SGT Garden Visits 2025 & AGM

AGENDA

1. Apologies for absence (Officers and Council only)
2. Minutes of the 29th AGM held at Bart’s Hall, Orford, on 6 July 2024
3. Reports from the Council
4. Election of Officers and Council Members
5. Any other business (of which prior notice has been given to the Chairman)

Afterwards, a chance to visit John Dyter’s wonderful garden at:
Manor Farm House, Hasketon, about half a mile from The Victory Hall

After leaving the car park beside The Victory Hall, turn left into Blacksmiths Road, follow the road past various houses, then watch for a large grey house on the right – the entrance drive is 100m further on, also on the RIGHT (SGT signs will be in place). Park as instructed in the meadow by the house.
John is a consummate plantsman, with knowledge and experience forged in a long career with Notcutts Nursery and as a steward of Flower Tent at the Suffolk Show, on top of this, he was a founding member of the SGT in 1995 and was Chairman from 2017 to 2021. His garden reflects both his knowledge and his enjoyment of plants. Shielded from the road by its high outer hedge, once inside, the lower scalloped hedges by the drive provide an early view of a broad, stately, oak tree of about 350 years, backed by rolling meadows. The garden is wrapped around the house and old farm buildings, with flower borders in most conditions except moist shade. In front, a Monet-style bridge graces an enlarged old horse pond, whose densely-planted banks, water lilies and other pond plants give summer-long interest. Specimen trees – usual and unusual – add lasting interest, along with the topiary. To the rear, a former polythene tunnel is being transformed into a rose arch which, in turn, leads to a Rosemary Verey-style ‘pottager’ cum soft fruit garden.

We are delighted that our patron-elect has kindly agreed to host this, our Anniversary Garden Party, at her home. Almost hidden behind 19th-century red-brick farm buildings and a monumental barn (the largest in Suffolk!), Framsden Hall’s pink-painted plasterwork conceals a fascinating timber-framed building, built in the late 15th century by Thomas Radcliff (d. 1488) or his son Geoffrey (d. 1505). The 12-bay barn shares construction details with the Hall and must be of the same date. The Tollemache family acquired it almost 500 years ago, in 1550. The horseshoe-shaped moat to the side of the house is small for a manorial site and may always have been intended to enclose a garden or perhaps a dovecote, as is known from some other Tudor sites. It has been reincarnated as Lady Tollemache’s new Moat Garden, designed in 2018, featuring wavy hedges of Osmanthus and varieties of Lavender, with a horse head statue by Tom Hiscocks in the centre. There are more areas of garden currently being enlarged and extensively planted.

In 1783 Sir John Soane visited Marlesford with the then owner, George Smith, and it is possible that he played a part in the design of the Hall. Originally a road ran in front of the Hall, but it was moved in the 1790s when William Shuldham, the ancestor of the present owners, created the park that surrounds the Hall. For a time, the road became the access drive, but in the mid 19^th century it was replaced by a new drive from the SE corner of the park. He also created the large walled garden that lies behind the Hall. An Edwardian sunken garden leads to the main walled garden, with an axial path and a central sun dial. To one side are two glasshouses of 1911 by John Weeks of Chelsea. The potting shed with a decoratively tiled roof contains wonderful echoes of Edwardian country-house life: flower boxes inscribed with the family name and with individual buttonhole vases inside, for sending to London by train. There are also apple storage racks, syringe sprayers and leather lawn-mowing shoe for horses (to avoid hooves damaging the lawn during mowing). Outside, in the park, there is a late 20^th-century rotunda, and a porticoed building that was rescued from Boulge Hall when it was demolished, and erected here in 1962. Other rescued items are a pair of pyramidal stone pinnacles that came from Henham Hall when it was demolished and a pair of stone lions from the Abyssinian pavilion at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The park also has fine cedars and sequoias.

The visit will include a guided walk with Andrew, the garden’s creator, along with refreshments and a slice of homemade cake, all served in a gingerbread-style summerhouse! And there is a nursery with 1000s of plants, many not available elsewhere and nearly all produced there and with their own compost.

Situated just 3 miles from the coast, between Beccles and Southwold, in north-east Suffolk, this exotic garden has attracted extensive media coverage – it was Alan Titchmarsh’s favourite garden in his 2015 ITV series Britain’s Best Back Gardens, and it has also featured in Gardeners’ World, Homes and Gardens magazine, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, and much else. Surprisingly, it was only created about 20 years ago. Set out on different levels and with some rock walkways, the two-acre garden is packed with hardy exotics, including 200 bamboos, 100 palms, and 25 bananas. As well as the plants, garden features include three ponds, two streams, 60 tons of rock, and a Thai-style pavilion on stilts.

Hungerdowns is a typical Georgian farmhouse in North-East Essex with its garden laid out since 1993 within the walls of what were originally farmyards around the house. There are many old roses and a wide palette of perennials, bulbs, shrubs and climbers taking the garden through the seasons. There is a 6-acre wood of broad-leaved deciduous trees with a mature yew maze in the middle. There are vegetable gardens, a pond and two orchards and many examples of yew, beech, box, holly and holm oak topiary created in the last 30 years