The Society’s meeting on 20th June was attended by a 53 strong audience including 11 visitors.

Our speaker was Harry Green, Head Gardener at Morton Hall, Holberrow Green, Inkberrow, and amongst the audience we welcomed the daughter and granddaughter of a gardener who worked on the estate for 20 years from the mid 1940s.

We visited this garden on our spring outing in April, and Harry’s talk started with a brief history of the Hall and grounds followed by a pictorial trip around the gardens throughout the seasons.

There has been a Hall on the site since 1782 when lawyer Thomas Perkins decided to retire to the countryside becoming the first of three generations of his family to occupy the Hall.

The Hall passed through various hands and in 1905 was owned by Gilbert Player (of the tobacco family) who started planting the trees, now mature, in the meadow garden.

When the current owners acquired the Hall in 2007 the garden was enclosed by substantial laurel hedging and with the help of garden designer Charles Chesshire they set about “developing the gardens without ruining what was already there”.

With landscaping completed in 2014, seven distinctive but linked garden rooms had been created. With a spectacular fritillary meadow (planted by our guest’s father), herbaceous borders, kitchen garden, woodland rockery, elegant Japanese-style woodland garden and East terrace, the gardens, with more than 1,000 different plant varieties, combine harmoniously to create a garden with exciting and colourful displays throughout the year.

The gardens are open to visitors, for details visit the garden website www.mortonhallgardens.co.uk. The monthly competition of ‘One stem of a rose’ was well supported.

The winning entry was submitted by Elaine Boscott, Janice Ferguson came second, Malcolm Buscott third with fourth place awarded to John Alexander-Head.

On 18th July we have a day trip to visit The Saville Garden, Windsor Great Park. We next meet at the Crawford Memorial Hall, Bidford on Avon is on 15th August at 7.45pm when Robin Pearce will tell us how to ‘Create a prairie in your own back yard’.

Visitors are always welcome for a £3 entry fee, including refreshments. For more details please ring Annette Haines on 01789 268074 or go to www.bidfordgardens.com.