The Hidden Gardens

Date & Time: 09-Jul-2021 10:30 – 17:00
Event Code: 9002
Location: Frome
Price: £5.00
Description: Hidden Gardens £5 per person to cover over 30 gardens over 3 days from, 9-11th July inclusive. 10.30-5.00p.m. 

“Gardens and flowers have a way of bringing people together, dragging them from their homes.”

Clare Ansberry.  

This year there are more than 30 gardens involved with at least 12 gardens opening for the first time. We have our usual rolling programme with different gardens opening on different days. We hope the longer opening times will allow more journeys on foot so you can enjoy all that the town and gardens have to offer. Many of the gardens are accessible or can be viewed by people who may use a stick or need a wheelchair. We offer our usual eclectic mix of gardens and styles including large, small, formal, wild, newly created, mature and NGS gardens past and present. If you like to satisfy your curiosity and share ideas with others on anything from womeries to hot composters, garden sculptures, repurposing materials, plants in general or specialised plants then this year’s event is for you. At the allotment you can feast your eyes on fruit and vegetables galore and later enjoy the heady sights and smells of summer with tea and cake in some of the gardens. Leave with a plant or two including a carnivorous Pitcher plant for your pond or if you prefer a delicious jar of honey. We look forward to meeting new visitors and saying hello again to our regular visitors. You can purchase and print your ticket/programme via the Frome Festival Website. Programmes will also be on sale in the Cheese and Grain and other venues around the town. PLEASE NOTE every visitor needs to buy a programme as the programme is ALSO YOUR TICKET. Depending on the current Covid 19 restrictions you may need to wear a mask so come prepared. Some gardens have pinch points and you may on occasions come into close proximity with others.

 

John Payne, Hidden Gardens poems

  1. The Glory of the Garden

It all begins in January –

snowdrops and winter aconites

peeping shyly through the snow,

then pale primroses and violets,

vibrant daffodils and gaudy tulips.

 

As spring fades slowly into summer

there’s roses, clematis, marigolds,

love-in-the-mist, sweet peas, rudbeckias –

a hundred scents and colours

to show the English summer’s here.

 

July comes round, Frome Festival time,

days when Bev and Tim, Alan, Gina, Dan,

Sharon, Hilary, Mick and Aliss, and

plucky plotters at Mendip View

heed the call of higher purpose

to show you the glory of their gardens.

 

  1. Bindweed

The bindweed grows silently, secretly

and must be kept at bay.

For with bindweed comes anarchy, wild anarchy,

cow parsley, which some call Queen Anne’s lace,

stately pink spikes of corn cockle,

a sea of ox-eye my Mum taught me

to call moon daisies. And cuckoo flowers

to mock the silent cuckoo.

 

This disorderly rabble have their place,

I’m sure, in nature, but not in my garden thank you!

I desire order, design and beauty

in our ever-changing gardens,

though you will see them on just one summer’s day,

scented, colourful, shady, secluded

sunny, secretive, compact and peaceful.

 

And we, the gardeners of Frome, will be there to greet you

Hidden Gardens, 20-Twenty-One.

Gardens, like people, all shapes and sizes.