West Barsham Hall
West Barsham Hall

It’s the height of Summer and the fifteen gardens opening in July for the Norfolk NGS are celebrating by featuring exuberantly planted borders full of colour.

The month gets off to a flying start on July 5th at Walcott House in Walcott Green which opening for the NGS for the first time and has a series of connecting gardens with roses a main feature.

On July 7th another new garden opens at Blickling Lodge with an extensive 17 acres of parkland complete with a walled kitchen garden, flower borders and river walk.

Manor Farm at Coston opens on Saturday 12th July where you can explore several garden rooms brimming with colourful plant combinations. A new feature for 2014 is a pictorial meadows border which should bring back wonderful memories of similar displays at the 2012 Olympic Park!

On July 20th West Barsham Hall makes a welcome return with its 10 acres of gardens in a lovely lakeside setting. This garden has something for everyone with shrub plantings, kitchen garden, herbaceous borders, a new bog garden and even a separate cottage garden!

Dale Farm at Dereham on the 27th July brings the month to a rousing finale  with a magnificent flourish of colour from over 700 varieties of plants in a dazzling array of beds around a half acre spring fed pond. A finalist in the 2013 Britain’s Best Gardeners Garden Competition it is not to be missed!

These are just a few of the gardens opening in this busy month along with the other long established favourite Norfolk gardens. Full information about opening times and garden details can be found in the Yellow Norfolk Garden Guide available from your local tourist information centre, garden centre or nursery. There are also full details available at   www.ngs.org.uk

The NGS raises money to support nursing and caring charities and if you feel that your garden is of interest and of a good standard and would like to open for the NGS,or you would like to volunteer,  please Contact County Organiser Fiona Black to discuss opening your garden.  Tel 01692 650247

Saturday 5th July and Sunday 6th July

THE BEAR SHOP, Elm Hill, Norwich NR3 1HN. 

Open 11-5 Adm £3, chd free.  

Considered to be based on a design by Gertrude Jekyll, a small terraced garden behind a C15 house in the historic Cathedral Quarter of Norwich. Enjoy the tranquillity of the riverside.

Walcott House
Walcott House

Sat 5th July

WALCOTT HOUSE, Walcott, Norwich,NR12 0NU

Open 1.30-5.30 Adm £3.50, chd free. Light refreshments.

A garden in the making with emphasis on formal structure around the house and a traditional set of Norfolk farm buildings. These provide a series of connecting gardens which,through a south facing garden wall,lead to further gardens of clipped box, pleached hornbeam, fruit trees and roses. All set within recently

planted woodland providing avenues and vistas.

Blickling Lodge
Blickling Lodge

Sunday 6th July

BLICKLING LODGE, Blickling,NR11 6SP

Open 2-5. Adm £4, chd free Home-made teas

Georgian house (not open) set in 17 acres of parkland including cricket pitch, mixed border, walled kitchen garden, yew garden, river and woodland walk.

Sunday 20th July 

DESERT WORLD GARDENS  Santon Downham, IP27 0TU. 

Open 10-5 Adm £3.50, chd free. Light refreshments.

1¼ acres plantsman’s garden, specialising in tropical and arid plants. Hardy succulents – sempervivums, hanging gardens of Babylon (plectranthus). Main garden – bamboos, herbaceous primula theatre. Over 70 varieties of magnificent magnolias. View from roof garden.

Sunday 6th July and 27th July

68 ELM GROVE LANE, Norwich NR3 3LF.

Open 11-4 Adm £3, chd free Home-made teas.  

This extended living/working space is the owner’s endeavour to redefine a suburban garden has resulted in an eclectic array of informal planting, rich in colour and form and full of surprises.

Sunday 6th July

Houghton Hall, New Houghton, PE31 6UE.

Open 10.45-5.30 Adm £9, chd  £3

Superbly laid-out award-winning5-acre walled garden divided by clipped yew hedges into ‘garden rooms’, incl large mixed kitchen garden. Magnificently colourful 120m

double herbaceous border. Rose parterre with over 120 varieties. Fountains, incl ‘Waterflame’ by Jeppe Hein, glasshouse, statues, rustic temple and croquet lawn.

Gravel and grass paths.

THE MOWLE Ludham NR29 5NP

Open 1.30-5.30 Adm £4.50, chd free.Home-made teas 

Approx 2½ acres running down to marshes. The garden incl several varieties of catalpa. Japanese garden and enlarged wildlife pond with bog garden. A special border for gunnera as in Aug 2008 we were given full National Collection status. Boardwalk into wild area. Gunneras featured in the RHS ‘The Garden’. 85% of the garden is acessable to wheelchairs.

Saturday 12th July

MANOR FARM, Coston, NR9 4DT.

Open 11-5 Adm £5 chd free. Afternoon & Evening Opening

3 acre country garden, several garden rooms with both formal and informal planting. Walled kitchen garden, white, grass and late summer gardens, roses, herbaceous and shrub borders. Wild flower areas with ponds. Many interesting plants. Plant sale.

Sunday 13th July

BRADENHAM HALL, Bradenham, IP25 7QP. 

Open 2-5. Adm £5, chd free. Homemade teas

There is plenty to see starting with the richly planted flower gardens bounded by immaculate formal yew hedges. The magnificent walled kitchen garden will be at full productive capacity. The parkland has over 800 fully labelled tree species to browse and lovely views to the surrounding countryside.

Saturday 19th July

BLICKLING HALL ESTATE, Aylsham, Norwich NR11 6NF.  

Open 10.30-5.30 Adm £8.90, chd £4.95

Four centuries of good husbandry have made this 55 acre garden one of the greatest in England.

Sunday 20th July

WEST BARSHAM HALL, Fakenham NR21 9NP. 

Open 11-5 Home-made teas. Adm £4.50, chd free.

Large garden with lake, approx 10acres. Mature yew hedging and sunken garden originally laid out by Gertrude Jeykll. Swimming pool garden, shrub borders, kitchen

garden with herbaceous borders, fruit cage and cutting garden. New bog garden. Separate old fashioned cottage garden also open.

WEST LODGE, Aylsham NR11  

Open 12-5  Adm £5, chd free. Home-made teas

9-acre garden with lawns, splendid mature trees, rose garden, well-stocked herbaceous borders, ornamental pond, magnificent C19 walled kitchen garden

Sunday 27th July

DALE FARM, Dereham NR19 2EA. 

Open 11-5 Adm £4 chd free. Homemade teas.

A 2 acre garden where the maximum amount of summer colour can be enjoyed with no less than 15 extensive borders and beds packed with a vast array of plants. All set around a ½ acre pond which provides plenty of places to sit and admire the displays. Many of the plants featured in the garden are for sale. Visiting nurseries.

SALLE PARK, Reepham, NR10 4SF.

Open 12-5 Adm £4, chd free. Home-made teas in The Orangery.

Fully productive Victorian kitchen garden with original vine houses, double herbaceous borders, ice house, and Norfolk Heritage Fruit orchard. Formal Georgian pleasure gardens with yew topiary, rose gardens and lawns.

 also see the garden search on www.ngs.org.uk

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