Oxhill News

www.oxhill.com / www.oxhill.org.uk

South Warwickshire, England.

The Oxhill News

March 2016

This months News

Contents

 

Garden Club

On Thursday 28th January (a week later than scheduled) the door of Oxhill Village Hall opened at 7.15pm to accommodate a trial ‘glass of wine before the speaker’ social quarter of an hour. This went down well (literally) and members were in a relaxed (somnambulant?) state to enjoy Sue and Mike Sanderson’s talk on ‘Establishing Our Tysoe Walled Kitchen Garden’.  Sue and Mike had long dreamt of creating a Victorian walled garden and, eight years ago, started to make their dream a reality by buying what used to be Tysoe Manor’s gardener’s cottage with its, then relatively untended, acre of ground.

On the ‘plus’ side there were old (very) fruit trees and a glass house; on the ‘minus’ side the roughly rectangular plot was only bounded on two sides by a (rather essential to a walled garden) brick wall!  Sue and Mike remedied this quite early on and could then better plan which parts of the garden were sheltered from the prevailing winds and benefitted from the wall’s reflected heat.  The whole garden ‘resurrection’ scheme was to be eco-friendly and planted up with self sufficiency in mind, but sheer practicality meant that the various projects within the overall design had to be tackled piecemeal.  Three ponds ‘appeared’ over time, as did pergolas, box hedging and a re-built glass house.

A series of slides showed members ‘before’ and ‘after’ views of the garden as re-instatement or new-build took place. Rectangular plots were dug over, vegetable seeds sown and fruit bushes planted according to the household’s culinary needs and Sue and Mike’s desire to grow something new or ‘different’ for the dinner table.  ‘Exotics’ grown  include Achocha, Mouse Melon and Inca berries in addition to an amazing variety of ‘normal’ fruits and vegetables – any seasonal surplus appearing for sale at very reasonable prices on a delightful little costermonger’s barrow at the back gate!

Those attending the meeting were amazed at the transformation of such a large area of Tysoe garden by just two people in such a relatively short period of time and most appreciative of the chance to be present at such an inspiring talk. 

A report on the February 18th talk to members and friends by Sue Burns on our local Batsford Arboretum will appear in the April Oxhill News.

The next Garden Club event is the AGM on Thursday 17th March starting at the earlier time of 7pm. The normal programme of meetings at 7.30pm on the third Thursday of the month resumes in April (the 21st) when Diane James of the Warwick University History Department is giving a talk on the Historic Gardens of Warwickshire.  All are welcome.

Douglas Nethercleft

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Last modified: April 19, 2016