particular stole the show; a cluster of bee orchids in the grass caused quite a stir among the guests and was possibly the most photographed flower of the day.
Question Time
After the tour a panel of QVC plant experts revealed a few new plants coming up on Richard Jackson’s Garden on QVC and shared some anecdotes from the show. A lively Q&A session followed where the team answered a range of gardening queries for the guests.
Every guest went home laden with a special Flower Power Goody Bag packed with plants to grow in their gardens.
It was a fabulous day, the rain held off and in the afternoon we saw some sunshine. The garden tearoom was the perfect place for guests to lunch after the first session or before the second and a wonderful time was had by all.
Thank you to everyone who made it such a very special day for us all. It was such a success that we are planning a few more for next year at different venues around the country, so we really hope to meet a few more of you next time. Keep an eye out for our regular monthly email where we will keep you up to date on our plans for the next one.
Find out more >
