Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden
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Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden
Home ¦ History ¦ The Garden ¦ Future Plans ¦ Visiting ¦ Schools ¦ Friends |
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Latest News
Sunday 1 August - Make
an Animal out of Fruit and Vegetables We will be running a new event on Sunday 1 August. We would like you to come along and use your imagination to make an animal out of fruit and vegetables. A selection of fruit and vegetables will be provided but feel free to bring your own if there is a particular animal you wish to make. If anyone has any fancy gourds please bring them along as they would be useful. Refreshments will be available. Friday 27 August - Bat Walk
VANDALISM AT THE GARDEN We are very sorry to report that once again the fruit cages have been vandalised and this time they are beyond repair. The vandals caused havoc at the weekend when they also damaged one of the gates, ripped apart a tree, removed labels from vegetables and name plates from trees, trampled fruit bushes, bent some fencing and used canes from the kitchen garden as spears. It is beyond belief that anyone could cause such extensive damage to a local asset such as this. The police are investigating the crime and we very much hope that the culprits will be found.
New Permanent Gazebo
We are delighted to announce that we now have a beautiful permanent gazebo structure installed in the yard area at the garden. This gives us a very large area of covered space that will be ideal for events and refreshments. Given the unreliability of British weather this will allow events organisers to be able to sleep at night in the run up to an event, without worrying about whether or not everyone will get wet on the day. It won't blow away either and is a very sturdy structure.
It was jointly funded by the Parish Council, the Friends of Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden and the Warrington Borough Council Stronger Together Initiative.
Pond Dipping
CANCELLED Unfortunately the pond dipping event had to be cancelled as the water levels were too low due to the recent spell of hot weather. There has been so little rain recently that we were unable to run the event and so all the little pond creatures were left in peace. Refreshments were served and the kitchen was busy as usual.
Strawberry
Cream Tea
This is the third year that we have run our Strawberry Cream Tea event and it was the best one so far! Not only were we blessed with the hottest day of the year, but Graham and the volunteer gardeners had managed to grow enough strawberries for everyone that came, and protect them from thieving squirrels until the big day. All of our scones were locally home made this year and the clotted cream came fresh from the best Devonshire Dairies. Over 100 cream teas were served in the first two hours, the kitchen staff working as a highly efficient team as well as having fun and the odd dance! Once the England football game kicked off the pace slowed somewhat, but by the end most of everything had been sold and around £350 had been raised towards the glasshouse regeneration project. Art Exhibition and Tutorial The U3A Art Group recently put on an exhibition of their work at the garden and Graham Eddy and his team from the Art Group organised art tutorials for visitors who wished to try their hand at painting watercolours.
Plant Sale Thank you to everyone who donated plants to the recent plant sale and thanks to Daphne Zimmerman for demonstrating flower arranging on the day. The weather was fine and it was a very enjoyable day. Children were able to have a go at painting ceramic pots which were then taken home and baked to make the design permanent.
Coffee Afternoons -
Update
Coffee afternoons will now be weekly in addition to the calendar of events and will be available on 1st Sunday of every month during the autumn/winter. We will resume monthly refreshments once again in the winter. We hope that you will be able to come along and sample the refreshments on offer. We are very grateful to all our volunteers who give up their time to provide this service for visitors. If you would like to help serving refreshments please contact Elizabeth on 604990. Here you can see Hannah Dixon, our youngest recruit, and some of our other regular volunteers. Tree Sculptures Two tree stumps have now been beautifully carved, by Nigel McQuilton, into sculptures of two Buzzards and an Owl. The carving took place on Sunday 26 April 2009, happily the weather was fine and visitors were able to see the sculptor at work as he created them.
We are delighted with the results and hope that you will be able to take some time to come and see them. Merchandise
We also have luxurious hand made soap from Norfolk, produced in small batches using the finest quality natural ingredients. We stock many different varieties including a Gardener's soap to soothe those hard working hands, why not treat yourself? Lip balms, travel sized soaps and new foam bath and shower gel are now in stock and we have recently introduced children's gardening gloves, note books, key rings, writing paper and hand made cards. The merchandise is available at events and coffee afternoons. Recent photos These photos were taken recently at the garden.
Garden Produce A variety of produce is sold when in season and is displayed on our lovely new produce cart.
