Cardigan Castle re-opens after £12 million make-over

CARDIGAN CASTLE is to re-open next month (April) after a £12 million restoration programme.

The 900-year-old Norman castle by the River Teifi, was abandoned in the late 1990s. It was bought by the local council which, in 2003 devised a rescue plan involving the help of volunteers. Restoration began in 2011.

The castle has restored gardens, an orchard, a space for live music and an education and visitors’ centre … and there is accommodation for B&B and self-catering guests.

‘It is hoped the castle will become one of West Wales’ top tourist destinations, attracting at least 33,000 visitors in the first year and bringing significant economic benefit to Cardigan and the wider area,’ said a spokesperson for the Cadwgan Building Preservation Trust.

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Picture Credit: Cardigan Castle - "Bridge Street from Teifi Wharf"  " by E Gammie via Wikimedia Commons

Easter in Kent

FROM feeding newborn lambs to cracking clues in Easter egg hunts, Kent has much to entertain young and not-s0-young at Easter.

Visitors to Howletts Wild Animal Park (near Canterbury) and Port Lympne Reserve (near Hythe) are guaranteed a cracking time. 

Activities will be held every day from April 2 to April 19. On Easter Monday, visitors at Port Lympne can watch the gorilla family taking part in their own Easter egg hunt. www.aspinallfoundation.org.uk

There will be new lambs at the Rare Breeds Centre, Woodchurch, Ashford this spring, Easter chicks and piglets are expected too. www.rarebreeds.org.uk

Spring will be in bloom at Leeds Castle, with an Easter egg hunt through the Woodland Walk, circus-themed characters to find and jesters' japes at the castle during the Easter weekend. Children can learn circus skills in the grounds, where jesters will demonstrate stilt walking and perform juggling shows. You can also have your face painted and have a go at archery. www.leeds-castle.com

Activities are on offer at Penshurst Place, Tonbridge, as the venue celebrates the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. 

Follow a family Magna Carta trail to discover just how wicked King John was, and learn why the barons revolted. www.penshurstplace.com

Experience the fun of the fair at the Festival of Steam at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham. The two- day festival on Easter Sunday and Monday features a steam funfair, street entertainment, live music, and walkabout acts. Steam trains will be in motion and hundreds of classic cars will line the streets. www.thedockyard.co.uk/steamandtransport 

Explore the World Garden at Lullingstone Castle, Eynsford. Set within 120 acres of Kent countryside, the castle is one of England's oldest family estates. 

It opens its doors for the 2015 season on April 4 with a grand Easter egg hunt. www.lullingstonecastle.co.uk




Tractor rides through Kent orchards, Easter egg hunts, and a chance to pet baby animals will all be available at Brogdale this Easter. Home of the National Fruit Collection, Brogdale will hold its annual Easter celebration on Good Friday, Easter Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The Brogdale Barn will be full of calves, lambs, goats, and chickens, and families can meet the animals and the farmers who care for them. www.brogdalecollections.co.uk

Chartwell will take visitors on a journey around the grounds and woodland of Winston Churchill's family home. Follow wartime bunny rabbits along the route and find items the bunnies have lost on their way. www.nationaltrust.org.uk

ww.visitkent.co.uk


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Picture Credit:"Flickr - law keven - Feeling Ruff...HBWE Everybody..-O))" by Keven Law from Los Angeles, USA via Wikimedia Commons; "Magnat Carta fragment" GoHoliday via Wikimedia Commons; "World Garden of Plants, Lullingstone Castle - geograph.org.uk - 214919" by Danny Robinson via Wikimedia Commons

Coming up on the Mount

JUST 400 yards off Mount's Bay in Marazion, St Michael's Mount is a Cornish landmark and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the South West. Its spring season kicks off with the annual Cadbury Easter Egg Trail (April 3, 5, and 6).

Spring will see a spotlight put on St Michael's Mount - www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk - unique terraced gardens, which open on April 20. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet members of the gardening team, including new head gardener, Lottie Allen. Learn what they do day-to-day and hear about the garden's history and current design.

For many visitors, it is astonishing that a garden exists here, but despite the gales and salty winds, the Gulf Stream tempers the climate so that frosts are a rarity and the rock acts a gigantic radiator – absorbing heat by day and releasing it at night creating a micro-climate in which unlikely plants flourish. Puya, agave and aloe rear out of the bedrock, agapanthus wave their heavy heads, and binding threads of rosemary, lavender and coronilla tumble down the terraces.

A Garden in a Castle Festival (May) will bring the glories of the mount's sub-tropical planting into the castle itself.

With 30 islanders calling the village their home, the mount is a living community. On the village tours (daily at 11am and 2pm) hear about the families which live here, explore the buildings that have played many roles in the village's history, and discover what life here today is like.

