On Wednesday, members of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, Northern Branch, visited Mount Saint John’s at Felixkirk near Thirsk.
We were introduced to this amazing 12 acre garden by Jack Clark, the garden curator, and taken on a tour of the various parts of the garden. It is part of the 1200 acre estate.
- The walled garden, an organic vegetable garden working on a four crop rotation was full to the brim with a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, some of which are used to supply the local pub in Felixkrk.
- The cut flower garden has walls covered in espalier and fan trained pears and beds filled with a wide variety of cut flowers, foliage plants and plants for dried flowers, some of which we saw in the gardeners buildings, drying for use in autumn and winter.
- The new garden in front of the new extension to the original Georgian house, was was designed by Tom Stuart, with such fabulous colour combinations – the view from this part of the garden took in what seemed to be the whole of the Vale of York, with the Minster visible on a clear day!
- The Valley Garden, with its three ponds, which was restored apparently in 2008, was a delight, with a wide variety of tall trees shading the area and allowing a variety of shade loving plants to survive.
There were 22 members in attendance. It was a delightful day, with warm, sunny weather. It must be said that it was one of the best visits that the Institute has had in the 42 years of its existence. Thanks to Jason Daff, our Branch Secretary for organising the visit and of course, to Jack Clark and his staff for giving their valuable time to allow us to see and enjoy this wonderful garden. Visit their social media pages @mountstjohngarden .