Friends of Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden To see the latest newsletter from the Friends of Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden please click here. For an up to date list of events click here. To view the minutes of the AGM please click here. To download a membership form from the website click here. Introduction Welcome to Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden The Garden was built in the early 19th century for the neighbouring house of Grappenhall Heys, to produce food and flowers for the house and as a pleasure ground. Over recent years the Garden has been extensively restored, and it is now starting the latest phase of its life under the ownership of Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council. The vision is to provide a resource for Grappenhall and the surrounding area, a tranquil oasis within the community, as well as a living example of a Victorian Walled Garden. Since the Parish Council has owned the garden it has:
Please come and visit this special place, and get involved in helping to develop it for future generations to enjoy. History Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden was created by the Warrington banker Thomas Parr around 1830 when he built a new house for his family. The Garden enjoyed its heyday in the late 19th century. From historical maps, 1875 to 1899 appears to have been the zenith for the estate. In the 20th century the house and its grounds, along with many country estates, began to decline. The house was demolished in 1975, but the Garden was retained as an amenity for the local community. English Partnerships refurbished much of the Garden as part of their development of the area with new housing. Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council took ownership of the Garden in 2005. Find out more about the history of the Garden. The Garden The Walled Garden consists of two main areas, the Kitchen Garden and the Pleasure Grounds. The Garden is unusual because it combines Kitchen and Pleasure Gardens within one walled area, and also because the Pleasure Grounds contain three ponds. The Kitchen Garden The Kitchen Garden has a formal geometrical layout, typical of most productive gardens. It would have provided the fresh produce required by the Parr household. It contains the greenhouses which would have provided fruit such as grapes and peaches for the Parr’s dinner table. The greenhouses are backed by buildings which were used as working and storage space for the gardens. Fruit, vegetables and flowers are now grown in the kitchen garden with the help of volunteers. The Pleasure Grounds The Pleasure Grounds are laid out informally. The Parr family could enter the pleasure grounds from a door near the house, without having to go through the working area of the Kitchen Garden. They could then take a circular walk which followed the walls, admiring the ornamental shrubs and trees before returning through an arch in the Yew hedge, flanked by two long flower borders in front of the greenhouses. Find out more about the Garden today. Future Plans Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council took ownership of the Garden from English Partnerships in 2005. The transfer was backed by an endowment which provides funding for maintaining the Garden, so its future is secure. The Parish Council has achieved many of the goals it set itself for the first two years. The Parish Council will continue to develop the garden, with the emphasis on maintaining a peaceful resource for the community and promoting its use and enjoyment by the people of the local area. |
NEW OPENING TIMES The garden is on Witherwin Avenue, near the roundabout on Lumb Brook Road. We are now open EVERY DAY from 1.00p.m. to 4.00p.m. and there is a guided tour every Sunday at 2.00p.m. Entrance is free. Parking is available in the public car park on Stansfield Drive and there are WC facilities on site. Find out more about visiting us. Current plants of interest
Allium
Geranium
Azalea 'Persil'
Azalea To see more plants of interest click here. Get Involved We hope that the Friends will continue to have an active role in the Garden, and we welcome everyone who is interested in helping the garden to develop. There are now four active volunteer groups up and running:
Find out more about the Friends. Your memories Do you, or someone you know, remember the Garden when it was part of Grappenhall Heys Estate, or after the house was unoccupied? We want to learn more about the Garden's past so we can make better plans for its future. Please get in touch with us and share your memories. Send us an e-mail or contact us. Contact Us The Garden is owned by Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council.
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Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden Witherwin Avenue Grappenhall Warrington WA4 3DS Tel. 01925 213638 E-mail: info@ghwalledgarden.org.uk Website:www.ghwalledgarden.org.uk |
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Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council Council Office Bellhouse Farm Bellhouse Lane Grappenhall Warrington WA4 2SD Tel/Fax 01925 264918 (Monday to Thursday 2-4.30 pm) E-mail: clerk@grappenhallandthelwallpc.org.uk Website: www.grappenhallandthelwallpc.org.uk |
© Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council, 2006
There
will be another twilight Bat Walk on Friday 27 August, 8 - 10 p.m. The
walk will be led once again by Derek Richardson from Greater Manchester
Ecology Unit. Bat Detectors will be on hand to enable visitors to hear
them as they fly around the garden and Derek will be happy to answer any
questions. There will be a charge of £2 for Friends members and £2.50
for non members. Payment is required in advance and places will be
limited; please contact Susan Brooks to book a place on 01925 264918, or
email 
The
Friends now have a great range of
merchandise to promote the garden including pens, pencils, note books,
key rings, reusable Fair
Trade cotton bags, delicious Cheshire pressed apple juice and
gorgeous jams made using traditional methods and
locally grown fruit. 