At low tide, a cobbled causeway appears from the sea and the mount can be reached on foot. When the tide comes in, boatmen ferry visitors across the water to the island.

Tickets/Opening Times: St Michael's Mount castle, shops and restaurants are open daily (except Saturdays) until November 1.

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Picture Credit: Go Holiday

Scotland for snowdrops

AT this year’s Scottish Snowdrop Festival – which runs until March 15 – visitors can do more than admire these stunning flowers. 

At Cringletie House, near Peebles, they will have the unusual opportunity to taste snowdrop scones, while visitors to the Cambo Estate, near St Andrews, can explore illuminated woodland at Snowdrops by Starlight

The festival is now in its ninth year. More than 60 properties will offer displays of snowdrops in natural settings.

VisitScotland research has found that in 2013, 508,000 British holidaymakers visited a Scottish park or garden as part of their trip, with a further 32,000 coming to Scotland with the express purpose of sampling the country’s horticultural delights.

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Picture Credit: "Cambo Estate, St Andrews stunning snowdrop display" by Dr Richard Murray via Wikimedia Commons

A glimpse of the past

THE Victorian estate at Scolton Manor, near Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, has undergone a massive restoration. 

The re-created walled garden, along with the manor house, stables and 60-acres of parkland and woods, give visitors an idea of what life was like on a 19th century country estate.

Scolton Manor is part of the One Historic Garden project linking heritage and gardens across South Wales, and part-financed by a European Union fund. 

www.onehistoricgarden.co.uk/scolton-manor
www.visitpembrokeshire.com




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Picture Credit: 'Walled garden' courtesy onehistoricgarden.co.uk/scolton-manor; "The Railway Area - static display" by David Martin via Wikimedia Commons.

Cornwall in bloom

SPRING comes early in Cornwall and in 2015 it brings with it new cultivars of daffodils and magnolia. 

A new type of daffodil was discovered in the grounds of Pentillie Castle high above the River Tamar in the autumn of 2014 and has been named Narcissus pseudo narcissus Pentillie Duke in honour of Chris Duke, Pentillie's head gardener.

It is due to flower in March.

Pentillie Castle's - www.pentillie.co.uk - gardens will be open to visitors in 2015 on Sunday 15th March (Mothering Sunday); Easter Monday 6th April and Bank Holiday Monday 4th May.

Further along the south Cornish coast at the Grade II Listed gardens of Caerhays, a new hybrid magnolia named Caerhays Splendour 

will also be bursting into bloom. 

The dark pink magnolia joins the Caerhays Magnolia collection of more than 600 varieties and was awarded National Collection status in 2011.

Caerhays Gardens - www.caerhays.co.uk - will be open from February 16 until Sunday June 21. 

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Picture Credit - FRom Top: ‘Pentillie Duke’ courtesy pentillie.co.uk; "Pond on Pentillie Castle Estate" by Rod Allday via Wikimedia Commons; "Caerhays Castle" by Claudiu Bichescu (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons; "CAERHAYS 'SPLENDOUR'" courtesy caerhays.co.uk

Where to see the snowdrops

AS one of the first flowers to break through the thawing ground and raise their head, the humble snowdrop signals the end of winter and the promise of brighter spring days.  

With their early bloom, the delicate “flower of hope” carpets woodlands, meadows, churchyards, and gardens across the south-east of England. Here’s where to see some of them …

Mottisfont, near Romsey, Hampshire – Guided Tours: 7-8 & 14-15 February: Drifts of snowdrops appear along the banks of the Font stream of this former priory, where the warmer water creates its own micro-climate. Elsewhere, the open acres of the river garden are transformed by drifts of purest white.

Wakehurst, Haywards Heath, West Sussex: Wakehurst, Kew's country estate in West Sussex, has a mass planting of Galanthus Nivalis bulbs the common snowdrop.

Welford Park, West Berkshire: Snowdrops were often planted by Norman monks resulting in impressive displays at monastic sites including Welford Park in West Berkshire.  The display in the beach wood covers five acres bordering the River Lambourn. 

Sissinghurst, Cranbrook, Kent: The National Trust's Sissinghurst Estate is the place to explore at any time of year, and winter is no exception. The team at Sissinghurst has been bulking up a dozen other types of snowdrop in the nursery to add to the varieties already seen along the banks of the moat.

Gilbert White's House and Gardens, Selborne, East Hampshire – Snowdrop Weekend: 7-8 February: The display includes the Galanthus Nivalis, Galanthus Plicatus, and Galanthus Elwisii varieties.

