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Space to Grow
why peopleneed gardens
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The role of the National Trust
The National Trst has been caring or special gardens or
over 110 years. Or proessional interest in gardens took o
in the late 1940s, when we established a Gardens Committee
to advise s on or work. We now look ater over 200 gardens
and parks and and 32 Plant Heritage National Plant Collections
and over 70,000 plant species. We employ 450 proessional
gardeners, who are assisted by 1,500 volnteer gardeners.
Another 2,400 volnteers help with activities sch as plant
selling and gided talks.
Octavia Hill, one o or onders, was passionate abot
the idea that gardens cold serve as open air sitting
rooms. Indeed, the National Trst was very nearly called
the Commons and Gardens Trst. Arond 87 per cent o
the poplation o England, Wales and Northern Ireland now
live within 15 miles o a National Trst garden. Or gardensoten nction as vital local commnity spaces, or example
at Osterley Park in London or East Riddlesden Hall in West
Yorkshire.
Many o the gardens in or care have special historical
signicance. Almost all o the great garden designers o
the past worked on gardens that are now looked ater by
the Trst, among them Charles Bridgeman, William Kent,
Lancelot Capability Brown, Hmphry Repton, Gertrde
Jekyll and Sir Georey Jellicoe.
2 N A T I ON A L T R u S T
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Space to Growwhy people need gardens
Gardens and gardening have a special place in or national
cltre. Most weekends, millions o s will be planting, digging
and weeding or own plots, or appreciating other peoples
eorts as visitors to gardens. There are ew who do not vale
the simple pleasres that gardens and gardening can oer:
beaty, resh air, connection with natre and plants, and
the satisaction o growing or own ood. Spending time
in a garden is time well spent.
Thats why I believe that gardens are more important
than ever beore. Signicantly, seven ot o ten o s believe
that spending time in gardens is critical to or qality o lie,
with many agreeing that it is a more enjoyable pastime than
shopping or watching TV. I am passionate abot the idea that,
in todays ast-paced society, everyone shold have accessto a garden or green space that they eel entitled to enjoy and
se. Ater all, this was the inspirational vision o the onders
o the National Trst.
Gardens, great and small, ace many challenges. The examples
in this report set ot how the National Trst is responding to
these, and the measres we are taking to ensre that gardens
can be appreciated by everyone or generations to come.
Fiona Reynolds
Director-General
Let: Fiona Reynolds clearing daodils with the gardeners
at Snowshill Manor, Gloucestershire
S P A C E T O GR OW3
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Gardening is one o Britains most popular pastimes.
Most weekends 11 million o us will be tending our
gardens, and more than twice that number say they
enjoy visiting gardens each year. Put simply, gardens
are a constant source o joy and pleasure.
Gardens are places where people can play and relax.
When people were asked why spending time in gardenswas important to them, nwinding was the most reqently
mentioned response (68 per cent). One in three members
o the pblic consider gardens to be romantic places that
can give yor love lie a boost. Walking in the scent rom the
300 varieties o old-ashioned roses growing in the gardens
at Mottisont Abbey in Hampshire on a smmers evening
helps to demonstrate why!
Nine ot o ten o the Trsts most visited properties are
gardens. Even in the depths o winter thosands o visitorscome to enjoy the delicate beaty o snowdrops at properties
sch as Colby Woodland Garden in Pembrokeshire and
Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge. This poplarity means
that gardens open to the pblic are a major draw or
torism in Britain. Gardens are important to sstaining
local economies. Visits to gardens generate an estimated
300 million in direct spending and even more than this
in associated spending on local bsinesses.
Gardens bring people together. They provide a sae andcomorting environment in which to prse a variety o
activities: exercise, socialising with riends, appreciating
natre and the seasons, or qiet contemplation. As
sch, gardens are great social levellers, helping to nite
commnities in ways that other pblic spaces oten do not.
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The Gateway Gardens Trustand Moseley Old HallStaordshire
The 17th-centry style garden at Moseley Old Hall is one
o many in the National Trst to work in partnership with The
Gateway Gardens Trst, which helps disadvantaged grops
o all kinds to become involved with and experience gardens.
Chairman o The Gateway Gardens Trst, Bettina Harden,
describes a typical project with local schoolchildren in the
garden at Moseley Old Hall in Staordshire: The children
came rom a hgely deprived rban area. They planted seeds
in their own plot, and came back week ater week to weed
and water them, and then harvest the prodce. They wrote
amazing poems and drew pictres abot their experiences.
It was a spectaclar sccess.
Bettina sees access to green spaces as a hman right.
Gardens oer innite resorces to eed or needs as people.
One regee child, amazed to discover the beaty o the walled
gardens at Dinewr, asked s whether he was in paradise.
The Gateway Gardens Trst is rnning a series o seminars
abot increasing access to gardens and historic parks or
National Trst sta in order to develop skills and share good
practice in otreach work.
The best thing about
Knightshayes Court garden
(above) is that it eels warm
and neighbourly. Despiteits scale and splendour I
always eel Ive just popped
in to see an old riend
National Trst visitor, Devon
More than 12 million
people visit National
Trust gardens each year
Seven out o ten o
us believe it is critical
to our quality o lie to
spend time in gardens
S P A C E T O GR OW5
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Research has shown that physical activity in green spaces
is eective in the treatment o clinical depression and can
be as successul as psychotherapy or medication,
particularly in the longer term.
