On one of the hottest days of the year, a coachful of members travelled to Salford, near Manchester, to the Royal Horticultural Society’s new ‘Bridgewater’ garden, their fifth major garden in England.
It is on the site of the Worsely New Hall estate, built for Francis Egerton, the first Earl of Ellesmere, between 1840 and 1845. The third Duke of Bridgewater had begun to construct the Bridgewater Canal in the 1760s to carry coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester, from which he became very wealthy. On his death, his estate passed to his nephew John, Francis’s father.
The grand country house had formal terraces, an ornamental boating lake, an 11 acre walled kitchen garden with heated glasshouses and many acres of landscaped parkland. Queen Victoria visited twice. Worsley New Hall was a hospital during the First World War, and was requisitioned by the War Office during the Second World War. The Egerton family left the estate when the house and gardens declined; the Hall was demolished in the late 1940s. Since then the grounds have been used as a garden centre, Scout camp and rifle range, gradually returning to nature.
The RHS began work in 2017 to create a garden that would bring health and environmental benefits to millions of people. Tom Stuart-Smith created the master plan, embracing the heritage and footprint of the old site and incorporating new designs and styles. Award-winning garden designers have been brought in to plan different areas of the plan and Phase I areas are now open with several future phases planned as money becomes available.
I was impressed on arrival by the planting in the car park and this continued within the gardens. The Weston Walled Garden covers eleven acres divided across the centre by a lilypond fed by rills, with the Paradise and kitchen gardens on either side, much of the brickwork being restored from the original. Two of the original glasshouses have been restored along with the Head Gardener’s Cottage and Potting Sheds; we could see where the old boilers fed the vineries, peach and exotic houses.
Ellesmere Lake is almost fully renovated and large areas of the gardens replanted, the aim being to recreate a healthy environment for plants and wildlife.
I liked especially the Chinese Streamside Garden covering seven acres, a work in progress. A newly made stream meanders from Ellesmere Lake to the Moon Bridge water with rocks, weirs and small pools with five wooden bridges. A pagoda provides seating and more is planned by the local Chinese community and experts from China.
Beyond are acres of woodland, play areas for children, learning centres for schoolchildren and a field where rare breed Berkshire pigs live that have helped to clear the ground of weeds and rubble. Much of the soil in the kitchen garden has needed to be replaced as there were residues of pesticides such as arsenic used by Victorian gardeners still in it.
It was a very enjoyable visit with so much of interest to see and inspire us. Coming home on an air-conditioned coach, we all agreed it had been a very worthwhile day out.
​Wendy.