On the last Saturday in April, the group visited an interesting garden and arboretum belonging to John and Diana Davies. The garden is situated in the village of Little Cressingham in mid Norfolk surrounded by the Ministry of Defence land so the visit was punctuated by the sound of gun fire from the Stanford Training Range. This may sound as though it is not the ideal situation for a garden but the setting is lovely and wildlife is relatively undisturbed in the surrounding area; stone curlews nest in the neighbouring fields and a brambling has been recorded in the garden this year for the first time.

The house was built in 1971 – 72 as the principle house of the estate and the current owners bought it in 1977 when the garden was nothing more than a wilderness. This is a 13 acre garden with an arboretum, a woodland garden, a wild flower area, a labyrinth and a walled garden. A Lime Avenue was planted along the drive way leading to the house over a period of years from 1971 – 1976. The trees are Tilia platyphyllos Rubra which are high pruned to create a colonnade effect. The overall purpose was to create a family garden, a wildlife habitat and to enable John to satisfy his passion for planting trees. Some brambles and nettles have been left for wildlife, most weeding is carried out by hand and wild flowers are allowed to seed naturally.

The garden in divided into five main parts:The Arboretum was started in 1983 and is further subdivided into 2 main parts, an older area and the newer part which is still being developed. John collects trees and many are unusual species. Two that I particularly noticed were Aesculus discolour with lovely pink/yellow buds and Aesculus ‘Hampton Court Gold’ which has a tendency to revert to leaves that were half green and half gold. John is particularly keen on sorbus, malus, betula (between 40 – 50 different birches), quercus, and also shrubs including viburnum, cornus and hydrangea. The main problems in this garden are moles, rabbits, munjack and roe deer that graze many plants including the bluebells. Every tree has to be protected by a wire surround until it is large enough not to be barked. A deep pond in the arboretum was surrounded by colonies of summer snowflakes and bluebells just coming into flower. In the newer part of the arboretum there were many rare species of malus which were in flower. Many were a deep and glorious red. A wide variety of lace-cap hydrangeas would prove colour later in the season. A number of walnut trees were arranged in a circle and pruned to provide a shady grove, in the centre was a large wood-carved chair. However, John confessed that, like many of us, he rarely finds time to sit in it to admire his garden.

The woodland garden was originally planted in 1973. Beginning in 1985 many trees were replaced with a number of specimen trees. A difficulty in a garden such as this is the balance of light and shade, so the trees are frequently side-pruned and sometimes removed completely to maintain this balance. Lots of hellebores grow in the wood and are rapidly self-seeding. Camassias, snowdrops, daffodils, snakes-head fritillaries, bluebells and Anemone blanda all provided colourful and varied ground-cover. The pond and wild flower area was started in 2000 when mixtures of annual and perennial wild flower seeds were sown. John admitted that this was a difficult area to establish and maintain although the large numbers of cowslips in flower made a delightful picture. A large pond encouraged a variety of wildlife to inhabit it and it was planted with a variety of marginal plants. The Labyrinth was copied from a design in Chartres Cathedral and was completed in 2003 but here it is constructed entirely of turf.

The walled garden is near the house and is looked after by Diana. The walls encompass three sides of the garden with the fourth side completely open to the views of the surrounding countryside. There was a problem with the kitchen garden after the illness of John and Diana’s gardener but the area is now under the care of a local man who uses it as his allotment, which provides a satisfactory solution for both parties. This was a fascinating garden and we were privileged to be shown around it by such delightful owners who were willing to share their enthusiasm with us. The weather was beautiful and the sunshine was warm enough to encourage the brimstone butterflies to take to the wing as a sign that, hopefully, spring had finally arrived.