The mental health charity Thrive has ond that nearly one
in three disabled people believe that gardening has ongoing
health benets, and one in ve report that it has helped themthrogh a period o mental or physical ill health. At Clmber
Park, Nottinghamshire, the National Trst is working with
the charity Rethink and the Adlt Social Care and Health
department o Nottinghamshire Conty Concil to help
people who have sered rom severe mental illness by
providing space in the Walled Kitchen Garden to propagate
and grow vegetables and fowers.
Gardening is an excellent orm o exercise. Jst 30 mintes
o gardening can brn as many calories as aerobic exercise,greatly redcing the risk o coronary heart disease and other
chronic illnesses. It can have broader health benets too, or
example helping older people maintain stronger and more
nimble hands.
Doctors are beginning to see green exercise and horticltral
therapy as eective treatments or many mental and physical
conditions. At Storhead, Wiltshire, a Heritage to Health
project has been established to help train and develop
health and social care proessionals to se horticltraltherapy. Healthy gardening initiatives sch as at Greys Cort
in Oxordshire oer commnities the chance to enjoy these
benets at their local Trst properties. Or many garden and
parkland walking trails provide visitors with gentle exercise
or their bodies as well as spirital rereshment.
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Anglesey AbbeyCambridgeshire
The gardens at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge are the site
o a pioneering project to improve the health and well-being
o local people and par ticlarly o disadvantaged or socially
exclded grops.
The garden has a varied network o long-term partnerships
with charities like Mencap, health trsts, local schools and
organisations working with at risk or socially exclded grops.
Head Gardener Richard Todd has seen lives change throgh
the experience o working in the gardens: Its partly jst the
magic o being in a lovely place, and doing something worth-
while and physical with other people. Many, or instance people
recovering rom mental illness, have lost all condence in
themselves. At rst theres no eye contact; they strggle to
have a conversation. Bt then they start gardening, see a
reslt, and begin to eel worthwhile. They come ot o their
shell and can begin to deal with the hbbb o lie. Many
have gone on to ll-time jobs.
The mental health charity Red2Green has also taken over part
o the kitchen garden, while other grops, inclding children
with special edcational needs, now grow vegetables which
they sell on to the National Trst restarant at the property.
Across the UK 21,000
people a week are using
garden projects to
improve their well-being
My garden is such a
wonderul place when lie
gets too much. Listening
to the birds and pottering
amongst the owers relaxes
me more than anything else
in the world whenever I
start to get all razzled!
National Trst visitor, Kent
S P A C E T O GR OW7
Weeding or 30
minutes can burn
the same amount
o calories as a
hal-hour walk
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Gardens are a great source o ood, and help inspire people
to appreciate more about where their ood comes rom.
The Trust now cares or 26 working kitchen gardens, rom
Trengwainton, Cornwall, to Wallington, Northumberland.
They are increasingly popular visitor attractions at properties,
providing opportunities or community involvement, school
plots and growing areas or disadvantaged groups as well
as resh produce or the property restaurants and tea-rooms.
In the walled garden at Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, three
gardeners and 40 volnteers grow hndreds o traditional
varieties o rit and vegetables, inclding 60 kinds o tomato.
The gardeners work closely with Wimpoles che, Keith
Goodwin, who explains: Everything here is cooked resh.
Its all ood in season, grown locally. We dont talk abot
ood miles here; we talk abot ood eet and inches.
Throgh or gardens, we can connect with local commnities.At the magnicent 2.5 acre kitchen garden at Knightshayes
Cort in Devon we work with local schools who now come
on a reglar basis to tend their plots and learn abot growing
ood. At Hghenden Manor in Bckinghamshire theres a
lively commnity-based programme o planting and gardening
sessions involving amilies rom diverse backgronds in High
Wycombe. Throgh the Landshare initiative we are committed
to oering a thosand new growing spaces by 2012, some
o which will be in redndant National Trst kitchen gardens.
Were also encoraging volnteers and allotment holders
to cltivate traditional varieties o rit and vegetables where
possible, and passing on the skills and know-how to help them
to do so. At Cotehele in Cornwall or cltivation o traditional
rit varieties in the Mother Orchard helps to maintain a niqe
gene bank sited to conditions in the Tamar Valley.
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21 per cent o people
have taken up gardening
to grow their own ruit
and vegetables
S P A C E T O GR OW9
Gibsidenear Gateshead
I love working with the children, sharing my love o growing
things with them and teaching them basic gardening sk ills
which hopelly they will take into adlthood. One o the
children told me last week that she enjoyed gardening
becase she wold jst be bored i she stayed at home!says Se Adamson, Gardener at Gibside.
Jst ve miles rom Gateshead, Gibside was once a grand
estate bilt on the prots o coal mining. Now the estate is
bilding a dierent name or itsel, as the centre o a thriving
commnity allotment scheme and a sccessl armers
market. Property Manager Mick Wilkes explains, The historic
or-acre walled garden, long ago tred over and trned into
a car park, is now gradally being restored, with rit trees
planted along its walls and the space inside divided intoallotment plots.
