THIS YEAR’S PROGRAMME
Evening talks take place in the Bradfield Village Hall.
This year we meet on the THIRD THURSDAY of the month.
Doors open at 7.00 pm with the talk scheduled to start at 7.30 pm. There is often a nursery in attendance, or the speaker may bring plants to sell, so remember to bring your wallets! The Club provides a complimentary glass of wine or soft drink at the beginning of the evening and there is always a raffle, as well as the opportunity to catch up with friends or ask others for gardening advice.
APRIL
THURSDAY April 21st, Bradfield Village Hall 7.30 pm.
Pippa Greenwood – ‘Greener Gardens’.
Pippa will be known to many gardeners through her expert contributions to the BBC’s Gardeners’ World and Gardeners’ Question Time. After training at Durham and Reading Universities she worked at RHS Wisley where she ran the Plant Pathology Department, answering thousands of gardening queries each year. She was also the gardening consultant for the ITV murder mystery series Rosemary and Thyme. She has written numerous books and was gardening columnist for The Mirror newspaper as well as writing for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine. This is certainly a talk not to be missed.
Pippa loves to answer audience questions and has suggested that members come prepared, even bringing examples of pests or diseases that they want advice on!
Paul Barney from Edulis Plants will be bringing a selection of plants to sell. Regulars will know about Paul, but for new members he has a nursery near Pangbourne and he specialises in interesting and unusual plants. This is a great chance to buy some real gems for the garden.
MAY
THURSDAY May 19th, Bradfield Village Hall 7.30 pm.
Dr Paul Sievers – ‘Kew Through the Seasons’.
Dr Sievers is a retired Newbury GP who has a passion for photography. Among other things he has been the photographer for the Newbury Cancer Care annual calendar and he has distilled some of his best photos into a book, A Man For All Seasons. Kew is probably the largest and most diverse botanical collection in the world and as such offers an amazing scope for interesting photography. Dr Sievers will also be able to answer questions on how to get the best results when trying to photograph plants and gardens.
JUNE
THURSDAY June 16th, Bradfield Village Hall 7.30 pm.
Alan Goold a talk and demonstration on ‘A Rose for Every Situation’.
Alan is a director of the family-owned and -run Henry Street Garden Centre near Arborfield. Having spent a lifetime working with plants he will bring a wealth of knowledge about different roses and how and where to use them. He should also be bringing roses to sell on the night.
TUESDAY June 28th
Main coach outing. Departing Bradfield Village Hall 9.00 am. Cost £38.
This is to Rousham Gardens and Broughton Castle, in Oxfordshire.
Rousham is one of England’s most important gardens. It represents the first phase of English landscape design and remains almost as its designer William Kent left it. Many of the features that delighted its 18th century visitors are still there for 21st century visitors to enjoy. It is completely unspoilt and uncommercialised –there is no tea room or shop so you should bring your own flask of coffee for morning refreshments and a picnic lunch which we can eat in the grounds. (There are toilets adjacent to the car park.)
After lunch we will move on to Broughton Castle which is a moated and fortified manor house near Banbury. Set in parkland and built of the rich local Hornton ironstone, the house has a varied history. It has been used as a film set for Shakespeare in Love and featured in the BBC’s Wolf Hall. The garden is a more intimate feature of the wider landscape with influences from Lanning Roper and Gertrude Jekyll in the past. Here they will be providing refreshments at the end of our visit.
We hope to be back at the village hall by 6.00 pm
JULY
THURSDAY July 7th
Afternoon garden visit to Boxford House, to start at 3.30 pm.
Boxford House, Boxford, Newbury RG20 8DP
This is a beautiful large family garden extensively developed over the past ten years. There is an emphasis on roses and scent throughout the five-acre main garden which is laid out with colourful herbaceous borders as well as handsome formal terraces, a pond and water features, along with old and new orchards, a laburnum tunnel, and an area of woodland garden. There is an inviting cottage garden and a productive vegetable garden. Tea will be provided before we leave.
Use own transport but please share cars where possible.
THURSDAY July 21st, Bradfield Village Hall 7.30 pm.
Tim Stretton – a talk on ‘Folly Farm: An Historical Journey from Potato Fenn to Queen’s Jubilee’.
Tim is head gardener at Folly Farm which is a local garden designed by Jekyll & Lutyens and considered to be one of their best collaborations. From 2009 to 2016 Dan Pearson was involved in reinterpreting the original designs after a period of neglect. The current team have done a brilliant job in ensuring that the garden is now kept to a very high standard.
At this meeting we are planning to have a plant swap. Members are invited to bring up to five plants that they have grown (preferably labelled) for which they will be given a token that can be traded for treasures brought by other members. If you are unable to bring plants along, you can buy plants at a nominal price. The profit from this will be given to the gardening charity Perennial. Perennial is the UK’s only charity dedicated to helping everyone who works in horticulture, and their families, when times get tough. https://perennial.org.uk
AUGUST
THURSDAY August 18th, Bradfield Village Hall 7.30 pm.
Marina Christopher – she will be giving a talk and demonstration on Late Summer Flowers.
Marina runs Phoenix Perennial Plants which is a small specialist working nursery that propagates and grows plants on site. It specialises in hardy herbaceous plants attractive to pollinators, other beneficial insects and birds, all grown in loam-based bespoke compost. Plants suitable for chalk and limestone soils, gravel gardens and prairie-style meadows predominate, with a smattering of interesting annuals thrown in. She will also bring plants to sell.
SEPTEMBER
THURSDAY September 1st
End-of-season members-only Garden Party starting promptly at 5:30 pm.
Venue, Well House, by kind permission of Caroline and Colin Butler
The address is Well House Cottage, Pinfold Lane, Ashampstead RG8 8SH.
This is a fairly small but very pretty garden with many interesting plants.
There is ample parking right next door on the village green.
The usual cost of £3.00 per person is included in the membership fee.
Drinks and light snacks will be provided.
Bradfield Gardening Club 