Wiltshire gardens open to the public this May

Wednesday, May 1, Blackland House, Quemerford, Calne SN11 8UQ, open 2-5pm, admission £10, children free. Just off A4 heading east as you leave Calne towards Marlborough. Home-made teas included in admission with a donation to Dorothy House Hospice.

A wonderfully varied four-acre garden adjacent to River Marden. Formal walled productive and cutting garden, traditional glasshouses, rose garden and wide herbaceous borders. Interesting topiary, trained fruit trees and specialist displays of historic tulips and unusual spring bulbs. Hand-tied bunches of flowers for sale. Featured in Gardens Illustrated and House and Garden Spring 2018. Partial wheelchair access, grass and cobbles. www.bayntunflowers.co.uk.

Sunday, May 5, Stitchcombe House, Stitchcombe, Marlborough, SN8 2EU. Signed off A4 between Hungerford and Marlborough. Open 2-5.30pm, admission £5, child free. Home-made teas.

Garden created in 2009 with brick and flint walls, parterre, box maze, wild flower patch, rill and water feature, beech hedges, far-reaching views westward. Tulips in beds and containers. Look out for the parrot that flies free in the garden and whistles at visitors.

Sunday, May 5, Waterdale House, East Knoyle, SP3 6BL eight miles south of Warminster, signed from A350. Open 2-6pm, admission £5, children free. Home-made teas.

Four-acre mature woodland garden with rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, maples, magnolias, ornamental water, bog garden, herbaceous borders. Bluebell walk. Shrub border created by storm damage, mixed with agapanthus and half hardy salvias. Difficult surfaces, sensible footwear essential, parts of garden very wet. Please keep to raked and marked paths in woodland. Partial wheelchair access.

Sunday, May 12, Corsham Court, Corsham, SN13 0BZ. Four miles west of Chippenham. Signed off A4 at Corsham. Open 2-5.30pm, admission £10, children £5.

Park and gardens laid out by Capability Brown and Repton. Large lawns with fine specimens of ornamental trees surround the Elizabethan mansion. 18th-century bath house hidden in the grounds. Spring bulbs, beautiful lily pond with Indian bean trees, young arboretum and stunning collection of magnolias. Wheelchair (not motorised) access to house, gravel paths in garden.

Wednesday, May 15, Bowden Park, Lacock, SN15 2PP. 10 minutes from Chippenham. Entrance via Top Lodge at top of Bowden Hill, between A342 at Sandy Lane and A350 in Lacock. Open 11am-4pm. Admission £5, children free. Light refreshments.

22-acre private garden within surrounding parkland. Pleasure garden, water garden, working kitchen garden with formal lawns and grotto. Rhododendrons and azaleas in flower.

Sunday, May 19, Broadleas House Gardens, Devizes SN10 5JQ, one mile south of Devizes. From Hartmoor Road turn left into Broadleas Park, follow road for 350 metres then turn right into estate. No access from A360 Potterne Rd. Open 2-5pm, admission £5, child free. Home-made teas.

Six-acre garden of hedges, herbaceous borders, rose arches, bee garden and orchard stuffed with good plants. Well-stocked kitchen and herb gardens. Mature collection of specimen trees incl magnolia, handkerchief, redwood, dogwood. Overlooked by the house and arranged above the small valley garden which is crowded with magnolias, camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas, cornus and hydrangeas. House and Garden magazine July 2018. Wheelchair access to upper garden only, some gravel and narrow grass paths.

Sunday, May 19, The Old Mill, Ramsbury, SN8 2PN, eight miles NE of Marlborough. From Marlborough head to Ramsbury. At The Bell pub follow sign to Hungerford. Garden behind yew hedge on right 100yds beyond pub. Open 2-5pm, admission £5.50, children free. Tea. Refreshments in aid of local charities.

Water running through a multitude of channels no longer drives the mill but provides a backdrop for whimsical garden of pollarded limes and naturalistic planting. Paths meander by streams and over small bridges. Vistas give dramatic views of downs beyond. Potager style kitchen garden and separate cutting garden provide a more formal contrast to the relaxed style elsewhere. Wiltshire Life 2018, Marlborough Town and Country Magazine 2018. Limited wheelchair access as gravel paths and bridges and very soft ground in places.

Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24, Windmill Cottage, King's Road, Market Lavington, SN10 4QB. Five miles south of Devizes. Turn east off A360 one mile north of West Lavington, two miles south of Potterne. At the top of hill turn left into King's Road, left into Windmill Lane after 200 yards. Limited parking on site, ample parking nearby. Open 2-5pm, admission £4, children free. Home-made teas. One-acre cottage style, wildlife friendly garden on greensand. Mixed beds and borders with long season of interest. Roses on pagoda, large vegetable patch for kitchen and exhibition at local shows, greenhouse, polytunnel and fruit cage. Whole garden virtually pesticide free for last 20 years. Small bog garden by wildlife pond. Secret glade with prairie. Grandchildren’s little wood. Majority of garden accessible. Some soft and gravel paths.

Saturday, May 25, Job’s Mill, Five Ash Lane, Crockerton, BA12 8BB, a mile south of Warminster. Down lane east of A350, south of A36 roundabout. Open 2-5.30pm, admission £4.50, children free. Home-made teas.

Delightful five-acre garden through which River Wylye flows. Laid out on many levels surrounding old converted water mill. Water garden, herbaceous border, vegetable garden, orchard, riverside and woodland walks and secret garden. Grass terraces designed by Russell Page. Bulbs and erythronium in the spring and perhaps the tallest growing wisteria.

Monday, May 27, Manor Farm House, Manor Farm Lane, Patney, near Devizes SN10 3RB. Between Pewsey and Devizes. Take third entrance on left going up Manor Farm Lane from village green. Parking available in paddock. Open 2-5pm, admission £5, children free. Home-made teas. Refreshments in aid of The Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust.

Two-acre plantsman’s garden designed in 1980s and updated over the past seven years. Lawned areas with borders surrounded by yew hedging, large border by tennis court, formal vegetable garden with buxus parterres and meadow with spring bulbs, box mound and new moist plants garden. Limited wheelchair access due to upward slope and gravel paths. No toilets.

Wednesday, May 29, Thursday May 30, Friday May 31, Woolley Grange Hotel, Woolley Green, Bradford on Avon BA15 1TX.One mile north-east of Bradford, just off B3105 at Woolley Green. Open 10am-4pm, admission £5, children free. Cream teas in garden.

Beautiful 14-acre garden with mixed borders, pond, orchard and wildlife garden. The Victorian walled garden has been restored and is fully productive, and a gang of Indian runner ducks roam free keeping the slugs at bay. Lots to do for the children including White Witch’s House and Woolley Sheep Trail. All set against the stunning backdrop of this Jacobean manor house hotel. Lots of play areas for children. Garden staff available for help and advice. Walled garden produce is grown for the hotel restaurant, open to the public for lunches, teas and evening meals. Several steps around the gardens, but walled garden is accessible to wheelchairs.

Several gardens which open for NGS can arrange a personalised garden visit with your club, or group of friends, on a date to suit you. Details at www.ngs.org.uk