So ar 30 plots have been created and all are being sed
by local people and commnity grops inclding mental
health charities, or schools, a rehabilitation service
and a homeless shelter. The only rle is
that plots mst be kept in a reasonable
condition and gardened along
organic principles. Most crops
are grown rom heritage seed
varieties, althogh modern
varieties are sed too and
the dierences discssed.
Kitchen gardens like
ours are antastic places
to inspire people to value
ood and start growing
it themselves
Christine Brain, Head
Gardener, Barrington Cort,
Somerset
The National Trust already
has community growing
spaces rom allotments
to kitchen gardens at
over 50 locations around
the country
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The Trust employs and trains volunteers as gardeners,
garden guides and stewards, and in other garden-related
roles. Similarly, our working holidays allow people to get
involved and work in our gardens. From revamping gardens
at Cwmdu in Carmarthenshire to creating a Caribbean
Herb Garden at Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton,
volunteering provides a chance to work with garden sta
and experience at rst hand how to maintain and manage
historic gardens.
Many volnteers have gone on to develop sccessl careers
as proessional gardeners with the Trst and they in trn have
a crcial role to play in helping others learn gardening skills.
The Trsts own gardeners training scheme, Careership,
is the uKs largest new entrant programme or heritage
gardeners. Since its inception in 1997, over 200 stdents
have been trained and many are now employed by the Trstor are working within the botanical and heritage garden sector
in the uK and beyond.
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Volunteering at Colby (above) gives me something
worthwhile to do with my spare time, working in a lovely
place I dont have a garden at home so its the only
chance I get to garden!Volnteer Gardener, Colby Woodland Garden, Pembrokeshire
S P A C E T O GR OW 11
The National Gardens Scheme
Enabling the spread o garden expertise throghot the
gardens sector is a key objective o the partnership between
the National Trst and the National Gardens Scheme (NGS).
The Careership scheme is designed to ensre a continos
spply o sitably qalied gradate gardeners, competent to
work in historic gardens. At present 13 stdents each year arespported directly by the NGS. The sccess o the scheme
can be measred by the nmber o post-Careership gardeners
now employed by the National Trst and private gardens.
Leslie Hrst, who now works as an Interactive Gardener at
Biddlph Grange Garden, says: The Careership scheme is a
perect balance o theoretical stdy and workplace experience.
All aspects o working in a historic garden are covered, rom
tools/machines throgh to garden history (and everything in
between!). Another ormer Careership stdent, John Hawley,is now the Head Gardener at Sizergh Castle and explains
the appeal o the opportnity to work or the National Trst:
Ater working in a garden or a nmber o years, helping to
shape and evolve things, yo eel a par t o the place, its in
yor heart and sol.
As Jlia Grant, NGS Chie Exective, explains: The Careership
scheme allows the NGS to play a part in preserving or garden
heritage. Gardens and garden visiting are an integral part
o this contrys cltre and keeping a pool o horticltral
experts coldnt be more important in maintaining and
developing this wonderl tradition.
In addition, many National Trst gardens open their gates
each year or the NGS and help raise nds or the NGSs
beneciary charities which inclde Macmillan Cancer Spport,
Marie Crie Cancer Care, Help the Hospices and Crossroads.
Over the last decade, the NGS has raised 25 million this way.
We have 3,900 garden-
based volunteers across
the Trust who give us nearly
40,000 hours o their time
a year equivalent to 366
additional posts
Public gardens, domestic
gardens, botanic gardens
and parks, nursery trades,
market gardens and
historic properties employ
over 200,000 people in
horticulture
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Our gardens are sae, secure places where people can
develop their sel-esteem and condence. We work with
the charity Thrive in the gardens at The Vyne in Hampshire,
giving disabled adults greater condence and social skills,
a stepping stone to employment and a sense o purpose
in the community.
We provide placements nder a nmber o dierent governmentschemes sch as the Intermediate Labor Market and New
Deal or the long-term nemployed. Biddlph Grange in
Staordshire provides work placements and training or
training provider Total People Stoke-on-Trent.
At Sheringham Park and Oxbrgh Hall in Norolk, the
Trst is working with The Princes Trst on re-socialisation
programmes or trobled teenagers, in some cases leading
to ll-time employment. Or Getting into the past programme
with The Princes Trst aims to oer an opportnity to get aoot on the ladder in the horticltre eld, or example or
12 yong people not crrently in edcation or training at
Kingston Lacy.
Or gardeners also collaborate with probation and prison
sta to provide horticltral and social sk ills training. Examples
inclde the partnership between a secre nit in Newmarket
and the gardens at Ickworth in Solk, and Qarry Bank Mill
in Cheshire, where prisoners rom Styal are helping to restore
its newly acqired garden.
