Wednesday’s trip to Sheffield Botanical Gardens seems to have been enjoyed by all. We started with coffee and biscuits in a portacabin-type building, before the garden tour.
Our guide was Sue Kohler a very impressive lady who as Chair of the Friends of the Gardens (with others) has directed her energy and intellect to the restoration of the gardens. They also have a very impressive team of volunteer gardeners. The gardens were established in 1834 by private subscription, but by the late twentieth century had become very overgrown and neglected. However the results of a £5 million Heritage Lottery Grant and 25% locally raised matched funding are now bearing fruit. The disgarded needles and strange goings on in the bushes are now a thing of the past, and the 18 acre gardens are well worth a visit for both the general and the botanic interest. We saw the rhododendrons and azaleas at their height, but already a number of people on the trip are planning a return visit in late June when the roses should be out.
The gardens are one of the finest examples in Britain of a ‘gardenesque’ landscape, but for me the glass houses are now one of the most impressive features. However for many, as the replanting continues, the star attraction must be the plants.
Lunch in the Curator’s House restaurant was very good, though it got a bit busy, because the gardens are well used by Sheffield folk and part of the restaurant was cordoned off for a private party. All in all it is worth making the journey to Sheffield just to see the gardens.
The gardens house two national collections, Weigelas (pictured above) and Diervillas. The Weigela collection had to be moved and new shrubs grown from cuttings several years ago because of honey fungus, but it is now beginning to again create a most impressive display.
The Bear Pit, which is older than the gardens, may have been originally built for bear bating. In the nineteenth century it was used to house bears as a zoo-type attraction. Now after 130 or so years it again houses a bear.
On the return journey we stopped at Calver Sough where we had a choice of visiting the garden centre there, Fir Croft Alpine Pant Centre, a camping fair or a factory shoe shop.
Photos taken by Peter Trewhitt
PARWICH.ORG 
Anyone from the trip who wants me to email them copies of these or other photographs taken on the day give me a ring on 287.
Love this post. Amy Patricia Haddon got married here nearly 9 years ago. We all walked to a nearby tapas bar for the rest of the proceedings