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Garden Name: The Manor
Last Modified: 12/01/2011
Garden ID: 0499

pic: 0499_Hemingford-Grey.jpg

Owner: Diana Boston
Address:
Hemingford Grey
Huntingdon

Postcode: PE28 9BN
County: Cambridgeshire

tel: 01480 463134
fax: 
website: www.greenknowe.co.uk
email: diana_boston {at} hotmail.com

Features: 
Topiary, Old Roses, Irises, scented Herbaceous borders

English Heritage Grade:


Opening Times:
Garden: All year; daily; 11am - 5pm (or dusk in winter).

Best Times of Year to Visit: 
May - June
September
October

To see: 
Irises & Old Roses
Autumn garden
Autumn colour

National Collection: 


National Garden Scheme days: Yes
Comments: Throughout the year 10% of garden takings go to NGS.

Parties / Coaches: Yes 
Comments: 

Viewing by Appointment: Yes
Comments:  

House Open for Viewing: Yes
Comments: By appointment only. All year.

Admission Prices:
House and Garden (Jan - April & Aug - Dec) - Adults: £6, OAPs: £4.50, Children: £2
House and Garden (May, June & July) - Adults: £7, OAPs: £5.50, Children: £2
Garden only (Jan - April & Aug - Dec)- Adults: £3, OAPs £2.50, Children: Free
Garden only (May, June & July) - Adults: £4, OAPs: £3.50, Children: Free

Parking: No
Lavatories: No
Disabled Access: Yes
Shop: Yes
Plants for Sale: Yes
Lunches: No
Teas: No
Refreshments: No
Picnics: No
Dogs allowed: Yes
Only on Lead: Yes
Events: No

Other Facilities:
Parking for the disabled and urgent use only. Lavatories for the disabled only (or in emergency). Partial access for the disabled to the gardens.
Arrangements for refreshments can be made locally.


Designer: Lucy Boston
Description of Garden:
Bordered by a moat on three sides and the River Ouse on the other, the garden is about four acres with a fifth deliberately left wild as a haven for wildlife. It is divided into different sections, including the hidden garden with splendid mature yews.

There are are topiary coronation shapes and chess pieces and large herbaceous borders full of scented plants with plenty of self-sown annuals intermingled. This is in essence an informal garden based on Lucy Boston's philosophy of not contending with the forest and wild flowers which wait to take over. Both adults and children will enjoy the garden because of the books and the many paths to follow.


History: 
Hemingford Manor was built circa 1130 and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in England. It was the home of the author Lucy Boston from 1939 until her death in 1990. When she bought the property, the land in front of the house was a field. In late 1939 she planted over 200 trees and shrubs and beside the towpath along the River Ouse which borders the garden, she planted a further 100 sweet briar plants, many of which were washed away in the 1947 flood. In spite of her gramophone recitals to the RAF during the war, she found time to plant 8 yew bushes on either side of the house, which became topiary inspired by Levens Hall. They were made into crowns, orbs and the dove of peace to celebrate the Queen's Coronation. Another 12 bushes were planted in the early 1950's with the intention of making them into chess pieces. These now stand in squares of purple-leaved ajuga and grey-leaved stachys to represent the squares of the chess board.

After the war she concentrated on her first loves - old roses, irises and herbaceous perennials advised by Graham Stuart Thomas who was at the Cambrdge Botanic Garden at the time. In his first book there is a photograph of "La Reine Victoria" at the Manor. During the winters Lucy Boston wrote her books basing her Green Knowe series, now regarded as classics, on the house and garden.

Local Inns: 
The Cock, Hemingford Grey
The Axe & Compass, Hemingford Abbots

Accomodation: 
The Willows (B&B), Hemingford Grey
The Dolphin, St. Ives. (Cambs)
Magdalene House (B&B), Wyton Green (www.magdalene-house.co.uk)

Restaurants: 


Village/Town/Sightseeing: 
Hemingford Grey
Hemingford Abbots
St. Ives
Huntingdon
Local Walks