Gardeners' Own Gardens at Number 3 in their Top Gardens to Visit
PRESS RELEASE
Date: 6 June 2011
Gardeners' own gardens at number 3 in their top gardens to visit
Visiting gardens is a popular pastime in the UK. The 'Yellow Book' scheme, which sees more than 3,500 'amateurs' open their gardens to the public in aid of charity – raised a massive £2.6 million last year alone. Garden visitors are spoilt for choice with large gardens run by the likes of the National Trust, the RHS and a number of professional gardeners.
So when the UK's number one directory gardening website The Gardening Website (www.thegardeningwebsite.co.uk), asked its readers to vote for their favourite gardens they were quite surprised by the results.
In at number 3 was 'my own garden'. As one voter said: "My favourite garden has to be mine – a place to relax, enjoy, work off frustrations and while away the hours."
Gardens evoke many memories, and lots of our own gardens are associated with family memories. One reader has found her own way to make memories: "My favourite garden is my own garden of memories... when any of my family or friends dies I ask for a memory from their garden. Every year when the plant blooms, grows or flowers they are remembered all over again. Among my "memory plants" I have lilies from my husband's grandad's garden, a peony from my husband's Gran, a thriving azalea and camellia from my great uncle, and roses from my Nanna. While these plants live so do my special memories."
More of the readers had family-related memories. "My favourite garden is, or at least was, my Grandad's. His gardens surrounded his whole bungalow and as children my brother and I would run round them and have furious fun. I will always remember the garden being filled with floods of marigolds and the pond with my very own fish in it!"
"My favourite garden is my mother's. When my father became partially sighted very suddenly she worked hard to find flowers and shrubs with bright colours and beautiful scents which he could continue to enjoy. Sadly he died recently but my mother has continued to find comfort in her garden and even at the age of 89 she still plans ahead and looks forward to each season and the joys it brings."
Others are using gardens to make new memories, by sharing their interest in horticulture with younger members of the family: "My favourite garden is Abbey Gardens in Winchester. I used to go there as a child and now I take my own two-year-old daughter there and she loves to touch the flowers in the formal gardens before entering the park. Taking my own daughter to the park where I have my first childhood memories of going is a lovely feeling of continuity, security and reassurance."
And if our favourite garden isn't just outside our back door, it may well be just down the road, as a lady from Liverpool writes: "My favourite garden is an oasis of peace and tranquility in this urban jungle of life. It is filled with beautiful flowers and home to all manner of bird life. This piece of paradise is to be found in Magull near Liverpool. THE BEST!"
It seems that city gardens have a great appeal to those of us who live in urban areas, and bigger is not always better, as one writer explains: "The Chelsea Physic Garden in London is a lovely, smallish intimate garden where even the less physically challenged visitors can access all or certainly most of the garden. There are also plenty of seats should you become tired and there is always something in blossom, flower or just green at virtually every corner. In short, you can access this garden in less than a day, taking everything in and not be too tired. I am a member of The National Trust and can find most of the gardens too large and too tiring, especially for the none-too young, but this is in my opinion one of the best – for anyone!"
Gardens can be enjoyed even if you're on your way to work in the city too: "My favourite garden is Embankment Gardens. I walk through it every day on my way to work and notice something new and different every time.
But it's not just the physical aspects of gardens that appeal. While we all appreciate the planting, landscaping and design, gardens can also evoke some happy or poignant memories: "My favourite garden is Trebah down near Falmouth. It's quite magical wandering down from the house to the sea, under the gunnera by the stream. The views from the top complement the planting wonderfully. For me, it's also a place of happy memories – of a good friend who used to walk her dogs there and loved the gardens but who unfortunately died at too young an age; of family visits when our boys were younger and of them running and hiding, using the paraglide and doing the Easter egg hunt.
Finally, some of us may not stop to smell the roses, but have other, less horticulturally-biased, reasons for having a favourite garden: "My favourite garden...on careful consideration....has to be....my Auntie Rita's. It was where I shared my first kiss with Cathy Sheldrake, and it had amazing lupins."
The readers of the Gardening Website voted RHS Wisley in Surrey as their favourite garden. From a total of over 150 gardens; the top 20 nominated Gardens were: RHS Wisley, Kew Gardens, My Garden, Sissinghurst Castle, The Lost Gardens of Heligan Cornwall, Hidcote, Alnwick, Beth Chatto Gardens, Hampton Court, Bodnant Garden, Chatsworth, Sheffield Park, Stourhead, Compton Acres, RHS Rosemoor, Waddesdon Manor, Baddesley Clinton, Eden project,Great Dixter Gardens, Hatfield House
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