News & Events
Please note that events are for members only and generally have to be pre-booked.
A booking form is sent to members with the newsletter in January and June.
March Lecture Event 1
The Birth and Rebirth of an Edwardian Country Home, Mounton House, given by Helena Gerrish.
Helena Gerrish, the author of Edwardian Country Life – The Story of H. Avray Tipping, is also the owner of his garden – High Glanau Garden. She has recently published the story of Mounton and its creator H. Avray Tipping. Mounton was finished just prior to World War I. It fell into disrepair and she tells of its revival, and the remaking of the gardens by Arne Maynard.
Event includes a soup and bread lunch.
April Visit Event 2
Morton Hall & Wolverton Folly, Worcestershire. 
Morton Hall
By kind permission of Anne Olivieri.
Georgian Morton Hall has a wide vista to the distant Malverns, but the glory of the place is its immaculate garden, large trees, fritillaries, which we may be in time to catch, and majoring on droves of speciality tulips.
Wolverton Folly
By kind permission of Sir Nicholas and Lady Coleridge.
The folly is an exquisite design by Quinlan Terry, ebullient in contrast to the serious 1714 house. The roof gives an expansive prospect of Bredon Hill and of the Malverns glimpsed down an avenue. Sir Nicholas wrote about the folly in HWGT Newsletter, Summer 2022.
A light lunch at Morton Hall is included in the visit.
May AGM Event 3
Homme House, Herefordshire.
By kind permission of Mrs. Jocelyn Finnigan.
A stunning 5-acre garden set within 200 acres of parkland and woodland with unspoilt views towards the Malverns. 2-acre walled garden with long borders and espalier walkway of apple varieties, Grade l listed Summerhouse, rose garden, water and bog gardens. There will also be a short guided visit to the newly restored wild flower meadow below St. Bartholomew’s Church.
The AGM will be held in the Dining Room of Homme House, a Grade ll* listed 18C building. The meeting will be followed by wine and refreshments.
June Visit Event 4
Wharf House, Newnham Bridge, Tenbury Wells.
By kind permission of Gareth Compton and Matthew Bartlett.
2-acre country garden set around an 18thC house (not open) with mixed themed herbaceous borders including a white garden, bright garden, canal garden, vegetable garden and long and scented borders, courtyards, stream with small bridge to island.
Afternoon refreshments are included.
June Visit Event 5
Wyndcliffe Court, Chepstow & Mounton House, Nr Chepstow.
Wyndcliffe Court
By kind permission of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Clay.
Exceptional and unaltered garden designed by H. Avray Tipping and Sir Eric Francis in 1922. Arts and Crafts “Italianate” style. Stone summerhouse, terracing and steps with lily pond, yew hedging and topiary, sunken garden, rose garden, bowling green, lawn tennis court, walled garden and woodland.
Mounton House
Following Event 1, a rare opportunity - Helena Gerrish and Tim Stretton, Head gardener at Mounton will guide us around the recently restored gardens. The grand layout of the gardens on a plateau above a limestone gorge included a 24-pillar pergola, terraces overlooking the Severn estuary, a two storey tea house, and a remarkable rock garden. Over time the house was neglected and the gardens became overgrown, and the present owners have restored the house and commissioned the renowned garden designer, Arne Maynard, to recreate the magnificent gardens and add a new frame yard with cart shed, potting shed and glasshouse.
Bring your own picnic lunch. Drinks will be provided at both gardens.
July Visit Event 6
Cerney House Gardens, Cirencester.
By kind permission of Nicholas and Janet Angus.
A romantic garden in the Cotswolds based around an historic 18thC house. The late Lady Angus worked extensively to remodel the garden to its former Victorian beauty. The best of the formal aspects of the traditional country house garden are combined with a gloriously organic approach. Her son and his wife are determined to develop the garden as a legacy to her. Herbaceous borders are packed with old fashioned favourites and surrounded by roses and companion climbers. There is a working organic walled kitchen garden that supplies the family, and you can walk through the wild flower bank, woodlands and 40 acres of Cotswold parkland.
Visit includes afternoon refreshments.
August Visit Event 7
Holme Lacy House and Garden, Herefordshire.