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The ladies rom Styal womens prison had the chance
to experience a variety o skills they probably would
never have even considered. The scheme so ar has
had great success with two o them on release fndingemployment in a very short time and getting their
lives back on track. They still keep me updated with
their news
Alan Knapper, Head Gardener, Qarry Bank Mill (above),Cheshire
SPACE TO GROW13
The Walled Garden at StackpolePembrokeshire
The six acres o walled gardens on the Stackpole Estate
are leased and managed by Pembrokeshire Mencap Ltd on
a 40-year lease. The ocs is on providing opportnities or
people with learning diclties to gain horticltral skills and
work experience. Mike Evans, Trstee and Treasrer, explains:We bs 45 stdents to the garden rom their home or a care
nit dring the week and they take part in pre-NVQ corses
in Horticltre and Lie Skills or which we are nded by the
Welsh Assembly. Fnding is also received rom Pembrokeshire
Social Services.
Stdents, sta, volnteers and visitors vale the gardens or
the experience it oers them. under expert gidance, the
stdents take responsibility or their own growing spaces
and crops. Friendly and welcoming sta and volnteers arecommitted to providing stdents with the very best interaction
the garden presents. Visitors are also encoraged to enjoy
the space and to take advantage o the availability o delicios,
resh, local prodce throgh the shop. Schoolchildren also
visit to see how vegetables are grown and what they taste
like reshly picked.
Mike sees the garden as a place which coaxes people who
might not otherwise develop their own skills. The Mencap
Walled Gardens at Stackpole are a peacel oasis. This
environment encorages or stdents to eel comortable
and be themselves.
More than 30 National Trust gardens already have
partnerships with training bodies, social services,
prisons and organisations or people with learning
disabilities
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The Trusts 200 gardens are sensitive barometers
registering the pressure o environmental change on our
lives, and on the natural world around us. Spring fowers
now bloom and trees come into lea on average two or three
weeks earlier than 30 years ago. Summer rainall in central
England has allen by 20 per cent since the 19th century,
and the growing season has lengthened by a month. Frosts
are now uncommon in the West Country, and rozen lakes
and rivers have become a rarity, even in northern England.
The Trst is keen to nd ways o redcing the environmental
impact o gardening. New methods, sch as the solar-recharged
lawn mowers piloted at Nymans in Sssex, are being tested
alongside tried and trsted techniqes, sch as the restored
Victorian ram pmps sed to distribte water at The Vyne
in Hampshire and Emmetts in Kent withot the need or
electricity. Were working in partnership with Yorkshire
and Clydesdale Banks to nd new ways to redce orenvironmental ootprint.
Green gardening methods, sch as composting and water
havesting, are good or the environment and save money
as well as resorces. These techniqes also show how we
can care or or historic gardens withot harml chemicals.
At Snowshill Manor, Glocestershire, the garden is rn on
organic principles. No chemicals are sed: garden sta
rely on natral methods to maintain a balance.
Gardening withot peat helps to conserve the carbon
dioxide locked p in peat bogs and protects endangered
wildlie. Amater gardeners are crrently responsible or
two thirds o all peat se in the uK, the CO2 eqivalent o
277,000 retrn fights to Sydney. All National Trst gardens
have been peat-ree since 1999, as are all the plants sold
at or properties.
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S P A C E T O GR OW 15
Nymans GardenSussex
Nymans is admired as one o the 20th centrys otstanding
British gardens bt it also leads the eld in demonstrating
best sstainable gardening practice. Ed Ikin, Head Gardener,
is clear abot his priorities: We never compromise on the
appearance o the garden the amazing color and displaythat makes it amos bt wherever possible we se
alternative organic methods and conventional herbicides
or ngicides are a last resor t. There are so many alternatives
i yo look or them. In the rose garden or instance we
adopted a system rom Astralia o spraying reglarly
with milk a potent ngicide.
Water consmption is a raction o what it wold be in a
conventional garden. Even in the 2006 droght we watered
the borders only or times. Get the plants sed to it rightrom the star t and theyll adapt and their roots go deeper.
The gardens carbon ootprint is very low. Solar panels
recharge all or portable electrical eqipment, inclding
lawnmowers. We rn or vehicles on recycled vegetable
oil and we recycle almost all or waste throgh composting
inclding rom the hose and restarant.
Members o the team pass on their experience by talking
to visitors, and by oering green garden trails, throgh
interpretation panels, activity weekends and a hgely poplarGreen Living Fair. People trst what they hear rom or sta
and garden volnteers, becase they can see that it works
by looking arond the garden.
A garden sprinkler can
use 300650 litres in
an hour as much as a
amily o our uses in a
day. We are resurrecting
old wells and harvesting
rain water and installing
more efcient irrigation
Our aim remains the same as when the garden was
created within the Arts and Crats philosophy: to
restore the ideal o man in harmony with nature
Linda Roberts, Gardener in Charge, Snowshill Manor,Glocestershire
Seven out o ten gardeners
now put concerns about
the environment into action
in their own gardens
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Our own back gardens are the most common way or
people to experience nature close at hand. Private gardens
in the UK cover a million acres, an area almost as large as
all o the UKs National Parks. This represents a hugely
important resource or wildlie.
Birds, bats, amphibians, ngi and a wealth o invertebrates
thrive in domestic gardens. In the typical sbrban backgarden o Mendips, John Lennons childhood home,
a srvey ond beetles in the ndergrowth, birds in the
hedges and a woodmose mnching on geranim seeds.
