The Bishop's garden
The Bishop's house is a monastic building adjoining Ely Cathedral and has mixed planting with a formal rose garden, wisteria and more.
42 Cambridge Road
42 Cambridge Road is a secluded town garden with interesting herbaceous borders, roses, shrubs and trees. The owners are constantly developing their garden, changing things if necessary in order to achieve the vision that they have for the garden.
Hills Lane
17b Hills Lane is a garden without grass! Paving and raised beds show how the owners have made their garden manageable for older people, or people with limited mobility. The desire was to future proof it, thinking ahead to what would make the garden manageable in later life, rather than allowing later life to decide the fate of the garden!
Downham Road
5b Downham Road shows how to rise to the challenge of a small interestingly shaped area. Providing a quiet space was important to the owner, the challenge was a high wall on one side, and the wish not to make things appear claustrophobic. Planting creates a tranquil area, with pots, colour and a small greenhouse. Along from the courtyard, a larger garden area is currently being restored by the owners, being claimed back from a period of neglect.
12 Chapel Street.
Welcome to our garden. We've lived here since 1976, and the garden has changed over the years, reflecting our needs as a family. When we arrived, it was an overgrown rectangular patch, with an inner path that made another rectangle. The top area of the garden was separated from the rest of the garden by four fruit trees.'Grass' was in the middle. We dug out the area between the path and the grass, and planted vegetables round the edge. We cleared to top area, and gradually developed it into a country garden inspired patch.
When the children grew up, we took out the concrete path, and put in a pond. other changes happened, with the coming of an alpine house, a cedar greenhouse, and a railway. Yes, more later. The pictures show the garden over a number of years as it has evolved. Enjoy!
When the children grew up, we took out the concrete path, and put in a pond. other changes happened, with the coming of an alpine house, a cedar greenhouse, and a railway. Yes, more later. The pictures show the garden over a number of years as it has evolved. Enjoy!
38 Chapel Street
The Garden
This is a level well-established garden on a half-acre plot surrounding a bungalow in central Ely. The present owners, Julia and Peter Williams are retired and have owned the property for four years. 2020 was to have been the first year they have opened this garden under the NGS, but they previously opened their Surrey garden for 16 years on behalf of the Scheme.
The garden is a 'plantswoman's garden' (Julia has the horticultural knowledge and inspiration; Peter claims to be no more than a garden-appreciating labourer!) with year-round interest, and contains a wide variety of herbaceous plants and flowering shrubs, including many unusual ones. In spring there is a fine show of hellebores and particular features from early summer to autumn are the standard and climbing roses and clematis. The secluded back garden has a herbaceous border, a well-stocked rockery and, in addition to soft fruit and raised vegetable beds, there is a variety of fruit trees including a highly productive mature quince. There is a small greenhouse with tomatoes and cucumber which is also used for plant propagation. On the East side of the bungalow is a shrub border now in its third year.
Prunings and foliage are regularly shredded and mixed with kitchen waste and grass-cuttings to produce compost used on flower and vegetable beds. Of potential interest this year may be the experimental and extensive application to flower beds of a new product, 'Strulch', for soil improvement, moisture retention, weed suppression and slug deterrence.
Plants and greeting cards
From late April onwards, so long as NGS garden visits are suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, plants and greeting cards may be for sale on a stall by the entrance gate to the property from Chapel Street. Please keep a lookout for this..
Bishop of Huntingdon's garden
The garden at the Bishop of Huntingdon's house is an informally planted garden bursting with colour and interest. Designed with family and entertaining in mind,it includes 2 lawns, herbaceous borders, a vegetable patch and an orchard with mown paths.
