WITH A FLOURISH The Newt in Somerset launches a brand new festival celebrating ‘the story of gardening’ Words by Nick Woodhouse
H
ot on the horticultural heels of The Newt in Somerset’s fouryear run as headline sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, it is hosting its inaugural Great Garden Show. Starting on 9 May, the nine-day curated programme will feature talks, installations, interactive workshops and plant sales. During its tenure as headline sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show from 2022 to 2025, the partnership focused on the theme of ‘Gardening for Good’, with The Newt supporting the RHS’s ongoing charitable work in scientific research and community programmes. It’s this core spirit that The Newt will now carry on in Somerset, with one of the main pillars of the programme being to inspire all ages, from budding young horticulturalists to expert industry panellists, with learning, craft, cultivation and food always at its heart. The open weekend in Bruton will see a series of celebrations for all the family, with a promise of music, dancing and more – all to the backdrop of The Newt’s gardens in their full springtime bloom. Weekdays will see The Newt team deep dive into this year’s theme, ‘The Story of Gardening’, examining regenerative agriculture, climate-resilient growing and long-term sustainability, with gardeners, growers and chefs all sharing their expertise. The event’s hosts are also keen to cultivate the next generation of horticulturists, with students and schools invited to join talks and tours with its own expert gardeners. Young visitors will be encouraged to make their first foray into the world of gardening through special family-friendly sessions running throughout the show. These will include a new spring trail weaving across the estate, educational activities in the Beezantium, flower crown making, and a ‘Design a
Planter’ workshop. The gardens themselves have been shaped over the last two centuries by successive garden enthusiasts, from Victorian horticulturist Margaret Hobhouse to garden designer, consultant, historian, and author Penelope Hobhouse, who married into the Hobhouse family, and gave Margaret’s vision a new lease of life in the late twentieth century. The latest incarnation of the garden is the vision of Italo-French architect Patrice Taravella, a strong believer in the need for a garden to be both beautiful and useful. Completed in 2014, at the garden’s core sits the parabola, a walled garden and home to a collection of more than 600 dessert apple trees. These are trained in all manner of forms and have recently been given National Collection status, with varieties planted out by county of origin. From the parabola, visitors are invited to a wealth of treats that combine the ornamental with the productive, from the grand potager-style kitchen garden to the four seasons garden; a formal space designed to hold interest throughout the year, through cherry blossom to scented roses, topiary and autumn leaves, to spring bulbs and summer climbers. Inquisitive visitors are invited to further explore the 3,000-acre estate. Its ancient, diverse woodland provides logs, leaves and berries for the estate’s restaurants, and habitats for wildlife too. And as guests make their way through the estate, they are also encouraged to learn of its many stories - of its past, its present and its future. Inspired by the unearthing of a settlement on the estate, Villa Ventorum is The Newt’s reimagining of a Romano-British villa, one accompanied by an innovative and educational archaeological museum. A short walk away sits The Story of Gardening, an interactive space that explores the history of gardening and the human
“With gardeners, growers and chefs all sharing their expertise”
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impulse to shape beauty from the ground up, and will also play host to a number of events and drop-in sessions throughout the show. Members to The Newt enjoy free entry to several prominent national and international gardens, including Kew Gardens, Wakehurst, Great Dixter, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Winterthur in the USA and The Newt’s sister garden, Babylonstoren in South Africa. The event will also see Harry Baldwin, The Newt’s head gardener, hosting a breakfast alongside gardeners from those very partner gardens. In line with The Newt’s ethos, seasonal, farm-fresh produce will sit at the heart of the show, with special menus and popups celebrating such produce. Alongside barbecues in the gardens, pre-orderable picnics will also be on hand, featuring strawberries and cream and freshly-shucked oysters. Fermentation pioneer Sandor Katz will also host a dinner in the Garden Café, while sister farm Babylonstoren will present its rosé wine at a special lunch in the Cottage Garden. The show will close on the Sunday of the second weekend, when the team will be conducting an estate-wide ‘bio-blitz’. Focusing on the diversity of the estate’s flora and fauna, they will share ideas on creating eco-friendly gardens, show camera-trap screenings of wildlife spotted across the estate, and invite everyone to take part in wildlife counts, from butterfly spotting to insect identification sweeps in the meadows. Here’s wishing the inaugural event every success – hopefully the first of many annual shows to be held at this inspiring Somerset destination. For more: www.thenewtinsomerset.com Nick Woodhouse is the codirector of interior and garden design company Woodhouse and Law at 4 George’s Place, Bathwick Hill, Bath; www.woodhouseandlaw.co.uk