National Trst gardens are important reges or declining
species o native fora and ana, sch as the For-spotted
Flower Bee. Scotney Castle and Sissinghrst Castle are two
o the best sites or dragonfies in Kent, while the old lawns
at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire boast rarities sch as
Adders Tonge Fern and Bee Orchid. The Mistletoe Beetlewas recently ond in old orchards on the Brockhampton
Estate, Hereordshire, while Celypha woodiana, a rare species
o moth protected nder the Biodiversity Action Plan, was
discovered at Barrington Cort, Somerset.
Wildlie-riendly gardening practices help to promote biodiversity.
Older cltivars o garden plants, especially bedding plants and
perennials, tend to have mch more nectar than their modern
eqivalents. This helps spport pollinating insects sch as bees.
Gardens have a vital role in maintaining the link betweenpeople and the natral world. Gardening is also the easiest
way we can encorage wildlie by providing old wood stacks
and ponds, redcing chemicals or growing a greater diversity
o plants. Gardens are likely to become increasingly important
as reges in tre decades as the contryside comes nder
pressre rom development and climate change.
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Hundreds o thousands o schoolchildren benet each
year rom the experience o visiting Trust gardens. Our
pioneering Schools Guardianship Scheme orges close
links with over 40 local schools as gardens have become
an unexpected and powerul way o bringing history,
science and geography alive. They also provide the
chance or children to learn practical growing skills.
Nothing can inspire the imagination more than a living link to
centries past. The Ankerwycke Yew still grows in the gronds
o the rined Priory it takes its name rom in Rnnymede, and
marks the very spot where the Magna Carta was sealed in
1215. A descendant o Sir Isaac Newtons apple tree bears
rit in his garden at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire and
inspires local schoolchildren as well as generations o stdents
at niversities who have received cttings rom the parent
plant over the years.
The Trst is now working in partnership with local edcation
providers on initiatives sch as Forest Schools. These give
children the chance to enjoy the natral world and promote
problem-solving activities. Teachers in Sheringhams Forest
School in Norolk have ond that nder-perorming ppils
excelled or the rst time and visibly grew in sel-esteem
ollowing a visit to nearby Sheringham Park.
Stdents also come on placements or day-release schemes
rom local colleges, sch as those who helped to restore
the walled garden at Hghenden Manor in Bckinghamshire.
A wide range o yong adlts, some with mental health
problems, addictions or backgronds as ormer oenders,
have helped to bring Tynteselds magnicent estate in
north Somerset back to lie.
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I know more about
gardening now, and help
my gran in her garden.
Were going to share
our vegetables with her
riends too. My mum
didnt know how potatoesgrow, but now I do!
Liam, school vis itor, aged 8
S P A C E T O GR OW 19
TrericeCornwall
For ve years Trerices gardens have been the setting or an
award-winning history project enabling local schoolchildren
to taste the Tdors. They discover at rst hand what it was
like to work in an Elizabethan garden: growing athentic
plants, cooking and tasting the prodce, even enjoyingTdor pastimes.
James Breslin, Assistant Proper ty Manager, says the key is
the practical qality o learning. I the tre history o Trerice is
to come alive, children have to get their hands dir ty. Yo know
the old saying, I hear and I orget. I see and I remember, bt
I do and I nderstand.
The garden the children have developed over the years is
based on historical sorces, inclding the rst gardening book
in English, by Thomas Hill. Theres practical advice we can
se, bt also lots o sperstition, and qite barbaric methods
o pest control that the children call grisly gardening they
love it!
The children have recreated Hills Great Sqirt, a massive
garden watering device. The children worked with 2-inch
wide steel agrs, trned wooden pegs on lathes and made
the pistons or the device. Give children responsibility and
theyll act responsibly.
Gardens, James believes, are jst as important as great
bildings or bringing history to lie, and inspiring criosity.
One child smmed p what hed learned over a hectic year
o planting and weeding, hoeing and watering: Now I know
that gardening can be tasty.
The majority o the public (80 per cent) think that
all children should learn about gardening, including
growing ood, at school. Studies have shown that
pupils rom years six to eight developed betterinterpersonal relationship skills ater participating
in a garden programme
The recreated Great
Squirt at Trerice
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A hugely signicant and growing area o the Trusts
work is in the conservation o the internationally important
collections o plants that contribute directly to the character
and signicance o our gardens. Many are o great cultural,
botanical and ecological value. In act, no other organisation
in Europe has such a large and diverse collection.
We manage 32 National Plant Collections on behal o thecltivated plant conservation charity Plant Heritage. These
are heritage plant collections that represent particlar styles
or periods o gardening and are integral to ensring or
gardens are athentic in design and content.
Some o or plant collections have special local signicance,
sch as the historic Hereord and Marches apples at
Berrington Hall in Hereordshire or the Tamar daodils
that were bred or the Cornish ct fower indstry and are
conserved at Cotehele. The names o many avorite gardenplants across the uK also have their origin in Trst gardens,
sch as Hidcote lavender and Hypericm Rowallane.
