Cherryburn Garden Project – a place for nature and people to thrive

A Garden For All

The garden space at Cherryburn is an accessible space with more seating, wheelchair-friendly and pushchair-friendly paths, ready to welcome you.

Our gardener is busy doing prep work for our mass bulb planting project this spring. The bulbs will include crocus, camassia, fritillaria  and hyacinthoides (british bluebells).

Last year we sowed seeds for the year ahead, using seeds collected from the Cherryburn garden. Jacob's Ladder, Aquilega, Foxglove, Ox Eye Daisy, Honesty and Verbascum were all sown in early autumn. Large areas of garden are left to allow nettles and thistles to thrive which provides food and shelter for butterflies and moths.

Our gardener uses the 'no dig' method - using a cardboard layer to supress weeds with leaf mulch and compost on top . This feeds the soil without disturbing it and means that chemicals are not needed in those harder to control areas.

The garden is designed to support wildlife and to remain characteristic of the natural landscape as Thomas Bewick would have experienced it.  

In fact, the key ‘rules’ for the garden are that all the plants must be recognisable to Bewick and/or that they will encourage wildlife to thrive. 

The space now has a more natural look and a wilder feel, with easy to source plants to inspire you to create your own planting schemes at home.

The garden project celebrates the legacy of Thomas Bewick with features and designs inspired by him and his work, ready to delight many more generations of visitors.   

 

Blossom in Bloom

Spring is a special time at Cherryburn as that's when our blossom trees start to... blossom! The garden at Cherryburn has cherry, pear, plum and apple blossom as well as hawthorn and blackthorn. We'll have a variety of  blossom activities for visitors to enjoy, or simply sit and enjoy the blossom in a quiet spot, bring some lunch and picnic under the trees.

 

Going Forward 

By reimagining the garden at Cherryburn, our hope is that the space is now accessible to more visitors – including wildlife – and that the changes ensure it remains sustainable for the future. 

Our aim is to let the garden progress naturally – next year’s garden will be different to this year’s as it continues to mature and is nurtured by the new gardener and volunteers – so it will be wonderful to see the garden change and flourish across time. Next steps include the planting of trees and plants for pollinators. 

Work is in progress on the new allotment and the raised beds are at a variety of heights to enable comfortable and accessible garden whether standing or seated.

Bewick used a woodblock print of his own thumbprint as a mark of authenticity in many of his publications, together with the handwritten inscription ‘Thomas Bewick his Mark.’ We are fundraising to produce a large-scale reproduction of Bewick’s thumbprint and inscription, in mosaic form. Visitors could choose to walk on the mosaic barefoot, which, with accompanying planting, would create a sensory garden experience. We are also fundraising for a bird hide, inspired by Bewick’s knowledge of birds, which he illustrated extensively in ‘British Birds.’ The hide brings Bewick’s work into the garden, extending the museum into the outdoor space and enabling visitors to ‘notice nature’ through Bewick’s eyes. The hide won’t be set up as a silent space to spot rare birds in the traditional sense, but a place to see common birds and draw, paint or photograph them. 
 

Do share your photos of the garden from your visits, we’d love to see them and hear what you thought about this new space. Follow us or tag us on Facebook @CherryburnNT or Instagram #hadrianswalltynevalleynt

 

Our gardener's tips for spring

Hedgehogs are emerging from their hibernation, make sure you leave sections of your garden wild for them to rustle about, feed from and rest in.

Birds will begin nesting in April, you can leave nesting materials out for them or put up a bird box in your garden to help them out.

Some of your self-seeding plants will be emerging from the ground in their infancy – spring is a good time to curate what plants you want to keep, move, or remove entirely from your beds.

Your bulbs will be flowering, take note of where they are by photographing or documenting their location – reminding you where they are before you spend more time in the garden in summer to avoid disturbance of your displays.

Don’t forget to sit back and enjoy spring in your garden – no matter how much work you do in it. The wildest of gardens often provide more of an immersion into nature – so don’t forget to enjoy that after the long winter!