Holme Lacy, now a hotel, is one of Herefordshire’s gems. Set in wonderful parkland, it was much celebrated in the Edwardian period by Gertrude Jekyll. It retains a late 17thC yew-garden with secret allees and formal beds with brilliant summer colour. The terrace where we may sit for tea still has the format of a 'battle garden' created in the early 18thC. All this is still carefully preserved and enhanced by the Warner gardeners.
Tea in the hotel is included.
September Visit Event 8
Moccas Landscape & Church, Herefordshire.
By kind permission of Francis Chester Master.
Initially a brief walk in the Little Park with its amphitheatre and spring fed pond; used in the Middle Ages for the ritual slaughter of deer. Followed by a walk in the Deer Park around the Lawn Pool - an Ice Age survivor - a visit to the famous Moccas Oak, host to a unique beetle, extinct elsewhere in England. Visit to Moccas Church – Romanesque, beautifully restored at the height of the Aesthetic Movement by George Gilbert Scott junior and with a rare water powered organ, made famous by Francis Kilvert.
Tea will be available in the Village Hall.
October Lecture Event 9
Ancient and Veteran Trees. Malcolm Meikle Memorial Lecture given by Archie Miles.
By kind permission of his family, this lecture is being given in honour of Malcolm Meikle who sadly died in April 2023 at the grand age of 93. He had been a long-standing member and committee member and we all miss his warmth, guidance and wise counsel.
Archie Miles is a professional photographer who has a passion for landscape and in particular, the remarkable world of trees.
Refreshments will be served after the lecture.
GOOD NEWS FOR OUR PARKS & GARDENS
For many years our historic parks and gardens have been poor cousins of Listed buildings with little of the same level of protection. This woefully inadequate recognition of their cultural and historic importance has slowly improved with successive levels of legislation until now the new Levelling Up and Regeneration Act has given them equal status. At last there is statutory duty to preserve and enhance Registered parks and gardens and the recognition that un-designated sites are also important.
Warwickshire Gardens Trust have indicated that they would be pleased to see members of HWGT at their events. If you are interested in joining them you can find details at Upcoming Events – Warwickshire Gardens Trust
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News in 2023
Malcolm Meikle. 3rd June 1929 – 1st April 2023
Seen here with our Chairman, Jeffrey Haworth.
Malcolm Meikle, our longstanding Gardens Trust member and stalwart committee member has sadly died at the ripe old age of 93. We will all miss him. The following words have been penned by Jeffrey Haworth.
On hearing Malcolm had died, Anne Langton (our Secretary) wrote, “Such a Grand Old Man, always interested and informative - and not afraid of lobbing the odd apple/pear/plum into the conversation.” We have appreciated his amiable insights and help since he joined the Committee 25 years ago, until he stepped down two years ago and even afterwards in phone calls. We've valued his guidance and ability to pull strings after a Worcestershire lifetime.
Malcolm was born at Wick Grange and only recently he and Mima formed a dower house nearby. He attended the remarkable Victorian choir school at St Michael's, Tenbury. He was sad when it folded and I told him about the refectory furniture, in the manner of William Burges, looking so desolate and unappreciated in the Leominster saleroom.
His father died suddenly when Malcolm was 18, so he had to stay on at Wick to help his mother run the large mixed farm.
He had a long association with Wychavon District Council, stepping down as Leader in 2004. Then Malcolm and Mima had more time for HWGT and have been regulars at our visits and lectures and generally conspicuous at our gatherings. They have been so hospitable at Wick, with several group visits there that we remember.
Several of us recall Malcolm being intrigued at his first Committee meeting by one or two of our more eccentric colleagues, John St Bodfan Gruffydd in particular, the decidedly Welsh and opinionated former President of the Landscape Institute (the Committee has never lacked spark). Malcolm was certainly a backbone of HWGT, if an organisation such as ours can have several. Many of us have lost a good friend.
For a quarter century Malcolm had been intrigued by the saga of the Pershore organ, with its novel twists and turns. He was thrilled when at last a new pipe organ was commissioned and entertained that it is Italian and placed uniquely high up near the vaults in the triforium. Delayed by Covid and Brexit, it was given its first major airing at Malcolm's memorial service, bringing the saga as well as his life to a close.