Withot the skills and knowledge to propagate and grow
plants, the diversity and cltral signicance o or collections
cold not be sstained. Based at Knightshayes Cort in Devon,
the Trsts specialist propagation acility, the Plant Conservation
Programme, ensres the srvival o many o its important
specimens. In light o the recent spread o the ngal diseases
Phytophthora ramorum and Phytophthora kernoviae we are
working with the specialist micropropagation nit at Dchy
College in Cornwall to ensre the srvival o plants threatened
by the disease.
Bilding national and international partnerships is crcial
to conserving these plants. The Trst is a s ignatory to the
Global Strategy or Plant Conservation, which seeks to halt
the alarming rate o plant extinction worldwide.
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S P A C E T O GR OW 21
A nationwide plant hunt
The National Trst is ndertaking the uKs biggest ever
cltivated plant srvey. Crrently only 10 per cent o the many
thosands o plants in National Trst gardens are recorded.
Now, thanks to sponsorship rom Yorkshire and Clydesdale
Bank and the dedication o hndreds o sta and volnteers,
details o at least 75 per cent o the plants in or collectionswill be recorded by 2011. The database will enable the Trst
to identiy which plants are most seriosly threatened, and
help saegard the tre o thosands o plants that are
signicant to the character o or gardens.
So ar over 40,000 plant details have been recorded and
we expect this gre to move towards a million by 2011.
Volnteers are helping s srvey or collections. using GPS
technology, each plant is identied, photographed and its
details entered onto the database. This in trn is now linkedto PlantCollections, an ambitios international data sharing
project led by Chicago Botanic Gardens, o which we are
the Eropean lead partner.
The project aims to link the databases o major plant collection
holders, arboreta and botanic gardens arond the world,
to help prioritise conservation eorts at each location as a
response strategy to climate change. The database will enable
s to conrm which plants are most seriosly threatened. The
plant srveys shold help saegard the tre o thosands
o rare plants and varieties o rit and vegetables that are
simply part o the character o or gardens. Mike Bn, or
Gardens and Parks Advisor, explains, We cant promise that
nothing will be lost. Bt those plants we believe are most
signicant to or gardens wont be lost thats or aim.
A rare large-leaved rhododendron,Rhododendron
magnifcum (KW213), in ull ower
Over 300,000 species
o cultivated plants are
grown in UK gardens,
compared to only around1,500 native species
The Trust works with The
Royal Botanic Gardens,
Edinburgh, to help conserve
wild source material romthe coniersFitzroya
cupressoides, threatened
by illegal logging in Chile,
and Torreya taxiolia (above),
a conier native to Florida
and Georgia o which only
27 are let in the wild
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Gardens are among this countrys greatest cultural
achievements. The 18th-century landscape gardening
tradition is associated throughout the world with places
such as Stowe in Buckinghamshire or Fountains Abbey
and Studley Royal in Yorkshire, which has World Heritage
Site status.
Figres sch as William Kent, Lancelot Capability Brownand Hmphry Repton were crcial to the development o this
tradition transorming earlier ormal gardens into broad sweep-
ing landscape gardens. In the 19th centry garden designers
sch as William Nesteld, the architect Sir Charles Barry and
Gertrde Jekyll contined to experiment with new designs and
innovations: newly imported exotic plants, ever more elaborate
greenhoses, and gardens laid ot to harmonise with the latest
architectral styles. The tradition contines to evolve, with new
gardens still being created in Britain.
Keeping garden traditions alive and interpreting their histories
or new generations is a vital par t o the management o
all National Trst properties. At Sissinghrst in Kent, the
amos gardens designed by Vita Sackville-West are carelly
maintained by a team o gardeners in the spirit o her original
plans and methods. Storhead in Wiltshire has been attracting
visitors since the 18th centry and today over 300,000 visitors
come each year to discover its beaty or themselves.
Many o or smaller properties have gardens that are every
bit as important as those ond at large contry hoses.
The cottage garden and orchard at Rosedene, Warwickshire
bring to lie the story o the Chartists and the strggle or
democratic rights. The garden at Red Hose in Bexleyheath,
William Morriss 19th-centry home, is lled with cottage
garden plants which inspired some o the most iconic
designs o the Arts and Crats movement.
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S P A C E T O GR OW 23
Mount StewartNorthern Ireland
When she arrived at Mont Stewart in the early 1920s Edith,
Lady Londonderry, ond an nremarkable parkland typical o
any big hose o the day. Within 10 years, her niqe passion
had created a landmark in the history o the modern garden.
Edith worked with ex-servicemen rom the First World War,
who helped trn her passion or exotic plants into a niqe
garden, a antasy, a wonderland o plant treasres, according
to Head Gardener Phil Rollinson. Taking ll advantage o the
niqe microclimate ond next to Strangord Logh, Mont
Stewart became a tre garden o the imagination. The Italian
and Spanish gardens eatre glorios and eccentric statary.
Tdor roses nestle beneath shapely dovecotes, while clipped
Irish yews orm symbols steeped in Celtic symbolism.
Lady Londonderry opened the garden to the pblic or two
days a week in the 1920s and 30s. The desire to let a wide
range o people enjoy the beaty o the place led her to
donate the garden to the National Trst in 1956.
