Friends Newsletter Summer 2023

Sizzling Summer

Welcome to our summer newsletter

The Garden Manager writes

‘Well we have certainly had our work cut out over the last month. What a strange first half of the year it has been. We started with endless rain and poor weather that delayed our early nursery tasks. Then a rush to get all our trees back in the ground once it was dry enough. Then the rotavator broke down!

Finally we finished planting everything. And then it dried up! And it stayed dry, very dry!

So we have gone from water everywhere to no water anywhere. Testing times for our plants.’

Despite all the weather could throw at us, the tea garden is now open and this newsletter includes an account from Annabel Crowley of the design and landscaping of the tearoom garden and the entrance to the New Arboretum. You can also find out more about our ideas for ‘Friday Friends’, the new ‘Dedicate a Bench‘ scheme and the Ashburner Prize and save the date for our events: Music Fest (Sunday 23rd Jul) As You Like It (Wednesday 23rd August) and an outdoor cinema screening of ‘Stardust’ (Wednesday 13th September). Tickets are available via our website

Is Stone Lane Gardens your favourite RHS partner garden? You can read about the RHS partner garden of the year competition and vote here.

The Tearoom Garden is now open

The improvements to the tearoom garden and the entrance to the new arboretum are now complete and open to our visitors. Annabel Crowley, who was appointed by the trustees to undertake the design and supervise the landscaping and planting reports below on the process.

We welcome Bella and Naomi who will be serving cream teas this summer on Fridays and at weekends and Bank Holidays and special thanks to our Volunteers Meg and Alison. There is still a vacancy for a volunteer to help out on Saturdays. If you would be interested please contact Anna Imrie pressoffice@stonelanegardens.com. Volunteers enjoy the contact with visitors, it is very rewarding to hear how people enjoy the beauty of the gardens and to see them tucking into a cream tea.

Please check our website if you intend to visit the tearoom, as we are not always able to open. You might be interested to know that the tearoom is available to hire for events during weekdays (Mon-Thurs). Please contact admin@stonelanegardens.com if you would like to hire the tearoom for a meeting or event.

Friday Friends

As we now have quite a few local Friends, we though it might be nice to develop the idea of a social hub for Friends who would like to get to know each other and share enjoyment of plants and sculptures. So, we are suggesting that if Friends would like to visit on Fridays, they could have a ‘drop-in’ social in the tearoom (open noon to 4pm). We also welcome members of the RHS on Fridays and our volunteers have a regular work session on that day. To launch to ‘Friday Friends’ we will have copies of Paul’s report of his plant collecting trip to Greenland. Other ideas such as ‘seed swaps’, viewing of June and Kennth’s artworks and access to the Stone Lane Gardens botanical library could develop. The inaugural ‘Friday Friends’ will be on Friday 21^th.

Perhaps this might be an opportunity for a local enthusiast to embrace and develop the Friends Membership scheme as Pru, who have been in this role for a long time is trying to cut down on driving all the way from Bere Alston.

Garden Design at Stone Lane Gardens by Annabel Crowley

It was in late 2021 that the trustees of Stone Lane Gardens asked me to help with detailed plans for new areas at the arboretum. The masterplan had already been made by Duncan Rice and stands of young trees planted across the fields to the east of the farmstead.

Our first project in March last year (2022) was the creation of an entrance from the farmyard to this extension to the original garden. An existing gateway allowed us to take a winding path gently up the hill to a point where it could turn and follow the contour line into successive fields. Between the groups of trees on this hillside there are stunning views across the Chagford area to the open moor.

The circular route through the new arboretum brings visitors back down to Stone Farm through Salter Wood and this presented us with our next task: how to create a satisfactory path from the wood through an area already functioning as the tearoom garden and constrained on either side by the tree nursery and the staff car park? I was keen to protect the tranquillity of the tearoom garden, so this path had to run alongside, not through it, despite limited space.

Another limiting factor was the toilets! Our budget precluded moving them, so we had to settle for screening them from the new access path with a trellis fence above a very narrow border planted with clematis and upright ornamental grasses.

Levelling the tearoom lawn was key to the feasibility of the plan because this gave extra space for tables and chairs where formerly there was a slope. Our contractors, Robinson Plant, arrived in late February and laid out banks, borders and a level surface that compensated for what we had to appropriate for paths. In the borders that surround and protect the lawn, planting had to be low-maintenance, informal so as to complement the setting and, equally important, as unpalatable as possible to the deer population! I used plants such as Salvia, fennel, rue, Achillea, Hydrangea and several different species of ornamental grasses, all of which have, so far, escaped depradation and which I hope help create a peaceful, harmonious environment for visitors.

