The RHS has unveiled the design of a 'mother orchard' at RHS Garden Bridgewater featuring heritage orchards and a bee and butterfly garden
RHS Ambassadors, Carol Klein and Nick Knowles have supported the RHS call to the public to help raise the final £4.8 million for RHS Garden Bridgewater – enabling us to open the gates in 2021. The RHS launched the fundraising appeal as it announced the creation of the 'mother orchard' for the North West. The latest of many spectacular gardens in the pipeline, the traditional orchard garden on a three-and-a-half acre plot will wrap around the original 1834 Garden Cottage.
Nick Knowles said: “At 154 acres, RHS Garden Bridgewater will bring a sizeable patch of world class horticulture to within an hour's drive of 8.2 million people in the region, delivering significant benefits to people and the environment. This heritage orchard, saving rare varieties of pear and apple for future generations, is just one example. We want everyone to help us make this exciting project happen.”
Exciting collaboration
The Orchard Garden, designed as a collaboration between Curator Marcus Chilton-Jones and local landscape architect firm Gillespies, will be the largest of the 11 gardens within the majestic 11-acre Weston Walled Garden, one of the biggest walled gardens in the country. It will be created on the site of the original orchard which existed at Worsley New Hall in the 1840s.
“The Orchard Garden will have a more naturalistic feel than the adjoining gardens, acting as a space to relax and unwind,” said Marcus.
“The garden comes at the end of the exciting journey our visitors will make through the Weston Walled Garden. They will have been amazed and inspired by all the world-class horticulture and will then reach this more traditional, relaxing space that helps to connect the intensive and cultivated horticulture with the wider countryside. It will be a garden that grows slowly and evolves, with new riches revealed each year.”
Giving heritage fruits a future
The orchard will feature a mix of apple, pear, plum, cherry and damson trees, as well as soft fruits, echoing traditional orchards with trees grouped naturalistically around the garden rather than in regimented rows. The mixed planting will encourage wildlife biodiversity and the old-fashioned rootstock selection will also add greatly to the lifespan of the trees.
It will include 37 varieties of heritage apple trees, keeping rare cultivars alive for future generations and becoming the first ‘mother orchard’ for the North West. The trees come from apples gathered from across Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and the old Westmoreland. Varieties will include ‘Florence Bennet’, once saved from a Liverpool rubbish heap; ‘Withington Fillbasket’ from Cheshire, ‘Scarlet Tiffing’, popular in Lancashire and ‘Manx Codlin’ from the Isle of Man.
The orchard will also include 14 varieties of heritage pear, first grown at Bridgewater more than 170 years ago. When the RHS took over the garden in early 2017 the trees, which had been grown adjacent to the walls as restricted forms, had not been pruned for over a century, so had grown wild and sadly had to be felled. However, shoots from these trees have been carefully propagated to create healthy new trees, which will be re-introduced to the orchard and should last for around 200 years. Additionally, timber from the felled pears will be used to form the gnarled and twisted pillars of a new summer house, reflecting the heritage of the site.
Carol Klein said: “One of the most important elements of RHS Garden Bridgewater is The Orchard Garden where endangered varieties, especially those local to the North West, will be propagated and protected for future generations. RHS Bridgewater is a dream come true not just for the UK but especially for the North West. It’s a vital project for the advancement of horticulture, for local employment and to engage local communities in gardening. So good for body, soul and spirit. That’s why it’s imperative to do whatever we can to help the RHS bring it to life.”
A glimpse into the past
The focal point of the garden will be the Garden Cottage, the distinctive Gothic-style cottage built for the Worsley New Hall head gardener in 1834. The Cottage itself will be surrounded by bee and butterfly borders, designed by RHS horticulturist Carolyn Collins, to provide year round interest for pollinators. The plants, inspired by the RHS Plants for Pollinators scheme will have a variety of shapes, forms and colours and will be planted in drifts to place emphasis on flow.
“The orchard will cast light on Victorian taste, as they give a glimpse of what was eaten in the area in the 1840s. The actual flavour and texture of many of these rare varieties is superb but they have gone out of fashion as the short shelf-life of the fruit makes them commercially unviable,” added Marcus.
Award-winning garden designers
The Orchard Garden will be created within the Weston Walled Garden, a key part of the 154-acre RHS Garden Bridgewater. It will sit alongside a Wellbeing Garden, a Kitchen Garden designed by RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold medallists Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg; a Paradise Garden designed by Tom Stuart-Smith; a Learning Garden designed by students from Manchester Metropolitan University and community teaching allotments.
Creating hundreds of jobs
Donations to the garden will help to create hundreds of jobs, from tree surgeons to therapists, as well as apprenticeships and learning opportunities, with up to 7,000 local school children set to benefit free-of-charge each year by having this green resource on their doorstep.
Would you like to help?
We appreciate any contribution you're able to give us to create this landmark garden and inspire future generations. Donate online or call us on: 0207 8213124.
