Strangers’ Hall garden – rose border

On Saturday members of the Grapes Hill Community Garden Group visited the garden at Strangers’ Hall in Norwich. We were shown around the garden and had tea and biscuits on the lawn.

The garden deserves to be better known, for it is lovely. It is tucked behind Strangers’ Hall, one of Norwich’s oldest and most fascinating buildings, dating back to 1320, which is open as a museum on Wednesdays and Saturdays (10am – 4pm). The garden contains a collection of herbs, old roses, box and lavender hedges, fruit trees and a shady border with a mass of different plants with contrasting foliage. It is maintained by the Strangers’ Hall Garden Group, who do a great job of keeping it in good shape. The Group are introducing a border of plants that are good for bees. They also sell spare plants to raise funds.

On Sunday morning I joined several other members of the Grapes Hill Community Garden Group working in the Grapes Hill Community Garden. Jobs included weeding one of the raised beds and the brickweave paths, pruning sideshoots on the grape vines and tying back plants that had been blown about in Friday’s strong winds.

Bishop’s Garden, herbaceous borders

Then in the afternoon Vanna and I went to the Bishop’s Garden in Norwich (opposite the Law Courts, NR3 1SB), a great favourite of ours, which we try to visit at least once a year. The garden has existed since around 1100 AD and its current layout dates from about 300 years ago, so it is a contrast to the garden at Grapes Hill, which is only a year and a half old. It is also much bigger, at four acres (though it was six acres in size until 1959 when the new Bishop’s House was built on the site).

Tea and cake featured in the afternoon, as it often does, but first we walked around the garden. The Pear Tree Garden features a 400 year old pear tree with a wildflower maze planted around it, with its paths winding through a lovely mix of flowers such as Lady’s Bedstraw, Lesser Knapweed, Oxeye Daisies, Musk Mallow, Bird’s-foot Trefoil, vetches and Wild Carrot. Most of these are only starting to flower and will be at their best over the next couple of months.

Pruning the grapevines, Grapes Hill Community Garden

The herbaceous borders provided inspiration for the herbaceous border at Grapes Hill. They’re much bigger but they include a lovely mix of hardy perennials with good flowers for bees and other insects, including Echinops, Alliums, several sorts of hardy Geranium and the massive frothy white flowers of Crambe cordifolia.

There are also lots of exotic plants in the garden, including the spectacular Tetrapanax papyrifer, which seems to be doing very well. There’s a shade border packed with Hostas, a big bamboo thicket and a fruit and vegetable garden as well. Last but not least is the plant sales area, where there’s a chance to buy some very healthy plants and to chat with the Head Gardener. Last year we bought bamboos and a Tetrapanax for the back garden. This year we couldn’t resist a Begonia grandis subsp. evansiana.

And the Peregrines were on the spire of Norwich Cathedral, having nested successfully this year (see webcam). We were able to watch them as we sat outside drinking our tea.

The Bishop’s Garden is open to the public from 1pm – 5pm on the following Sundays this year, in aid of charity (£3 admission):

• 17th June
• 24th June
• 1st July
• 8th July
• 22nd July.

Grapes Hill Community Garden is open every day of the year, admission free. Summer opening times are 9am to 6pm.