Plantation garden preservation trust

PLANTATION GARDEN PRESERVATION TRUST

Visit to: GRIMSTHORPE CASTLE, PARK AND GARDENS, BOURNE, LINCOLNSHIRE (THE GRIMSTHORPE AND DRUMMOND CASTLE TRUST) AND EASTON WALLED GARDENS, NEAR GRANTHAM, LINCOLNSHIRE (SIR FRED AND LADY URSULA CHOLMELEY)

Date: WEDNESDAY 6 JULY 2016

Cost: £33.00 (INCLUDES ADMISSIONS, MORNING COFFEE ON ARRIVAL AND GUIDED TOURS OF PARK AND HOUSE AT GRIMSTHORPE

PLEASE ADD £2.50 PER CAR IF PARKING AT NOTCUTTS

Depart: 7.00 AM DEREHAM COACHWAYS, DEREHAM

7.30 AM EARLHAM ROAD, NORWICH, OPP. ST JOHN’S RC CATHEDRAL

7.45 AM NOTCUTTS GARDEN CENTRE, DANIELS ROAD, NORWICH

Return: 7.15 PM APPROXIMATELY (NOTCUTTS)________________________________________________

GRIMSTHORPE CASTLE (GRADE 1) AND GARDENS (GRADE2*)

A CASTLE REBUILT ROUND A COURTYARD IN THE MID C16, WITH LATER DEVELOPMENTS WHICH HAVE PRODUCED LINCOLNSHIRE’S GREATEST AND GRANDEST SEAT. EXTENSIVE 3000 ACRE PARK AND 15 ACRES OF FORMAL AND WOODLAND GARDENS

PARK: The castle sits on a slight plateau close by the village of Grimsthorpe at the north-east end of a large well-wooded park. It enjoys views to east and west and both house and park are in scale with the generous rolling landscape of south Lincolnshire. We shall have a conducted tour in our coach to see the ancient oaks in the woodland pasture and perhaps catch a glimpse of the herd of red deer. In the C18 the Great Water and adjacent Red Bridge Pond had been created out of medieval fish-ponds before Capability Brown’s visit in 1771.

CASTLE: The house and its contents are of the highest quality. The most spectacular room is the Great Hall, considered to be Vanbrugh’s noblest masterpiece. Nearby is the light and airy Chapel, “one of the most beautiful rooms in England” according to architectural historian John Martin Robinson. Among other more intimate state rooms is the delightful Chinese Drawing Room with a curious Gothick fan-vaulted bow window.

GARDENS: A dramatic herbaceous border frames views across the Home Park and lakes to the west. Elsewhere the formal flower and topiary garden leads into the woodland garden and provides a fine setting for the unusual ornamental vegetable garden and orchard created in the 1960s by the Countess of Ancaster with John Fowles and Peter Coates. Lady Ancaster was the daughter of Nancy Astor and her daughter, Lady Jane Willoughby de Eresby, the present chatelaine, was one of the Train Bearers at the Queen’s coronation in 1953.

EASTON WALLED GARDEN

C19 LANDSCAPE PARK SURROUNDS 12 ACRES OF MID C19 FORMAL TERRACE AND WALLED GARDENS UNDER RESTORATION SINCE 2001. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT SPENT PART OF HIS HONEYMOON HERE IN 1905

Like the Plantation Garden, Easton Hall and garden was largely a product of the second half of the C19 which fell into almost terminal decline during and after WWII. The house was demolished in the early 1950s, apart from the Stable Yard and prominent Entrance Gate, but under the hands-on guidance of Lady Ursula Cholmeley the “glorious gardens” are re-emerging once again. Balustraded terraces descend to the infant River Witham, crossed by an ornate stone bridge of the 1840s. This leads on to the Walled Garden where the annual celebration of the large sweet pea collection will be taking place at the time of our visit.

Afternoon teas will be available in the Stable Yard before our departure._________________________________

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  Prepaid morning coffee will be provided on arrival at Grimsthorpe when light lunches may also be ordered but people are welcome to bring a picnic if they wish. Afternoon tea will be available at Easton.
  
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  Bring a friend or friends if you wish!
  
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  Two coaches will run on the same day if numbers seem to justify it – to help gauge the viability of a second coach, please reply if possible by or at the AGM, as acknowledgements will be sent out ASAP after the AGM.
  
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  Cancelation less than one month before the event will be refunded in full if possible or in part at the discretion of the organiser.
  
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  Please return the booking form below, with your payment and SAE for acknowledgement, to:
  

Val Striker, 29 Park Lane, NORWICH NR2 3EE /Tel: [phone] /Email: [e-mail]

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BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE

I would like to book_______place(s) on the outing to Lincolnshire on Wednesday 6 July 2016

I enclose a cheque for £____________made payable to The Plantation Garden Preservation Trust
Name (Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms) _______________________________________________________________________________
Telephone_______________________________Email_______________________________________________________