By SVI member, Sonia Thompson
On Monday 8 July, a group of SVI members and friends went to Winterbourne House and Gardens in leafy Edgbaston, Birmingham. It turned out to be a most pleasant trip, which was made all the more enjoyable by the weather. It was not a particularly hot day, but it was warm enough to allow us to walk around these gardens comfortably.
The house and its history
Margaret and John Nettlefold (of GKN), built Winterbourne House and Gardens in 1903. It was the house of their dreams. The house followed the style of the Arts and Crafts movement. At the time, it was regarded as state-of-the-art because it was supplied with electricity and gas, and it contained several bathrooms and toilets.
In the house, we read letters and diary entries that had been written by one of the daughters of Margaret and John Nettlefold. We visited the nursery, which was furnished in the way it would have been when the family was in residence. And we went into the bedroom of the gentleman of the house (one of the sons), where we saw a writing bureau and a bible, among other things.
You can read more about the history of Winterbourne House on their website.
The garden
Not long after we had arrived, we were introduced to the head gardener, Dan, who took us on a brief tour of this seven-acre landscape.
Our first stop was in the walled garden which has five sides. In this garden is a dipping pool which is surrounded by several beds of plants. There is also a lean-to and a greenhouse in this garden. The gardener passed round some plants for us to touch and smell. This included lamb’s ears, which got its name because of its soft, velvety texture.
The second stop on our journey was a garden with several greenhouses.
The first greenhouse we ventured into was the Gilbert Orchid, which was put together back to front. At the back, which is the south-facing side, the greenhouse has a wall and at the front, which is north-facing, there is glass. In other words, only a limited amount of sunlight manages to get into this greenhouse. We saw an umbrella plant and an asparagus fern, along with other plants.
In the Carnivorous greenhouse there were pitcher plants of varying sizes, which dissolve insects to get their nutrients.
In the Arid greenhouse we looked at a range of cacti plants. Some of these had a really soft feel to them, while others were very sharp indeed. There were enormous ones and much smaller ones, and most were very prickly.
The last greenhouse we visited contained plants associated with the European Alpines.
The third stop on our tour with the head gardener was to a wooden lychgate. The last owner of the house had erected it because by the time he reached this part of the garden he would be exhausted and needed a sheltered spot to sit. Inside this structure, on both sides, were bench seats.
Along the path from the lychgate is a pergola which is an impressive 35 metres long. Along the pergola, we saw wisteria and clematis plants, with leaves and tendrils hanging down over our heads.
At this point, the head gardener left us. Many of our group went off to lunch, while my guide and I continued to explore the gardens and wood.
To get to the wood we walked through an archway of trees – beech or hazel. Then we explored the woodland, the sandstone rock garden and the stream lawn and wet wood walk.
On this path, we came across a pool on which were swans, ducks and ducklings; Himalayan Balsam, which thrives in wet/damp environments and stifles the growth of other plants around it; Dawn Redwood trees, whose girths were enormous; and a rock garden with Gunnera, a huge leaf-type plant which is part of the rhubarb family. Gunnera leaves are massive and could act as some sort of covering. Further along this walk, we came across the Japanese tea house, similar to the lychgate and the Japanese bridge.
Finally, as we found our way back to the house, we discovered on the pleached lime walk. These lime trees were bound together, to form a kind of hedge on a stem, so that sunlight can be seen through them.
It was an interesting day and we recommend that you visit and see it for yourselves if you can. Thank you to all the staff at Winterbourne, and the SVI team and volunteers for making it such a pleasant visit for everyone.
This trip was arranged as a part of a programme of activities for our Active 60 group, for people aged 60 plus who want to get out and about more. If you would like to get involved in some of our activities please contact SVI to find out more.
