A Grand Entrance

Backblipped for 28.08.21


Thanks to Pleach's blip we discovered that the walled garden at Preston Hall was still open and today would be our only opportunity to see it, having a meeting tomorrow afternoon. 

As Pleach has covered the history so well I am able to give a general impression of the garden, which was originally created in 1888 by Cecelia Margaret Callender, whose initials appear on the armorial above the main entrance (main and top left, extra 1), I do like the bird leaning down to pinch the fruit, surely this lady had a sense of humour. The 'walled garden' is in three sections, an outer, informal garden of trees, through which one passes, by way of the splendid archway, to the inner garden under cultivation, and the rear garden, which has access from the Gardener's House and the necessary outbuildings and nurseries. Further decorations appear along the wall, the rose and the thistle and through which is a side gate leading out to the estate; curiously it is the other side of this gate that bears a small notice saying Private Keep Out.

We walked down each path of the west half of the garden, between herbaceous borders and smaller beds, flowers attracting a variety of insects including a dragonfly; we noted a Ginkgo that had been pruned closely to a small shrub and decided that it was too late to copy the idea; we noted hedges of Field Maple (Acer campestre) which is most unusual in such a setting, and admired the armorial sundial in the centre, finding only one numeral still visible, before attending the restored greenhouse to order our refreshments (cream tea for Mr Flum, the last cherry almond croissant for me) which were delivered to us in the pavilion (extra 2). The walkway between the two pavilions has a plaque with the originator's initials in the centre, from which there is grandstand view of the entire inner garden.

After our delicious repast we took in the east side of the garden, under cultivation of fruit, a wide selection of apples, disappointingly none of which bore a name label and, although we saw plenty of fallers, resisted the temptation to collect any (basically, there was no-one around to ask for permission...).

Following a stroll around the outer garden we exited and wandered around the west side of the wall, noting the many fine old trees, like that in extra 2, a Horse Chestnut with Mr Flum for scale. Further checks on the Woodland Trust website identify this particular tree as a Veteran  with a girth of 7.36m. This area of the estate looks over the Tyne Water to Oxenfoorde Castle. 

Before long we retraced our steps, returning to the car to drive over to Miss Flum's to assist with some DIY, then all walked up to Cibo's, at Gowkley Moss for a lovely Italian meal.