20 January 2012 - The New Year Begins …
There is excitement at Cerney Gardens for the new season. With the unseasonal mild temperatures,
plants are declaring themselves early. The snowdrops are already bursting through and are looking
really good. The helibores are also on the way as well as the aconites-which are in full flower. We
are opening the garden early this year on Tuesday 31st January so you can enjoy them all at their
best. Remember if you love our plants as much as we do there are plenty spare for sale- this year
we are expanding our plant sales.
Fran, Sylvia, James and all the staff have not been in hibernation. They have all been busy getting
things ready and tidying the debris from the high winds. Who knows what the weather will bring next!
Isabel is dusting off the cakes tins- forget New Years resolutions the carrot and chocolate cake
are on their way.
Be sure to look out for our fantastic article in the March edition of The English Garden- the photos
really remind us of how good our tulip festival was last year. We are already taking lots of group
bookings for this year so we think we are going to be busy.
So much so, we are looking for more help, both in the flower and kitchen garden. So if you are interested
or know anyone that shares our passion for gardening let us know.
We are hoping the bees have survived the winter and will reward us with more of their delicious
honey - we promise that this year we will share it. Look out for it on sale in the Bothy.
When visiting the garden, please feel free to welcome our two new males in the garden- the new cockerels!
They caused discontent in the village on Christmas morning by being noisy and waking the neighbours,
and were forced to seek emergency refuge narrowly avoiding potential early demise!
The ladies have welcomed them and we hope if we keep them happy they will repay us with lots of eggs.
George the pig is now allowed to help Fran with the garden. He is proving quite an accomplished
gardener but the dogs are very jealous of him ….
15 Sept 2011 - Charity Autumn Fair, Sat 17th Sept
We're delighted to be hosting a Charity Autumn Fair at Cerney House this Saturday 10-5pm (17/9/11).
Adults are £2 (children free) in aid of the Multiple Scierosis Society and Sue Ryder. Please see the
Charity Autumn Fair flyer (~1.4MB) for details of attractions.
We look forward to hopefully meeting you!
15 July 2011 - Cerney Pyramid wins Best Goat's Cheese at Three Counties Show
Cerney Cheese is delighted to have won first prize in the "Cheese made from goats milk" class at the Three Counties Show, with our Cerney Pyramid.
Our Cerney Pepper also came third (after Daylesford Organic's entry), meaning we won 2 of the top 3 positions!
22 May 2011 - The Ornamental Poppies are Here!
It's been a really busy time with lots of lovely visitors.
Come and see our big beautiful Honor poppy named after the friend that gave it to us. This is Cerney's
special poppy, an impressive flower with its huge red head that towers in the long border. We also
have Patty's Plum, Indian Chief and Raspberry Ruffles.
The irises and early roses are coming, including Banksia and Cooper's Burmese. The tulip
tree is out in flower.
The NGS day went really well in spite of the weather. Everyone loved the garden, spirits were
high and the dogs loved it! The Roman snails are out in force look out for them- but please be
careful not to step on them.
We have extended our tea shop. You can now enjoy your coffee and homemade-cake under one of the
new gazebos. The blue and great tits have found it too and can be seen nestled in the Bothy wall
caring for their babies.
The vegetable garden has produced a great crop of asparagus. The potatoes, onions and cabbages
are fantastic too. The fruit looks promising. The perfect conditions of a cold winter and no late
frosts have produced a bumper crop. The herb garden has been revived and the labels renewed.
Fran and Spike and all the dogs are busily making the Garden House their home. Sylvia continues
the arduous process of correctly identifying and labelling the plants while James is busy tending
the lawns. In the last few days he has had a bit of a panic as the lawnmower died on him. He is
waiting anxiously for its return …
16 April 2011 - Tulips are here!
Sorry for the big gap in the diary! Barbara and Angus have moved to France and are creating their
own English garden to amaze the French. The old team of James, Sylvia, Gill and Fran are still working
hard. We have two new recruits Carla and Zoe who are settling in nicely.
