Bridges, Woolpit, Suffolk
REVIEW OF THE EAST ANGLIAN GARDEN GROUP VISIT TO BRIDGES, WOOLPIT, 9th JUNE 2021
I was lucky enough to be invited by Fiona Pearson, although I’m not a member of EAGG, to join in this visit and what a privilege it turned out to be.
Having located the house in Woolpit, which sits right on the road, it was hard to imagine that it had a garden big enough to accommodate the gathering members, but it certainly did!
We were enthusiastically greeted by Michael Elles, co-owner and head gardener who gave us a brief outline of what to expect to see as we walked around and a bit of background information on the evolution of the garden. There are three of them involved in this enterprise, all retired actors and each with a particular role to play. Michael is artistic and a keen plantsman and propagator and seems to have been responsible for most of the design, David Corden is the under gardener and does most of the planting and general garden work and Stanley Bates is the head chef! I think we have Stanley to thank for keeping us supplied with cups of tea and refreshments throughout the afternoon, which were extremely welcome on one of the hottest days of the year.
The garden is laid out like a series of rooms which is not surprising as the garden has grown over 40 years as plots of land have been purchased from adjoining gardens when they have come up for sale. This has given them not only space but plenty of lovely old brick walls to use as natural surrounds to some of the rooms with gorgeous roses and other climbers displayed against them. As I walked round the garden I was especially taken with many of the artistic details that enhance the planting, such as the pretty wooden doors designed and constructed by Michael, that have bars in the top half to give one a delightful view beyond.
The Shakespeare Garden has a stunning pavilion with tall columns at the front, modern sculptures in specially designed niches on the back wall and a magnificent ceiling decorated with an intricate shell design, all created by Michael. Some of us sat in there to have our tea as a welcome shelter from the sun and we could enjoy the full impact of the Shakespeare Garden with the bard on his plinth at the far end and grass and wild flowers in front kept tightly under control by straight tight borders of clipped euonymus interspersed with columnar conifers and a beautiful copper beech and red prunus hedge right round the outside.
As well as this there were espalied fruit trees, tiny ponds, a larger pond with its Godzilla water feature and lovely sweeps of impact planting such as the iris bed and the peony and dahlia bed. I am determined to track down the peony called Coral Sunset with its characteristic feature of having flowers of three different colours on one plant as they fade from deep coral through pink to white – a real show stopper. But my absolute favourite specimen in the garden is the almighty white Wisteria tumbling over the wall at the start of the tour and apparently it’s not even very good this year! I realise that there is so much more that I could mention but I have to stop somewhere and my own garden needs attention!
I know we are all very grateful to Michael, David and Stanley for allowing us to have a private viewing of their very special piece of paradise and I am very grateful to the East Anglian Garden Group for allowing me to gate crash the party.
Pippa Unwin