Recent trips have included Highgrove, the gardens and grottoes of Dewstow and the Blaise Castle Estate.

A Tour of the Bath House, Crew’s Hole
and Troopers Hill Local Nature Reserve
Saturday 31st May, 2pm

Winner of a Green Flag award for excellence in green space management, this less frequented corner of east Bristol is a quiet paradise of wildlife and a graveyard of industrial relics. The tall chimneys and deep gullies tell their own stories of copper smelting and mining but now Troopers Hill is a haven of nature conservation. Each season has its delights and at the end of May there will be busy mining bees, common blue and marbled white butterflies, long-tailed tits, buzzards and tawny owls. Flora include mouse-eared hawkweed, bristly haircap moss, and notably yellow broom cover this undulating site, pitted by the working of disused quarries. We will also visit the so-called Bath House at Crew’s Hole at the south-west corner of Troopers Hill. It has a dried-up pool but far too shallow, at 67cm deep, to do much more than paddle in. With its multi-faceted façade, made of a variety of materials, it looks like something out of William Reeve’s copper and zinc smelting works across the River Avon in Brislington, but there is no proof.

Or was it a feature of one of the many detached pleasure gardens that were scattered along the Avon from the 17th century onwards? This seems unlikely, considering the smoke and smell coming from the nearby industries. The ‘Bath House’ remains a mystery! All will be explained over two hours by our able guides Susan & Rob Acton-Campbell, leaders of the Friends of Troopers Hill, who care assiduously for this site now owned by Bristol City Council.

For further information on the history and geology of the hill, please
go to www.troopers-hill.org.uk

Due to the steep slopes and uneven paths, this excursion is not recommended for individuals with serious mobility difficulties.
£5 for members, £6.50 for non-members.
Please make your reservation by 17th May

A Tour of Sydney Gardens with Kirsten Elliott
Sunday 20th July, 2.30pm

After more than 200 years Sydney Gardens remains one of Bath’s most intriguing pleasure grounds, despite having suffered numerous slights and losses: first a canal and then a railway were driven through its grounds; the demolition of the two dining wings of the house which would eventually become the Holburne Museum; and the obliteration of several features including a mock castle, a labyrinth and a grotto. But an awful lot remains!

The late AGT member Brenda Snaddon, who lived next to the gardens, tells the whole story in The Last Promenade (Millstream Books 2000) and AGT Chairman Jonathan Holt gives a brief account in Somerset Follies (Akeman Press 2007), but there’s always another version of events: Renowned Bath guide, historian and publisher Kirsten Elliott whose numerous publications include her beautifully illustrated (by photographer Neill Menneer) masterwork Bath (Frances Lincoln 2004) has trod every inch of this once troubled and always fascinating turf, which she describes as a “sophisticated affair... designed to surprise and delight.” Kirsten has several theories about what happened and when, waiting to be challenged by astute AGT members, and will no doubt give her view on the imminent extension to the Holburne Museum which will alter the character of the gardens forever.

Bound to be a tour that will captivate, enthral and foster debate for all of its ninety minutes. £5 members, £7 non-members. Please book by by Saturday 5th July.

Annual General Meeting
Emmaus House, Clifton Hill, Bristol
Saturday 27th September
Tour at 2.00pm followed by tea. AGM at 3.30pm

This year we are experimenting with holding our AGM in September owing to competition from other events in July. We will be visiting a former convent and current haven of tranquillity, Emmaus House. It has won the ‘Best Holistic Garden’ and the ‘Best Innovative Garden’ in the Bristol in Bloom competition, and is gardened by Steve Paul who will lead the tour of his creation.

Covering approximately one-and-a-half acres, the gardens consist of several distinct areas including a Victorian walled kitchen garden, a formal herb garden, a courtyard garden with original Victorian cobblestones and stone watercourse, and a tranquil Zen garden boasting water and bamboo features. A small area of ground has also been transformed into a woodland walk. The robinia and creepers will look resplendent in early autumn.

Note that disabled access is difficult due to the nature of the gardens’ layout.

Admission to the AGM is free but there is a charge for the tour of the garden, including tea & cake: £7.50 for members, £8.50 for non-members. Please book by by Saturday 6th September.

Bristol University Botanic Garden
Now open on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays 10.00am to 4.30pm until Sunday 2nd November. Additional Saturday opening dates from the 5th July to 30th August inclusive.

A new Friends’ Membership fee structure means members have unlimited free access to the Garden on open days, and will be able to bring a non-Friend into the Garden free on 18th and 25th May.

The entrance fee for others is £3.50 for adults and £1.00 for school aged children.

Plant Sales
Two of our neighbouring County Gardens Trusts are holding plant sales in historic gardens this summer.

Cotswold Farm, near Cirencester, described in our last Annual Review, will be open on 14 & 15 June, 11am - 5pm, (see Yellow Book) and in addition Gloucestershire Gardens and Landscape Trust will be holding a plant sale. There will be other activities and refreshments. Admission for adults: £4.

Barford Park, Enmore, Somerset , originally created by a veteran of the Crimean War, was neglected for over 25 years after his death in the 1930s. On advice from Dame Sylvia Crowe and with planting planning from Mr Roy Cheek of Cannington College the gardens have been restored and well maintained. They include a Walled garden, Woodland and Water gardens and herbaceous borders. There are several openings a year (see Yellow Book) but Somerset Gardens Trust are holding a special plant sale on Sunday 25 May, 2-5pm. This has obviously been a successful venture in the past, with interesting plants available. Refreshments. Admission for adults: £3.

Institute for Garden and Landscape History

Thomas Wright and Halswell Study Day
Wednesday 14th May
at Halswell House, Somerset
£30.00. E-mail If you wish to contact the Institute the contact is Professor Tim Mowl, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol,
43 Woodland Road, Bristol or e-mail.

‘Dig it up and throw it away’
A lecture by Helen Dillon
Thursday 18th September
Joint Lecture of the Friends of the University Botanic Garden with the Royal Horticultural Society. The lecture will be preceded by a tour of the Botanic garden. Further details from the Botanic Garden: 0117 3314912

Under the auspices of Dorset Gardens Trust, visits will include Clifton Maybank, Duntish Court, Harvard Farm, Leweston Manor, Mapperton, Parnham, the Shell House at Sherborne, and Sherborne ‘New’ Castle (all mentioned in Prof. Tim Mowl’s Historic Gardens of Dorset). Further details from www.dorsetgardenstrust.co.uk
or Judy Tyke 01935 872269 or e-mail.

The Association of Gardens Trusts - Forthcoming events
London Office: 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
See their website for more details, e-mail