Early Doors Visit to RHS Bridgewater

Our administrator and IYN assessor Claire was lucky enough to visit RHS Bridgewater on a very rainy third day of it opening. This is a new 156 acre RHS garden close to Salford, Manchester. Here is her report.

A misty view of welcome building

The welcome building to the site was beautifully sculpted and made of lots of natural organic materials. There was a shop, quite small compared to that of Wisley, ditto the plant centre. The cafe has a terrace overlooking a new lake.

One of the climbing plant supports

Seeing the bare bones of a new garden is exciting stuff. The walled garden is massive and already very impressive. The RHS is taking a new and innovative approach here with lots of local community involvement. Salford City council are also contributing financially as having an RHS jewel in the area is bound to attract visitors to boost the local economy (hey I was there doing that!).

I loved their metal supports for climbing plants.

Rill

View to glasshouses

The rill that intersects the paradise garden is impressive, more so in the pouring rain. At one end they have used pleached ironwood trees in preference to the usual beech.

Restored west lake

The lake in its heyday

The unrestored east lake

West meets east lake

Such folly

I hadn't seen the BBC programme on Bridgewater so hadn't appreciated what the west lake looked like before they dredged it out. The east lake was virtually a swamp full of self seeded saplings. It must be a real haven of wildlife in that state. It certainly provided a stark contrast between the restored and the wild. The house that was demolished in the 1940's sat up above the lake on a terrace. The photo shows the site in its heyday.

Chinese streamside garden

There is a fabulous meandering stream with a Chinese themed planting. There are lots of acers that will look truly beautiful as they mature.

The site benefits from some very mature woodland to act as a contrast to the newer gardens. There is also a huge meadow area that looks to be quite swampy. I think there are future plans to restore this to a unique habitat. Still lots of exciting projects to carry out and I look forward to visiting in a few years when it will have matured nicely.

For more on RHS Bridgewater click here.