New Venue: Aylesbury Methodist Church & Centre – .Buckingham Street, Aylesbury HP20 2NQ. Parking: front of the venue limited & Coopers Yard car park next door. The venue has excellent facilities including lift to first floor and wheelchair access. It is near the centre of the town with a choice of restaurants and cafes, including The Kings Head, a C15 coaching inn owned by the National Trust Inn.
Booking: Tickets from http://ticketsource.co.uk//buckinghamshire-gardens-trust or turn up on the day & pay by cash, card or cheque. Doors open 2.00 pm Members £10.00, Guests £12.50. Includes refreshments.
Summer Visits
Wednesday 22nd May 10.30 for 11am – 1pm Evenley Wood Gardens, Brackley NN135SL
Tickets: £20 members £25 non-members. Refreshments on arrival (25 places)
Tour of Garden by Michael Hunt. “Set amongst the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside, this 60-acre privately owned woodland garden contains a large and notable collection of plants, ranging from unusual trees and shrubs to a wide selection of lilies and other bulbs. …. Carpets of named snowdrops in February run into wonderful spring bulbs and the garden’s 800m long Scilla ‘stream’, as the garden jumps into life. Some 100 magnolias follow and are later joined by the first flush of new leaves, rhododendrons and azaleas. In the summer, over 300 roses and 150 lilies emerge, including Lilium ‘Evenley Jane’, which was developed and propagated on site.” https://www.evenleywoodgarden.co.uk Photograph John O’Dwyer
Monday 10th June 10am Rycote Park, Milton Common, Thame, Oxon OX9 2PE
Tickets: £20 members £25 non-members. Refreshments on arrival. (40 places)
The visit includes a welcome talk by Sarah Taylor, the owner, with coffee and biscuits followed by a tour of the Chapel, Ice House and gardens. The C15 Chapel, which predates the original Tudor house, allows an encounter with the history of England and its standing tradition of worship. The Capability Brown park was the subject of major renovation in 2001, with advice from Elizabeth Banks who also created the formal gardens immediately around the house. They evoke the lost C16 and C17 aspects of the garden pre Capability Brown. The walled garden was also restored and the main lawns and lake were transformed. The East Terrace is now formally laid out and nearby are a sunken garden, shady border, herb garden and knot garden. There is also an apple orchard and many interesting sculptures. Photograph Claire de Carle
Tuesday 9th July 2pm, Lilies, High Street, Weedon, Aylesbury HP22 4NS
Tickets: £16 members, £20 non-members. Includes refreshments (50 places)
Guided tour by Andrew McCarthy, Head Gardener. The garden at Lilies in Weedon, just north of Aylesbury, occupies an elevated position with far-reaching views over the Vale of Aylesbury and neighbouring Hardwick Village. It has extensive lawns, specimen trees and surrounding woodland. It is stocked with perennial and shrub beds surrounding the C19 small country house, with a koi pond, and clipped yew and box topiary. Some impressive C19 deciduous and evergreen ornamental trees and shrubs remain in the grounds, which extend to a walled garden alongside a traditional wildflower meadow housing beehives.
Dossier: https://bucksgardenstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Lilies-Weedon.pdf Photograph Mr. Anson
Saturday 20th July 1.00pm Wotton House, Wotton Underwood, Aylesbury HP18 0SB
Tickets: Free – book through TicketSource. 1.00pm Lunch, bring a picnic. 2.00pm AGM. Tour and Tea.
By kind permission of David Gladstone, patron of Buckinghamshire Gardens Trust and owner of Wotton House.
Open 1.00 and bring a picnic. Following the AGM, a guided tour of the Grade I historic landscape surrounding the early C18 country house will be led by Michael Harrison, Estate Manager.
The original layout was probably by George London and Henry Wise, then developed into an extensive mid-C18 park for George Grenville by Lancelot Brown; William Pitt, later first Earl of Chatham, is credited with significant input with regard to the design. The house and estate are regarded as one of the finest remaining examples of historic landscape. Photograph JUG
Thursday 26th September 1pm Wavendon House, Wavendon House Drive, Wavendon MK17 8AJ
Tickets £20 members only. Refreshments included. (20 places)
The visit includes a welcome and tour by David Heath.
A late C18 country villa pleasure ground and possibly drives by Richard Woods, typical of his style, which survives largely intact, with late C18/early C19 additions for the Hoares of Stourhead, and extensive later C19 park additions that complemented Woods’ work. It has been little altered since
the 1880s although localised modern development has damaged parts of the site.
Dossier: https://bucksgardenstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Wavendon-House-BGT-R-R-dossier-13-May-20.pdf Photograph David Heath