Thursday, March 28, 2013

A Bloggers Meet at Great Dixter

Yesterday we went along to a bloggers meet at Great Dixter. Well known as the garden of the much loved garden writer and personality Christopher Lloyd, Great Dixter is however so much more than just the garden. A fantastic manor house at the centre, education and training rooms, a nursery, and wood crafts are additional strings to Dixter's bow.

The garden itself opens to the public tomorrow on Good Friday, so there was a flurry of activity from the many gardeners and estate staff organising the finishing touches wherever we looked.

Organised by Naomi from Out of My Shed the day kicked off with a talk by the effervescent Fergus Garrett, the current Head Gardener of Great Dixter and long time friend of Christopher Lloyd. We had not previously had the pleasure in attending a talk by Fergus, but what a fantastic speaker he is. Exuding the joys of experimenting with plants, Fergus focused in particular on how Great Dixter plans its succession planting, as well as highlighting some of the more unusual planting experiments. The photos of the gardens using cow parsley last year gave a truly ethereal feel.


With the enthusiasm rubbing off on us all, the timings for the day quickly were forgotten and the talk lasted an extra half an hour or so over Fergus' time slot. However from there we were on to the delightful nursery, and a meeting with Mike, the nursery manager.

Great Dixter's nursery is genuinely one of the most tidy and well presented nursery I can think of. The plants are grown hard, with very limited space under glass and no polytunnels to be seen. Clearly we couldn't wander round a nursery without selecting a few plants, and came home with an Oropanax, an Angelica, and also a Rodgersia. The nursery buildings, as many on the estate have a fantastic ancient quality. I assume many of them predate the 1910 Luytens designed extension to the original medieval hall, although they may well be of a similar era.

Although bright and sunny the day was cold, so a welcome retreat for hot home made soup prepared us for the afternoons garden tour with the deputy head gardener Siew Lee. This was a real treat, being shown round the garden in a small group without any other visitors, seeing just how full and colourful the garden is even now at the start of the season. 

Siew Lee
The garden wraps round the main house and the house provides a fantastic backdrop and focal point. It is hard to spot where the medieval section ends and the 1910 extension starts, however to help show the history we were given a guided tour of the house by the Great Dixter Curator. As well as the tour itself Roy had selected a number of documents from the archives including original plans and sketches by Edwin Lutyens for the restoration and extension to the hall, as well as personal Lloyd family albums.

To conclude the day we finished up in the 500 year old barn where we met Simon, who gave us a demonstration on working with green wood.


We will feature the garden and house in more detail in a dedicated post soon.

Great Dixter is open from 29 March to 27 October this year and more information can be found on their website.

Gaz :)


32 comments :

  1. Great Dixter has been one of my inspiration gardens ever since I began to garden seriously. ( Ha! Are we gardeners ever SERIOUS? )How fortunate that you can just take a day and go visit! My dream vacation would be to visit the great gardens of Great Britain, France, and Italy. Meanwhile, I look forward to your future posts on Great Dixter!

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    1. I hope you get to have your dream vacation one day :) Stay tuned for more from Great Dixter

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  2. How wonderful that must have been! Just tonight I was reading an article in a 1989 Fine Gardening magazine written by Mr. Lloyd, all about the timing of the peak blooming in a border. What a personality. Can't wait for your next installment!

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    1. It was a great day Loree. Its amazing how well Christopher Lloyds articles have stood the test of time. I guess the witty and informative style allows his articles and books to reach new generations.

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  3. Great photos. Love that house. I hope you got other photos to see of it when you post more. The woodworking would be cool to watch.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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    1. We have plenty more photos Cher, will share those soon.

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  4. very jealous! that garden is so fabulous

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  5. What a busy day out - and such a great opportunity to meet with other garden bloggers! What is Simon making in that last photo?

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    1. Simon is making a leg for a table!

      It was a lovely day and to meet so many other bloggrs was great too.

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  6. How wonderful to be able to see the garden before it opens to the public. Its been a couple of years since our last visit to Great Dixter, although we did have a good old natter with the team when they were at the Garden Museum last year. I'm looking forward to returnng this year to see whats new.

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    1. We had never been before, so our first trip will be very memorable.

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  7. Oh lucky you! Sounds the perfect recipe for a marvellous day - an amazing garden, an inspirational speaker and the convivial company of fellow bloggers. Look forward to reading more about your day :)

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    1. It was a lovely day indeed, do keep an eye out for more!

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  8. That looked like a great trip, although perhaps a cold one as well.

    Great Dixter is on my wish list of gardens to visit, but its quite a way from me.

    Its always nice to buy new plants from places visited. (I often do).!

    Keep warm and I look forward to the next instalment.!

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    1. It was a chilly day indeed but lots of hot tea and lunch of hot homemade soup more than compensated!

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  9. Looks like you were able to stock up on enough inspiration to last you a season or more.

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    1. Several ideas are now forming. Although the main inspiration was they clever use of succession planting. Often having 3 or more phases of plants in just one spot

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  10. It was a real treat to meet you both as well as the treat of Great Dixter itself.

    As I visit everyone, I see the recurring theme that one blog post isn't enough to do the day justice :)

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    1. Hi VP it was lovely to meet you and everyone else too. I have spotted that same theme!

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  11. Hello Boys! You've done a marvellous job in your post of sorting through all the information we were given - there was a lot to take in!! Great photos of the place as well. You did well to choose only 3 plants from the Nursery, there was such a lot to choose from. I've brought a catalogue home with me so I'll know what I want next time I go.
    It was really super to meet you both as part of a bloggers' get together. Now I'm hoping that it will become a regular event! Caro x

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    1. Regular bloggers meets would be a great idea!

      We could have chosen many more plants, but were quite restrained!

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  12. Hi Gaz, oh my, I admit that I shamelessly envy you guys. Going to a blogger meet at Great Dixter?! Getting a tour of the house and the garden before the masses arrive?! I can't even imagine how much fun you must have been having, being it a cold day or not. Because I visited Great Dixter two years ago your post brings back very fond memories for me and I can't wait to read your extended report about the house and the gardens. Please do it soon :-)!
    Christina

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    1. Hi Christina, I'm glad we brought back some good memories. It was lovely to see everything prior to the public opening. We really must get back to gt Dixter later in the year.

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  13. Hi Mark and Gaz, Happy Easter. I am smiling as I now know how to differentiate at the beginning who is currently writing. So Gaz, i enjoyed your tour and envious of the activity your bloggers meet turned out. What a wonderful garden and i love most to watch if possible the woodworking activity. I am a frustrated carpenter, because i haven't done anything in that area. thanks.

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    1. Hi Andrea that's fun you can work out our different styles. Glad you enjoyed the post :)

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  14. Have to include it on my long list of English gardens to visit! Nice idea for a blogger meetup. Jeannine

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    1. Hi Jeannine I hope you get to visit! It was a lovely idea and nice to meet so many other bloggers.

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  15. That sums up the day very nicely! Glad you had a good day, and I hope you make it down there again later in the year, when I'm sure you'll find even more inspiration...

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    1. Hi Veronica, it was lovely to meet everyone. We are planning on returning in August, hopefully with much more clement weather.

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  16. Great post! It's so nice to be reminded of what an awesome day we had! It was great meeting you both. Anna : )

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    1. Hi Anna, thanks, we lovely meeting you and everyone else too. It was a fantastic day, well done to Naomi and the team at Gt Dixter for making it happen.

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