Have your cake and eat it (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Have your cake and eat it

Owner of the Bassett Down Farm Gardens John Hollis believes a large slice of his visitor numbers can be attributed directly to the quality of the cakes.

John and Sue Hollis with daughter Sophie and Mick Cooper who looks after the gardens

The gardens, near Wroughton, will once again open to the public on June 11 as part of the National Gardens Scheme, having been included in the scheme some two years ago.

Last year visitors flocked in their droves to sample the locally made cakes. They ranged from modest to monstrous in size, fruity to nutty in flavour and for many visitors they proved totally irresistible.

"I'm sure that half the people come for the cakes rather than to see the gardens and it really is like a giant cake fest," says Mr Hollis.

But, of course, there are the gardens themselves which include an orchard, ponds, lime terraces, a walled garden, a woodland walk and rose gardens.

Before becoming part of the National Gardens Scheme Mr Hollis had held and continues to hold open days in support of the Prospect Hospice, and each year visitors return to see the progress of the gardens.

He bought the site, complete with the Farm House, Coach House and adjoining cottage, in 1991 and since then has been endeavouring to return it to somewhere near its former glory.

He and his wife Sue live in the Farm House while two of his eight children occupy the Coach House and the cottage.

The gardens, originally part of the Bassett Down House estate, have not always been open to the public and on Mr Hollis's arrival were a sorry sight of overgrown ruin and neglect.

"Bassett Down House was once the big house in the area and had all the walled gardens and formal areas that came with it," says Mr Hollis.

"But all that was trashed in the 1960s when intensive farming took its toil on the land. It's never really recovered from the end of the Second World War onwards."

However over the past ten years that has gradually changed as Mr Hollis, who retired as a management consultant two years ago, put money into first restoring the buildings and then attending to the gardens.

"It started as a rack and ruin of farm gardens and was totally overgrown with stinging nettles. We took photos at the beginning and I'm so pleased we did because otherwise we wouldn't believe what it was like," he says.

However Mr Hollis acknowledges that he doesn't own the greenest of fingers and at times struggles to notice the difference between a weed and a flower.

Therefore it came as a great boost when he managed to recruit the help of local couple Mick and Daphne Cooper as gardeners six years ago.

Daphne was born in the cottage and both her father and her grandfather have worked the same land in their time.

Mick was previously a farm manager and is the undisputed fountain of knowledge on everything that is Bassett Down.

"We're so lucky to have found Mick and Daphne and we give them quite a free reign because they know this land better than anyone," says Mr Hollis.

Mick, who has an abundance of Bassett Down stories and photos dating back more than 100 years, said: "It's a team effort with John up at the top but he does let us get on with it.

"We can't restore it to how it was because time moves on and originally there would have been about six or seven gardens.

"But what we can do is try and bring it back to being a good garden. We're very fortunate to have some of the original trees so we've got the structure and we now have to bring it up to standard and in keeping with the area."

Projects are ongoing and there is still plenty of work and ideas to come to fruition. The changes in the last six years have been staggering and it's no surprise that the open days prove so popular.

But, despite all his work, Mick remains modest.

He says: "It's the cakes. People just love them and they always come back for more."

The Bassett Down Farm Gardens are located on Hay Lane, Salthrop, near Wrougton and will open to the public from midday to 6pm on June 11. Admission costs £4 for adults with free entrance for children.

Money raised on the day will go towards NGS charities including Macmillan Cancer Relief, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Help the Hospices & The Nurses Welfare Service.