Nymans, Handcross, West Sussex – Guided tour 30th January: An exclusive guided tour with the head gardener will ensure visitors catch all of the seasonal highlights of the garden and arboretum, including snowdrops, camellias, and magnolias. The bulb meadow in the walled garden is also full of snowdrops.

Runnymede, Old Windsor, Berkshire: There will be vast clusters of snowdrops in the historic meadow of Runnymede, where Magna Carta was signed and famed as the birthplace of modern democracy.

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Picture Credit: 'The House at Nymans, West Sussex' Richard Rogerson via Wikimedia Commons.

Snowdrops at Hodsock

VISIT Hodsock Priory in Worksop, Nottinghamshire in February and you’ll be pretty certain to see 12 acres of snowdrop-covered woodland. 

The village will have a tea room, gift shop, and plant sale.

www.snowdrops.co.uk

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Picture Credit:'250th banner' courtesy sowdrops.co.uk;  'Hodsock over a bank of snowdrops' by martin dawes via Wikimedia Commons

Orchids on show

KEW GARDENS in London will be hosting an orchid festival from February 7 to March 8.

The story of orchid pollination will be brought to life by a pond centrepiece, a giant bloom crafted from flowers, and visitors will also see horticultural displays.

Elisa Biondi, a display horticulturalist at Kew says: ‘I’ve been thrilled to work on the designs for the festival. Orchids are not beautiful for nothing and it’s incredibly exciting to be able to show visitors just how clever they are through our displays.’

www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/orchids


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Picture Credit: 'Orchids, Kew Gardens, Surrey - geograph.org.uk - 1182701' by Christine Matthews via Wikimedia Commons

What to do in Windsor …

ROYAL WINDSOR'S attractions are open during the Christmas and New Year holiday for winter garden walks, a peek at festive Windsor Castle, calorie burning on ice, or a gallery's cultural inspiration.

Windsor Castle is the planet’s oldest and largest inhabited castle. 

Queen Elizabeth spends Christmas at her country home in Norfolk, which means visitors can see the State apartments transformed with festive decorations. In the State dining room, a table of glittering silver-gilt from the Grand Service takes centre stage. Closed December 25-26, then open to December 31.

The Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park comprises 35 acres of colour and scent. 

One of England’s finest ornamental garden includes The Queen Elizabeth Temperate House, where poinsettias provide festive cheer in the lead up to Christmas and hyacinths and scented narcissi fill the house with perfume through to January and February. The garden is closed only on December 25 and 26.

Windsor on Ice offers a great family day out regardless of the weather. The covered rink is open daily (except Christmas Day) until Sunday January 4.

Dedicated to one of the most original British painters of his generation, the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham has the world's largest collection of his works in the former Methodist Chapel he attended as a child.  Closed December 25.

www.windsor.gov.uk

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Picture Credit: FromTop - Windsor Castle - "Estatua de la Reina Victoria en la colina del castillo, Windsor, Inglaterra" by Diego Delso via Wikimedia Commons; "Bridge, Savill Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 1582279" by John Myers via Wikimedia Commons

I’ll destroy my garden, says Sir Roy after National Trust snub

THE largest private formal garden to be created in England since 1945 is to be “destroyed” after an offer to bequeath it to the National Trust was snubbed, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Sir Roy Strong, former director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and National Portrait Gallery, had wanted to leave Laskett Gardens to the trust in his will. He also offered the trust an endowment worth “several millions” to ensure the financial viability of the gardens, which he spent more than 30 years creating with his late wife.

But the trust has rejected the offers because, it says, the garden fails to “reach the high rung of historic and national importance”. Sir Roy is so devastated that his offer has been turned down he has threatened to “destroy” the four-acre garden at his home in Herefordshire.

‘I’m so upset now that I have decided to change my will, stating that the garden will stay open to the public for one year after my death, and then be destroyed.’ Clarifying what he meant by “destroyed”, Sir Roy said: ‘Not bulldozed as such, but I will ensure that all the personal aspects which really make the garden so extraordinary are taken away. The house will now be sold after my death. There will be a garden attached with it, but not as it is now.’

‘It’s my garden, and I can do what I want with it,’ he told the BBC.

The garden is currently to the public with an admission fee of £12 per person. 

Visit http://thelaskettgardens.co.uk

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Picture Credit: Laskett Gardens courtesy thelaskettgardens.co.uk

Keep ON the grass!

EASTON WALLED GARDENS in Lincolnshire has a strict 'Keep ON the grass' policy, welcoming children for a half term (October 22-31) of exploring and creating.  Activities will include amongst other activities  the ancient game of pumpkin rolling.

                         

Visitors can feed the snails, create their own grass hedgehog, design Halloween masks and explore the 12 acres of gardens. 

