Cropwell Bishop Village Parish Plan

St Ann's Allotments (28-8-13)

If you went along to St Ann’s allotments expecting to see perfect plots brimming with even more perfect products you would have been sadly disappointed.

Steeply terraced and enclosed in a warren of “avenues” bordered by six foot high hedges, the area seems more akin to the Lost Gardens of Heligan than to a city community of gardens.  For over 600 years these 75 acres have been tended – originally as grazing pastures then, later, as “detached Victorian gardens” giving the wealthy burgesses of inner city Nottingham green enclosures of peace, privacy and pleasure.  There are records of the Hungerhill Rose Show which first took place at Easter in 1858.  Indeed, many of the labourers on these plots eked out their paltry income by selling excess produce to the local markets.  In the 1880’s the wealthy folk of Nottingham moved to the suburbs where they built villas on large plots leaving behind the gardeners who had tended their detached gardens.  These men carried on their husbandry but now the incentive was to feed their families and so allotments, as we know them, came into being. 

The St. Ann’s Allotments limited company was formed in 1998 after a long battle to save the site from the developers.  In 2009 an audit was carried out and it was discovered that there were over 80 varieties of apple, 32 varieties of pear and 22 varieties of plum and damson populating the area, including the rare Crystal Palace apple.  This was the catalyst for the fruit tree project when the decision was made to buy in 2000 fruit tree root stocks and carry out a budding and grafting exercise in order to conserve the historic resource.  Some of these trials can be seen in the organic Perry Orchard.

The site is unique and has achieved Grade 2 Heritage status attracting national lottery funding for some of its projects.  In all, there are 700 gardens of which 550 are classed as “active” gardens.  The annual fee for a plot is £60 and allotments are only available to residents of the city of Nottingham.  A purpose built Visitors Centre has recently been opened near the Ransom Road entrance gate and there are monthly activity days in the Community Orchard.  There is also a diary of heritage days with tours including Mr Oliver’s plot and the Dig for Victory garden together with several Victorian tea parties.  For details please take a look at the website:  http://www.staa-allotments.org.uk

So, if you go down to the allotments one day, be sure of a big surprise!

Photos by Judy Thomas

Ruddington Garden Visit (9-8-13)

Ruddington Garden Visit Monday 22nd July.

There was no doubt that we were in the company of two professionals on our visit to a Ruddington Garden on Monday 22nd July – one a dedicated plants man and the other an expert cook, alias Mike and Linda Davey.

The sun shone on arrival and then turned into a balmy summer eveinng. The garden was a delight with secret paths and plenty of shady seats and resting places. The planting a mix of common plants in unusual combinations and unusual plants in common settings. A greenhouse full of cacti and another full of tomatoes. A cool hosta corridor, bog garden and pond planting.

Mike showed that although he is a professional he’s just like the rest of us when it comes to not getting rid of favourites and so the Christmas tree planted 20 or so years ago now towers over the house and the dwarf conifer planted by the pond now stands 30ft!

After browsing this fascinating garden we were royally treated to tea and cakes…malt loaf, victoria sandwich, lemon drizzle, scones with cream and strawberries, blueberry muffins, gooey chocolate cake, and that’s just the ones I tried! There were many more. If you weren’t there you really missed a treat.

We look forward to seeing Mike again on September 7th when he is the main judge of the Cropwell Bishop Show.

Photos by Mel Stanley & Judy Thomas

Biddulph Grange (2-6-13)

Members of the Gardening Club made the most of today's beautiful weather by visiting Biddulph Grange. Here are the views of two members:

Elaine Robinson:

Setting off in the sunshine with Sharpes’ Coaches, Alan, our driver, provided a good-humoured start, “is it left or right when we leave Cropwell Bishop”? We duly arrived at Biddulph Grange amongst the shade of the glade. The house occupies an elevated position with spectacular views.

The Victorian garden was created by James Bateman for his collection of plants from around the world. Issued with a map, we checked our bearings for a journey from Italy to China skirted by Lime and Pinetum avenues, a well-stocked lake and a woodland walk.

Now faded but still evident, we had missed the Spring blooms of daffodils and tulips. We appreciated instead collections of rhododendrons, summer bedding displays, and the oldest surviving golden larch in Britain, brought from China in the 1850s. A Cheshire Cottage and an incredibly large urn added interest to our garden walk. Hope you enjoy these 3 little maids from China.

If you were brave, you could do as we did and put your hands in darkened cupboards to try and guess what might be lurking there, I found a snake, a frog and a giant beetle. I took particular delight in the tiniest of lawn mowers and the stumpery. [Apparently when The Duke of Edinburgh saw Prince Charles’ stumpery at Highgrove, he said, “when are you going to set fire to that lot?”]. We gained culinary satisfaction for lunch from cheesy jacket potatoes and lashings of ginger beer, more like the famous five than 3 little maids.

Jenny Thompson:

The day trip to Biddulph Grange was, as I have come to expect from the Cropwell Bishop Gardening Club, a very well organised and enjoyable event. The gardens were delightful and varied, from the straight lines of the Italian garden to the ornamental bridges in the Chinese garden. Still not sure if the statue in the dark cave in the Egyptian garden was a monkey or a very ugly pig!

We were also blessed with a warm sunny day that enabled us to have tea outside. The garden did prove challenging in places because of the many steps and I was glad there were no babies and buggies in our party!! Marlene, Pat and I really enjoyed the day.

Photos by Mel Stanley & Judy Thomas

Love and Death in the Garden (20-5-13)

When you go to a Gardening Club Meeting, you never know what useful tips you might pick up. Sometimes you learn how to look after your lawn or pick your roses but at this evening's the talk the emphasis was rather different.

If you want something to release your passion, just pop into your garden, there is sure to be some plant that will contain what you need. Just pick a few leaves and boil them in water for your supper. Then look forward to your dreams.

Well, maybe it is not that simple, but Tracey Akehurst certainly opened our eyes to the power of humble plants to take over our bodies and minds.

If you would rather stifle a rival's impulses or even poison them, your garden may well contain the necessary ingredients.

Tracey Akehurst gave us an entertaining and revealing talk and used colourful illustrations to make her points. The title of her talk, "Passions, Potions & Poisons: Love and Death in the Garden" told us what to expect but unless you too had a degree in botany, you would not have know which plants to look for. Tracey also gave us a potted history for each potion.

The back garden will never again seem such a benevolent place. Then again, I never did go in for picking leaves, boiling them and drinking the result.

Tony Jarrow