Having had perfect conditions for the groundworks in February, we were prevented by heavy spring rains from laying turf until May – just as the rain stopped, the sun shone and suddenly everything needed watering. Paul Bartlett, his assistant Verity Brown and the volunteers have assiduously wielded watering cans to keep the plants and turf in good condition and we’re looking forward to seeing the tearoom garden filled with visitors this summer.

www.annabelcrowley.co.uk

Paul’s Garden Manager update

Over the last month our candelabra Primulas have been looking stunning in the boggy areas. Primula pulveralenta came first with its tiers of showy deep pink flowers. These were followed by P. heladoxa, a longer lasting display of bright yellow. We always plant our Primulas en masse, and they certainly provide a great spectacle of colour from late Spring to early Summer.

We now have a lovely group of young Rhododendron luteum at the top of the garden. The seed was collected in the Caucasus mountains of Georgia in 2013, where the shrubs were displaying vibrant autumn leaf colour. This is unlikely to occur in our climate, but the perfumed yellow Spring flowers were a delight.

Our trainee gardener, Verity, joined us in October last year and we have been busy training her on many aspects of the garden and nursery. Lately she has been helping with the propagation of our young plants, including some very important seedlings from Paul’s Greenland expedition last August. Having an assistant at the garden has been a great help for Paul, and the extra pair of hands makes all the difference as our garden grows and expands.

In addition to Verity, our regular band of Garden Volunteers continue to do good work. We couldn’t function without them, and the gentle banter and friendliness of the group is a tonic for all.

Earlier in the year we said goodbye to one of our part time staff, Nigel Way, a tenant in the farm cottage. Nigel has been a regular helper in the garden for several years, and we are grateful for all he has done. He remains as a tenant, and can now hopefully enjoy the garden and grounds at leisure.

At the end of May, the garden became a hive of activity with the setting up of this year’s sculpture exhibition. Paul and Verity helped transport some of the pieces into the garden and advised on appropriate locations, where the pieces would complement the garden without damaging any plants.

Irrigation of young trees in the nursery and new arboretum continues to be challenging during the really prolonged dry spells. This year the Trustees are searching for funding, so that we can install water storage tanks and create a pumped irrigation network. If we are successful in securing funding, this will be a great benefit to the health of our young trees for future years.

Sculpture Exhibition and Ashburner Prize

The Private View, of the Sculpture Exhibition, sponsored by Jackson-Stops was very well attended on a beautiful evening. If you have not yet managed to visit, you can preview on line here.

The Ashburner Prize, sponsored by Caradon Granite was awarded to David Newman for his exhibit ‘Undefined Forms’.

Thank you to the artists for their wonderful exhibits, to Nick Parker and Susie Pope for all ther hard work and to the photographers. Verity had the task of uploading the catalogue.

Last but not least, Ben Cox’s splendid horse has galloped in to join the exhibtion.

Events

Music Fest, Sunday 23rd July moon-6pm

Stone Lane Gardens informal annual Music Fest fundraiser event has been planned this year for the afternoon of Sunday, 23 July. Starting at 12 noon and continuing until 6pm, a full line up of local musicians of all kinds will provide entertainment in our Hay Barn, a working agricultural barn, whatever the weather. Maestro James Goodwin will be in charge of the proceedings and a list of performers will be published nearer the date.

Our tea room will be open serving food and beverages (card only payment).

Tickets are already on sale via our website shop and will also be available on the day.

Shakespeare at the Gardens, ‘As You Like It’, Wednesday 23rd August

For 2023 our outdoor Shakespeare presentation, from ever popular The Three Inch Fools touring theatre company, is AS YOU LIKE IT.

Put Wednesday 23 August in your diary and dust off your deckchair and picnic basket. Tickets are available to purchase from our web site shop .

Outdoor Cinema ‘Stardust’, Wednesday 13th September

13 SEPTEMBER is the evening of Stone Lane Garden’s first venture into Outdoor Cinema as a fundraiser for the Gardens. Rated PG, ‘STARDUST’ the glorious fantastical adventure directed by Matthew Vaughn, staring Michele Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Claire Danes, with Ricky Gervais, Sienna Miller and Peter O’Toole, will start at 7pm sharp as the sun sets behind the dramatic backdrop of Dartmoor. Bring a seat, a rug, a torch, and dress for the weather on the day.

Tickets for ‘STARDUST’ will be made available from the website shop only in advance and will be offered by the Trustees of Stone Lane Gardens, for a donation towards the continuance of the maintenance, conservation and renovation of the Gardens (Registered Charity No. 1141252) open to the public on everyday of the year.

Dedicate a Bench at Stone Lane Gardens

The Trustees have been looking at ways that Friends and Sponsors can become directly involved with contributing to the fabric and development of Stone Lane Gardens. The first idea is to enable sponsorship of benches in the Ashburner Arboretum and the New Arboretum. We are working with Devon Timber who will supply the benches. They make the benches with locally produced timber, prepared in their workshop at Clifford Barton.

If you would be interested in sponsoring a bench, please follow the link to our dedicate a bench webpage.

This is a wonderful way that our ‘Friends’ can help to leave a lasting gift contributing to the future of Stone Lane Gardens and the beautiful National Collections of Birch and Alder.