The snowdrops were stunning surprisingly so after the cold winter. Sorry if you missed it! The
hellebores were amazing too and we think they stole centre stage from the snowdrops. We are planning
to make them an even bigger feature next year with a 'Hellebore Festival' so watch this space.
The Tulip Fest is well under way. There is a riot of colour in the garden. We have Blueberry and
Raspberry Ripple, Parrot and Fringe tulips, and our gorgeous Lily Flowered varieties, particularly
Ballade which is my personal favourite. Come and see if you can name any more. The iris and peonies
are on their way and the very first rose is in flower on the house wall. And we shouldn't forget
the primroses which have surprised us all - they are fantastic.
The vegetable garden is looking smart. We have planted the potatoes Charlotte, Sutton Foremost and
Pink Fir Apple and the vegetable seeds are all now appearing. We have our first crop of asparagus.
Our award-winning Cerney Goat Cheese is now on sale in the garden.
Most Sunday afternoon the potters are working in the pottery. So don't forget to serve yourself
a tea or coffee and a delicious home-baked cake and browse round the pottery and paintings for sale.
You are very welcome to bring a picnic and use our picnic tables.
You may be greeted by a welcoming four-legged trio consisting of Dora (the sensible one), Poppy (the
glamorous French tart) and Lily (the naughty terrier). You may also be guided round the garden by
Pansy - our little tortoiseshell.
Introduce yourself to the two Kune-Kunes George and Charlie who are definitely never going to be
on the menu. Our new project is the pond in the bottom of the front garden. Make sure you visit this
part of the garden and see the new fish.
17 March 2010 - Come see the snowdrops at their peak!
The snowdrops are at their absolute peak at the moment, we'd love it you could make it to see us this weekend before they pass!
04 February 2010 - Snow, Snowdrops and Hellebores
The snow has left us for now and we are taking advantage and tidying up as much as we can. I love this time of year as I wait excitedly for every emerging snowdrop.
There is always a worry that a special may fail to appear but so far we are looking good. As I look up through the woodland from my window I can see the spreading carpet taking on more white each day and areas that we divided last year are rewarding us with healthy white heads, stoically refusing to be bent by our very heavy snow fall.
The snow was lovely and breathtakingly beautiful for a while but lost its charm after a week when its inconvenience became more pressing. Even the children tired of snowmen and slides and were quite happy to return to school when it cleared.
Both the snowdrops and the hellebores are oblivious to the white stuff. It is just the gardeners that complain! I think that these two stars will synchronise beautifully this year and already the purple and white combinations look good enough to eat.
The usual early arrivals were on queue. Three ships, Faringdon Double, Peter Gatehouse, Colossus and Earliest of all began before Christmas and cheered us in the relentless demands of the festive season. But now the really absorbing time has started as the specials begin to reveal themselves.
Several of the favourites John Gray, Limetree, Lyn and the sandersii group are lovely in their early groups and I can see promising shoots on nearly everything else. 
I am really looking forward to Margaret Biddulph and Rosemary Burnham and of course 'Cerney' which is showing several shoots. I have a wish list this year for Yaffle, Vera Trum, Mr Blobby and Warley Longbow. Lets hope!
We have had two sad losses so far this year. Huggy my brother's huge, soppy Newfoundland left us last week and it will be an age before we stop stepping over her next to the Aga. And one of our ancient Beech trees fell and narrowly missed our courtyard wall. It really hurts when you loose a tree that has been around for around 250 years. I am looking at the other two companions with an anxious eye.
It may be registering 4 degrees but the sun is shining and the snowdrops are looking even more inviting and I really must go back out and tidy a little more.
05 June 2009 - Glorious weather, Goodbye Tom Cat
The weather is glorious and so hot that I have come in for a cool interlude before braving the greenhouse work that I have to do. England really is a green and pleasant land once the sun shines. However, some fussy plants are already showing signs of wilt and like farmers, we gardeners are never satisfied with current conditions! If it could arrange to rain overnight and back to summer loveliness in the day we would be more than happy.