The Trst now has a delicate balance to achieve in conserving
this design classic. We can draw on a antastic archive o
diaries and paintings and the vast knowledge o Lady
Londonderrys daghter, Lady Mairi Bry. At the same time,
as Phil explains: This mst never become a msem piece.
Its a living collection and we want to keep to that tradition always looking or exciting new plants and pshing the
bondaries o what we can grow, jst as Edith did.
Together our gardens
represent over 400 years
o changing ashions in
garden design, charting
our evolving relationship
with the natural world
Above, Phil Rollinson, Head
Gardener at Mount Stewart
a true garden o the
imagination
Over hal o the population
believe we are a nation
o gardeners
We need these places o pilgrimage to give us space
to think and be ourselves
Respondent to the History Matters campaign
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Our gardens have huge potential to provide public benet,
but their uture is not secure. The cost o maintaining them
keeps growing, and is currently 11 million a year. Without
new recruits to the horticultural proession, there could be
even more signicant challenges in the uture, as traditional
gardening skills are lost. Climate change will a ect the
character and content o our gardens as well as the cost
o maintenance, and has encouraged the spread o pestsand diseases. Beyond the care o the National Trust many
gardens are at risk o being lost to development or neglect.
Developing gardening skills
A chronic lack o yong people training to work in historic
and botanic gardens cold reslt in borders and fowerbeds
at some o the contrys nest gardens being grassed over.
With almost 40 per cent o the existing workorce de to
retire by 2015, there are not enogh yonger sta available
to ll their shoes. Potential recrits, yong and old, are pt
o by what they see as a low-stats job with poor wages
and conditions, and limited career prospects. Yet the reality
is that gardening provides a range o relevant skills, and career
opportnities and conditions are the best theyve ever been.
At the National Trst or vital skills base is being eroded as
experienced sta retire and only 6 per cent o the Trsts
gardening sta are nder 25. Alongside or own Careership
programme, the Historic and Botanic Gardens skills partnership
is now helping to develop a national strategy to improve the
marketing and delivery o training and work experience or
yong people. This is backed by an innovative web portal
GROW (www.growcareers.ino) which the National Trst has
spported and which provides details o the dierent careers
and training available throghot the hor ticltre indstry.
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Adapting to climate change
Gardeners cannot stop the clock on climate change.
They know or gardens mst evolve to srv ive as the
planet grows warmer. So the range o plant species and
the techniqes sed to cltivate them will inevitably have
to change.
The Trst is re-thinking what conservation in a changing
climate will mean, and we are already altering or gardening
methods. For example, we mow over 30 sqare miles o
lawn, consming more than 200,000 gallons o el a year,
so nding alternatives is vital.
Those who care or historic gardens need to combine a
willingness to innovate with a responsibility to protect the
niqe historic character o each o or gardens, and
protect the biodiversity o or heritage plant collections.
Tackling new pests and diseases
Other orces, both natral and hman, threaten or gardens.
Early indicators o climate change are the increased incidence
o new pests and diseases. Phytophthora ramorum and
Phytophthora kernoviae, rst identied as new to this contry
in 2002, have so ar aected 19 Trst properties, reslting in
the loss o thosands o plants. The Trst has already spent
over 750,000 on containment measres. We are developingand implementing biosecrity measres throgh inormative
posters at properties to remind or sta and volnteers
o good practice. We are also a partner in the 25 million
Government-nded programme to tackle Phytophthora.
New pests keep coming, the latest being the Oak Processionary
Moth whose larvae can deoliate oaks and case severe
health problems sch as respiratory diclties or hmans
and animals. The Trst is working with local athorities
and organisations sch as Kew Gardens and the Forestry
Commission to provide gidance and help to sites aected
or threatened by this pest.
Ensuring political and public support
Long-term political and pblic spport o the contribtion
being made by gardens depends on them responding to
pblic needs and wants and reaching ot to new and di erent
adiences. We want or gardens to be more accessible and
involving. People want the chance to ask qestions, to do
research, to take home new gardening ideas, interests or
prodce and in time, as volnteers, to take a hands-on
role in plant conservation nder the gidance o the experts.
The sense o pride and achievement throgh being involved
in gardens projects paves the way or people to realise their
own potential. Many o the garden projects were involved in
are resorce-intensive and many o them are almost entirely
reliant on one-o nding. Longer-term investment in this
work wold allow the connections generated between the
Trst and others to become better established.
I spent my career as an engineer in the metal processing
industries and experienced at frst hand what a mess we can
make o the environment; working in a National Trust garden
oers me an opportunity to enjoy and contribute to a better
human endeavour!
Tristram Hill, Volnteer at Treasrers Hose, York and
Beningbrogh Hall and Gardens, North Yorkshire
S P A C E T O GR OW 25
Flooding at Coughton
Court, Warwickshire
Chestnut Lea Miner
(Cameraria ohridella)
Oranges and other
citrus ruit could be a
common sight in UK
gardens under climate
change
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Call to action Recruit andtrain tomorrowsgardeners
Greater eort needs to be
made to promote careers in
gardening in schools. Trainingin horticltre shold be
boosted throgh edcation
reorms or 14 to 19-year-olds,
sch as apprenticeships and
work experience, and national
and local volntary bodies
expanding the scope or
garden volnteering.
