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A modern garden rooted in an historic setting in Salford, Greater Manchester. A modern garden rooted in an historic setting in Salford, Greater Manchester.
Garden closure: Due to the ongoing deep freeze and icy conditions, the garden will be closed on Monday 13 January, to allow the paths to fully thaw before welcoming visitors back. The indoor section of the Garden Centre and the Bridgewater Café will be open 9am – 4pm. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Please check website and social media for updates.
Find out how the development of our fifth garden progressed during the spring months
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The story of the RHS Garden Bridgewater site is rich and varied, from fossils, a human sacrifice and a Roman road to the Industrial Revolution, soldiers, scouts and illegal raves! If you’ve got memories of the site, please share them with us so that they can live on in the future.
Since launching the RHS Garden Bridgewater Memories Project with The University of Salford we’ve interviewed some wonderful people, including local resident Jim Grundy. Jim shared his memories of working in the walled garden in the 1940s and his favourite job – watering the camellias in the glass houses!
Our friends at Marketing Manchester unveiled The Manchester Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Designed by Exterior Architecture, the garden celebrated Greater Manchester and raised important questions about how cities manage urban green infrastructure in the face of climate change.
Constructed out of handmade brick laid in Flemish bond, the Potting Sheds were the working heart of the historic garden. Together with the Stables, Bothy and 11 acre Weston Walled Garden they form one of the largest complete Victorian Kitchen Gardens in the UK.
Our small herd of rare breed Berkshire pigs happily settled in their new home in the woodland and when they’re not busy making light work of clearing brambles and undergrowth, they’re busy having a very good time finding mud to wallow in.
RHS Director General, Sue Biggs welcomed Dr Lee Kai Hung and the Chinese Streamside Garden Founding Committee, the Consul General for China in Manchester and a delegation of horticulturalists from China to work on plans for a Chinese Streamside Garden. The Committee have pledged to raise £500,000 towards the creation of the garden.
Now we've removed the old Garden Centre, the west wall of the Paradise Garden has been exposed for the first time in 50 years. We remove the modern paint by blasting the wall with a mix of fine recycled glass and water which, according to Ray, comes out at 80mph!
"Water is an enormously important thread that runs through the idea of the Paradise Garden, these ancient gardens were made in the desert, water was a precious resource. The most dramatic presence of water in the RHS Garden Bridgewater Paradise Garden is this big water tank, which is 70m square, with two narrow rills running into it from either side." Tom Stuart-Smith, Landscape Architect.
Here's a view that's not been seen in decades! Some of the former garden centre buildings within the Weston Walled Garden have been demolished so now this stretch of the tallest inner walls is visible, just as they would have been in the 1840s.
We're really excited to share the news that award-winning landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith will be creating the biggest garden at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show to celebrate the creation of RHS Garden Bridgewater!
What a difference a few week’s made! Seen from above, a stunning pattern of paths started to emerge as work on the Paradise Garden, Kitchen Garden and parts of the Weston Walled Garden progressed.
Like the walled garden of 170 years ago the Weston Walled Garden will grow peaches, but we’ll also grow damsons, cherries, medlar, mulberry, pears and apples. Training them into an array of stunning shapes against the walls, once we've finished the required 5.5km of wiring!
On visiting the walled garden at Worsley New Hall in 1846, The Garden Chronicle said: "The borders for the fruit trees are deep, some perhaps three or four feet. The trees are thriving admirably; the peaches are particularly fine in fruit and wood."
The new Harris Bugg Studio Kitchen Garden will form a beautiful and productive Kitchen Garden, growing a wide range of edible fruit and vegetables that will supply the café in our new Welcome Building, as well as showcasing permaculture growing techniques.
Writer, William Hindshaw who visited the walled garden at Worsley New Hall in 1875 said: "The kitchen garden contains a vast number of forcing houses, capable of supplying all sorts of fruits in all seasons, while hardy fruits and vegetables are grown in abundance in the open. The gardener’s cottage is a model of elegance."
Our Outreach and Communities team worked with veterans and volunteers at the Veterans Garage to create the foundations of their new garden. Big thanks to our contractor A E Yates Ltd for coming down with materials and labour, and helping us build raised beds!
The team created 1.5km of main paths and 1.4km of smaller linking paths, and the design of the Paradise Garden and Kitchen Garden started to emerge. Below ground, 1km of irrigation and 1km of ducting forms an invisible infrastructure that will allow the gardens above to flourish.
Damien Newman, from Thrive, trained staff and partners in therapeutic horticulture best practice, ahead of our social prescribing project starting in spring 2019. The focus was on gardening, social prescribing, health, wellbeing and hope.
Organised by the producers of the urban garden festival, Dig the City, the Manchester Flower Show returns on the 1-2 June 2019 – showcasing the region’s best floristry, produce and gardening talent. We’ll be there, so put it in your diary and come down to meet us!
We moved our rare breed Berkshire pigs on foot (trotter) through the construction site, from one side of our 154 acre site to the other. After nine months of turning over the ground in the orchard, they were ready for pastures new. So for one hour RHS Garden Bridgewater was at a complete standstill, with all hands on deck to help!
The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.