The garden is filling with gorgeous colour and scents and every day brings more layers of flowers. The clematis are tumbling through the roses, which are opening in front of our eyes, and the oriental poppies are brazen in their colours but good enough to eat. Patty's plum and Honor remain my favourites but how wonderful is the black and white 'choir boy' and the pretty pink 'Prince Eugen'. I am sure that you could never wear the bright colours together but nature seems to get it right.
The tulips were a great success this year with the season apparently longer than before- just like the snowdrops that seemed to go on and on. Unfortunately, my subtle plan of pale mauve and pink in the knot garden was shattered by some mis-labelled bright yellow tulips that shocked the reverie from any observer. Never mind some enjoyed the gaiety of them all.
We have just finished digging up the tulips from the main areas and will manure ready for a changed design next year. These we will dry off and replant in the autumn if the mice leave us any. Any old leaves from bulbs in other borders have soon been covered by rapidly growing perennials.
Hardy geraniums are looking particularly good this year although we may need to cut them back earlier this time if the heat stays with us. They will soon come back to flower again at the end of the summer. We hope that these favourites will do well in France although since we have no soil to speak of yet we will have to be busy building up beds in our grand design before we can get to the exciting part of trying our selections of 'must have'.
We have made great progress at Saby and thanks to a lovely local plumbing firm are now fitted with bathrooms and radiators – no boiler yet as we cannot afford it but hot water and the place to bathe makes staying there in the summer a real proposition.
We have to sand the parquet flooring in the main room and that should be the end of really dirty jobs in this part of the house. Cannot wait to unpack boxes that have been over there for a year and more. We have some firm ideas for the outline of the garden but these will only be realised with a lot of wall and hedge work and tree planting. So much for a restful holiday!
Still in the meantime we have our best time in the garden to look forward to. The roses have started with fantastic displays from 'Banksia' both the single and double have been dripping with blooms and judging by the buds others are determined not to be outshone.
Nature is kind with its generous distribution of seeds. The aquilegia are stunning and so varied and the foxgloves and poppies are marching through the borders positioned far better than if I had planted them. We have been blessed with some of the many painted lady butterflies that have been blown our way and also the roman snails are plentiful and heading for Angus' French beans!
A lovely lady called Dorothy Pavey has been painting our garden and has an exhibition at Lower Slaughter Village Hall between 4th and 9th June. We are off to see her on Thursday. How exciting to see us on canvas.
We also have another charming lady called Caroline Sheldrick coming to meet our visitors in the herb garden where she will offer herbal teas and advice on medicinal plants on Wednesday 24th June. She is very well qualified and has a passion for her subject and will even have some plants for sale. Let us hope for sun and plenty of enthusiasts.
On a final sad note my wonderful cat Tom died quietly in his sleep after a life of affection and chocolate cake. I miss him every day but thanks to Kay I have a lovely blown up photograph of him in my bedroom. He loved the garden and enjoyed showing visitors round. He was particularly fond of those who shared their tea with him. Apologies to those who did not welcome his attentions but it was his garden after all!
02 April 2009 - Goodbye snowdrops, hello everything else!
Well good bye snowdrops and hello just about everything else. It has been a wonderful year for snowdrops and we have had some lovely enthusiastic visitors.
I have had some favourite varieties. Three Ships that came before Christmas and stayed for 5 weeks, Comet that is such a healthy, huge addition, Margaret Biddulph that had to stay in a pot so that she could join us for dinner and Spindlestone Surprise that has to be the most satisfactory yellow. Merlin and George Elwes remain those that I could not do without and now that our display of Galatea has spread I can see its charm in a breeze.
I have been delighted to see the return of some I felt sure that I had lost. Deerslot and Virescens did nothing last year but have reappeared looking better and more. We have spent a couple of weeks making more drifts of named and ordinary nivalis and I cannot wait for next year!
Our new woodland walk has been a real improvement to that very scruffy and impenetrable part of the garden and many of the seedling hellebores we planted last year have flowered. In fact, along with snowdrops this has been a great year for hellebores as well. Let us hope that the tulips perform as well.
