Shakespeare’s Gardens

A multi-stemmed mock orange (Philadelpus coronarius) stands in front of Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. The large white rose on the left is Rosa ‘Rambling Rector’ William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and after finding fame in London, returned to his home town in later years. The five gardens at Stratford-uponUpon represent the different phases in Shakespeare’s life.

Now cared for by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the gardens are continually evolving to reflect the ongoing knowledge of his life.

THE GARDEN TODAY

Visitors today enter the 5 hectare/12 acre garden through a walkway of sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus), trained up a framework of hazel twigs, cut from the garden. These heritage varieties change each year but always include the ones that arrived in Britain in the seventeenth century (‘Cupani’ and ‘Matucana’) and those with Shakespearian connections (such as whiteflowered ‘Romeo’ and ‘Juliet’). There is also salmon-pink ‘Miss Willmott’, named in 1906 for Ellen Willmott, the gardener who laid out gardens around the house.

The three cottage beds devised by Ellen Willmott are still very much as they have always been. Plants are divided and redistributed, but many are the original varieties that she introduced, including columbine (Aquilegia), lungwort (Pulmonaria), delphinium, cranesbill (Geranium), gentian, stachys, eucanthemum, oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) and primula. The style is relaxed, but, as with all large herbaceous borders, the gardeners at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage are always managing the growth, making sure that one species or cultivar does not threaten to spoil the cottage-style mixed planting.

Beyond the flower gardens, a willow arch leads into the oak plantation – an area of woodland which provides a useful shelter belt for the garden. Originally, the woodland was planted with ‘nurse’ trees (here, pines) that help the trunks of the oaks to grow Shakespeare’s Gardens revised edition by Jackie Bennett published by Quarto Publishing. Photographs by Andrew Lawson

upwards and dead straight. The pines have now done their job, and fifty of them will be taken out over the next few years, allowing the garden team to augment the woodland understorey with shade-loving shrubs and put in a full range of woodland plants. Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) colonies have already been established and are increasing.

A recurring feature at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is the willow (Salix) – or osier – work, to be seen in screens, fences, tunnels, arbours and the crescentmoon sculpture by Tom Hare. The gardening team

spend approximately 200 hours each year renewing the willow work in the garden. Osiers are cropped from the SBT’s own willow (Salix viminalis) beds each year to provide material for the arbours and screens. These structures are maintained and renewed three times a year. When the stems first come into leaf in spring, the arbours and fences are inspected for any parts that have not greened up and might be dead. If so, new stems are cut and woven in to fill in the gaps. Then in May or June, any unruly growth is trimmed back to make sure visitors can still get inside the tunnels and arbours. In February, when the stems are dormant, the main weaving is done, firmly planting the willow wands in the earth, to fill out the structures.

Close to the cottage, the two vegetable beds are resown and planted every year with a variety of interesting salad and vegetable varieties including lovage (Levisticum officinale), corn salad (Valerianella locusta), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus). ‘Green Globe’ artichokes are always a feature and a semi-permanent bed of blackcurrant Wellington’ gives a good crop of fruit.

Beyond the cottage itself is the area known as the Dell, an area of old fruit trees and the thatched cabin suggested by Ellen Willmott. It has bulbs in early spring, but is usually kept closely mown. Beyond are two orchards managed under the Stewardship Scheme.7 The first and older one is being controlled with a ‘grazing’ regime, whereby mowers cut the grass every three weeks to a height of 5 cm/2 inches to mimic the action of livestock. All the cuttings are taken away and composted, to prevent the build-up of high nutrients. In the second orchard, which is divided from the first orchard by an old ditch and hedge where primroses and cowslips grow in the spring, the grass is allowed to grow longer, before it is scythed down in July and cleared away – the traditional management routine of a hay meadow. In the autumn, the fruit is gathered by a local, not-for-profit initiative, and the fruits are given away to local school groups.8 The orchards include plums, apples, medlar and pear trees and a healthy crop of mistletoe (Viscum album).