Find out the latest goings on in the gardens

The floral tide of winter through to early summer has been ebbing since January at Woolley Grange. The snowdrops, aconites, daffodils, tulips, foxglove trees, horse chestnuts, wisteria and now the mock orange blossom, have provided waves of interest for the eyes and nose.

This year, the snails and slugs really went to town on our early veggies, so it’s a nice surprise to see some radishes, lettuce, and beetroot popping up.  The crops we covered up in the polytunnel are doing way better. Our Chinese violet cress has gone to seed, and now the Nero de Toscana kale stands tall like the last soldier from our autumn planting. We’ve rigged up strings from the frame for our tiny summer veggies—tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, and aubergines. It might seem silly to have left so much space empty for them, but just wait until August. The polytunnel will be bursting with greenery and goodies to pick.

James and Isabel, our green-thumbed volunteers, have been champs at planting seeds. We’ve started selling their awesome line-up of caraway, rhubarb, lemony marigold, and coriander plants. You can grab them potted, fresh, or even taste them in our kitchen dishes.

Cressida, the latest addition to our volunteer squad, is helping us gear up for beekeeping. We are buzzing with anticipation, the whole bee biz is pretty intense, and it’s super impressive how the pros handle it. With bees having a bit of a tough time in the UK lately, we’ve let our grass grow out a bit to give the daisies and dandelions a chance to bloom. It’s a hit with the kids—they love picking daisies and making chains or sending dandelion seeds sailing on the breeze.

We’ve created a wildflower meadow in a couple of places around the hotel, simply by not mowing the grass. It’s been fascinating to see what species were there waiting for a chance to shine: - buttercup, clover, stitch wort and hawkweed all proudly showing off as if they were flowering for the judges at the Chelsea Flower Show. Then there are the grass flowers nodding daintily in the early summer sun, soft little drum sticks, or robust wands, when the wind blows it’s as if the meadow is waving a cheery ‘Hello’ at you with a thousand fluffy hands. 

Recently we supplied Kettlesmith brewery, Bradford on Avon, with the latest list of herbs the needed from us to create our second collaborative ale. The recipe list includes nettles and elder flowers, amongst other items, and a few weeks ago the team hand harvested & packaged the ingredients for the 500 meter cycle to the brewery. Make sure you try one of these local ale's when you next visit. 

Our monthly garden tours continue once a month in June, July and August, this is where you can join our team for a seasonal walk of our ornamental and kitchen garden with monthly highlights. If you fancy something a bit more hands on, then take a look at our seasonal bouquet workshops in August and September.