We are looking forward to our tulip festival but find it difficult to predict the best time. Purissima and Flaming Purissima are already out and looking fabulous against the top wall but most are only just showing flower shape and should make the end of April the best time. The garden is looking so pretty now with primula, pulmonaria and other early spring bulbs.
I realise how much I love the intense colours of Spring. The vibrant yellows of daffodil spreads and the rather vulgar, but warming, yellow of forsythia are set off by the blue of chinodoxa and scillas. We have banks of primroses taking over areas that once hosted snowdrops and they are backed by walls of hellebores.
Everywhere shoots are emerging and I only hope that we do not have too many repeats of the -3° on Monday night. Angus has planted his potatoes and broad beans and we have plugs of parsnips, carrots and onions ready to go in once the temperature starts to go up. My first tray of lettuce has been got at by an evil slug in the greenhouse and the parsley is looking rather erratically sown but the year is off to a good start and we are looking forward to the next seasons.
We spent a few weeks in France earlier in the year and have made great strides in turning the building site into a home. Amy has 4 walls and we now have wallpaper. That combined with working bathrooms makes the possibility of staying there in the summer quite likely. We have plans for the vegetable garden and hope to start the outline walls that will extend the main park this summer.
We are going back in a few weeks to see our orchids for the first time and indeed our rampant wisteria only glimpsed in photographs. The weather is in the 20s and no doubt the grass will be high and the hedges in need of a haircut but we have no problem with the challenge that our 'other' garden gives us just hope the knees and back are up to it!
Whilst we were away an energetic team moved in and reformed our pond. It has long been neglected and also sadly had no water in it. Now we have a beautiful scene under the biggest trees of the estate ready for new plantings. The whole exercise is very exciting and we hope nature will help us to develop this latest garden for visitors to enjoy.
Certainly the first to arrive seemed to appreciate the setting. Mr and Mrs Duck came flying in as the machines moved out!
05 February 2009 - Snow and snowdrops
Since we are covered with snow and its freezing cold I think this is a good time to sit in the warm and write this! We spent a lovely and productive time in France. We have solved a plumber problem and have two new bathrooms to show for it and we learnt more or less to build a garden wall in the local style.
Suddenly we are able to see a shape to parts of the garden. We are clearing an area for vegetables that will be protected from the local boar by a picket fence on three sides and our new wall on the other. In the absence of any significant topsoil we are going to make raised beds with beams from the house and barn. We hope to persuade a local farmer to keep us topped up with manure and once I have found the french for topsoil we will try to buy some in.
Anything that can be composted will be added over time. Tree planting is high on the priority list and this will involve digging huge holes with a pickaxe that we fill with compost before planting. Everything we do will have to be backed up by watering hoses that our wells can hopefully supply. Most exciting was the appearance of our snowdrops. They were just showing patches as we left.
Not to worry as we returned to even greater patches of snowdrops here at Cerney Gardens. Galanthus ‘Three Ships’ came into flower before Christmas and looks vibrant, even now. Many of my specials are showing but have a couple of weeks before they are fully out. Although Limetree, Lynn and Colossus are looking lovely, even in the snow. There are signs of spring all over the garden – A few daffodils, heads of Hellebores and swelling buds.
But for now it is the snowdrop that rules. I used to dread this time of year until I discovered these white bells. Now it truly is as exciting as it gets as I wait to see old friends and hopefully to discover more. We have decided to sell some of the plants this year. That is if I can bear to let them go.
We have been working on our woodland walk and feel rather pleased with the results.
It is now possible to walk right through the back woods and we have planted more snowdrops and hellebores on the way. In time we will clear the areas of unwanted saplings, ivy and nettles and build up displays of woodland plantings.
For the moment we have a least one appreciative visitor – Skippy, our neighbours llama. He adores the ivy and brambles and has helped to tidy up difficult corners. We just hope he does not discover our roses.
On a final and rather sad note our wonderful peacock, Oscar, died recently. He had so much character and added enormously to our garden. He will be missed by many.
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