Use gardensas outdoorclassrooms
Local athorities shold
actively enable and spport
schools to se gardensas places or learning, and
gardening as a doorway
to science, ecology, arts
and cltral learning.
26 N A T I ON A L T R u S T
Gardens have immense potential beyond the conventional
bondaries in which we place them. Throgh the experience
o the Trsts own diverse collection o more than 200 gardens
we have begn to nderstand this power and the ways in
which gardens can transorm people and places.
The National Trst cannot achieve all this alone and we are
already working in partnership with many other botanical and
horticltral organisations across the uK and beyond. I we
are to release the potential o gardens, however, more needs
to be done by Government, local athorities, bsiness and
others to recognise the extent o the tre vale o gardens
or the benet o s all.
There are seven areas in particlar where more action
needs to be taken
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Respond tothe threatof new pestsand diseases
The Government and
the gardening sector
shold raise standardsor biosecrity, domestically
and internationally, and invest
in research and eradication
programmes. We need to
spport the indstry in
developing sstainable,
environmentally riendly
alternatives to the many
synthetic pesticides that
will soon be withdrawnnder Eu reglations.
Inspire greenthinking andpromotegreener living
All those concerned with
engaging people abot
climate change, wildlieconservation and greener
living shold harness the
extremely eective vehicle
o gardens to tell the story
and inspire action throgh
inormal learning, advocacy,
volnteering, social marketing,
campaigns and expansion o
opportnities or allotments
and other growing spaces.
Share bestpractice withinthe garden andhorticultural sector
We need to share best
practice and knowledge
within the sector and providestronger championing o the
pblic benet o gardens.
We wold like to explore the
idea o bilding a network
o garden organisations,
to press or a better deal
or gardens.
Develop gardenspaces forcommunities
Expanding and improving
the qality o pblic and
commnity gardens andallotments shold be at the
heart o green inrastrctre
strategies and commnity
development, particlarly
in areas with a poverty o
green space.
Develop thehealthcarepotentialof gardens
The Government and NHS
Primary Care Trsts shold
exploit the ll potential ogardens as a Natral Health
Service in promoting physical
and mental well-being.
Investment shold refect
their role in preventative
healthcare and gardens
shold be a reglar
prescription to improve
the health o the nation.
SPACE TO GROW27
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I you require this inormation in alternative
ormats, please call 020 7799 4541 or [email protected]
The National Trst
Heelis | Kemble Drive | Swindon SN2 2NA
www.nationaltrst.org.k
2009 The National Trust | Registered charity no. 205846
Images: plant label photography throughout Jason Ingram; ront cover NTPL/John
Millar; p2/3 NTPL/David Levenson; ower pattern Suk Ying Wong/istockphoto; p4
inset NTPL/Stuart Cox; p5 Knightshayes Court NTPL/Stephen Robson; p5 group
at Osterley Park NTPL/Sylvaine Poitau; p6 inset NTPL/David Levenson; p7 diggersNTPL/Paul Harris; p7 deckchair Drew Hadley/istockphoto; p7 weeding NTPL/Ian
Shaw; p7 Anglesey Abbey NTPL/David Levenson; p8 onion Alexander Briel Perez/
istockphoto; p9 children National Trust; p9 produce NTPL/David Levenson; p9 man
with cabbages NTPL/Ian Shaw; p9 Gibside National Trust; p10 inset NTPL/Paul
Harris; p10 hedge trimming NTPL/Stephen Robson; p11 Colby Woodland Garden
NTPL/Andrew Butler; p11 digging NTPL/Paul Harris; p12 inset National Trust; p13
Quarry Bank Mill NTPL/Andrew Butler; p13 trestle table and diggers National Trust;
p15 Snowshill Manor garden NTPL/Stephen Robson; p15 compost sign NTPL/
Geo Morgan; p15 sprinklers NTPL/David Levenson; p16 inset NTPL/NaturePL/
Niall Benvie; p17 bee National Trust; p17 buttery NTPL/Paul Harris; p17 paving stone
Jason Reekie/istockphoto; p17 moth National Trust; p18 inset NTPL/Paul Harris;
p19 children NTPL/John Millar; p19 Trerice National Trust; p19 potato Mr P; p21
rhododendron National Trust; p21 conier courtesy Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh;
p21 owers NTPL/Ian Shaw; p23 angel NTPL/Mark Bolton; p23 Mount Stewart
National Trust; p23 hedge NTPL/Simon Tranter; p24 inset NTPL/Stephen Robson;
p25 leaves National Trust; p25 oranges NTPL/Stephen Robson; p25 Coughton Court
National Trust; p26 spades NTPL/Dennis Gilbert; p26 watering can NTPL/John
Millar; p26 outdoor classroom Whitfeld Benson Photogrpahy; p27 couple at Stourhead
NTPL/Jennie Woodcock; p27 sudden oak death NTPL/Stephen Robson; p27
gardeners NTPL/Paul Harris; back cover Ham House garden NTPL/Stephen Robson
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