Adults can walk in 12 acres of grounds and discover the history of the 400-year old gardens: GoTo www.eastonwalledgardens.co.uk

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Picture Credit: Easton Walled Gardens view towards the Gatehouse by Richard Croft via Wikimedia Commons

Music in bloom

A 900-YEAR-OLD English cathedral with the longest nave in Britain is to host a flower festival. 

The 11th-century St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire is the venue for the Music in Bloom Festival (September 25-28).

More than 400 flower arrangers will be working on the displays in the run-up to the festival, which will see 10,000 blooms in total being used in the cathedral's 278ft-long nave.

The arrangements will be themed on musical genres from chamber to rock. 

Some 132 well-known pieces of music and songs will feature in the displays.

www.stalbanscathedral.org

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Picture Credit: Frm Top - "The nave of St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire, England" by Diliff  via Wikimedia Commons; "Biedermeierstrauß aus Seidenblumen und präparierten Rosen" by Flor4U|Wolfgang Roth|Blumenwerkstatt Roth  via Wikimedia Commons

Guernsey in bloom

GUERNSEY will celebrate its diverse horticulture this month (September) with the autumn edition of its Floral Festival (September 20-29). 

The week-long festival will include special events, open gardens, guided walks, and a talk from TV presenter, author and botanist James Wong - www.floralguernsey.co.uk

Guernsey Floral Festival - James Wong

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Time for tea!

FOR a fittingly fine way to enjoy the quintessentially English custom of Afternoon Tea, visit the Treasure Houses of England's consortium of historic homes, palaces and castles to indulge in this traditional pastime in stately style.

Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire – The quintessential English tradition of Afternoon Tea is said to have been popularized around 1840 by Duchess Anna Maria, wife of the 7th Duke of Bedford, who entertained her friends at Woburn Abbey.  Visitors today can experience Afternoon Tea at Woburn at the Duchess' Tea Room or at the Estate's hotel The Inn at Woburn (pre-booking required).

Beaulieu, Hampshire – A scrumptious Afternoon Tea with a wide selection of cakes and pastries baked in-house in the Brabazon Coffee Shop and Restaurant. 

Burghley House, Lincolnshire – Enjoy a range of Afternoon Teas in the Orangery Restaurant at Burghley, designed by Capability Brown in the 18^th century. The gothic windows provide an elegant space to indulge in homemade scones, cakes and a range of teas while overlooking the Rose Garden.

Castle Howard, Yorkshire – Enjoy an afternoon treat at Castle Howard in either the bistro-style Courtyard Cafe or the more traditional Fitzroy Room. 

Chatsworth, Derbyshire – Enjoy a British tradition at Chatsworth with an Afternoon Tea in the Cavendish Restaurant, built in the 18th century stables.

Harewood House, Yorkshire –Relax on the south-facing terrace with spectacular views over the award-winning formal parterre and Capability Brown's landscape as Red Kites soar overhead.

Leeds Castle, Kent – Have an afternoon treat with a cream tea in the 17^th century oak-beamed Fairfax Hall or outside terrace overlooking the castle. 

www.treasurehouses.co.uk

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Hever in Bloom

A WEEK celebrating the award-winning gardens at Hever Castle runs from June 23 to June 29. Hever in Bloom showcases the gardens at the height of their summer beauty, with one of the finest displays in Kent, the Garden of England.

Join the gardeners for free daily tours to find out about garden’s history. The gardening team will be on hand throughout the week to answer questions from visitors, who will be able to meet the castle’s florist and attend her daily floral arrangement workshops. Expect some professional tips and tricks of the trade to try in your own home.

Not to be missed are nostalgic displays of poppies in several bays along the Pompeiian Wall in The Italian Gardens and around the grounds to commemorate the centenary of World War One.

Hever Castle’s gardens were laid out between 1904 and 1908 by Joseph Cheal and Son to display William Waldorf Astor’s unique collection of Greek and Roman statuary collected while he was the US ambassador in Rome.

www.hevercastle.co.uk

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Blenheim in bloom

THE Blenheim Palace Flower Show will burst into bloom in June to celebrate the very best of gardening in the UK. Thanks to the success of its debut last year, the show will return to the grounds of the Oxfordshire stately home on June 20-22.  

     

The event will feature more than 150 floral and garden exhibitors. Some of the UK's finest landscape designers will be showcasing their design work, and the Grand Floral Pavilion, the show’s centrepiece, will host displays by the country’s best nurseries.

It will also be an opportunity to meet celeb experts such as Monty Don, Joe Swift, Frances Tophill, Charlie Dimmock, and Tommy Walsh.

www.blenheimflowershow.co.uk

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