Georgina Yates garden supervisor at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens near Doncaster, with Madeira maroon bean seeds. Picture: Tony Johnson
The gardens at Brodsworth, restored to their Victorian splendour, are home to a collection of grand gardens in miniature, with seasonal plantings and displays.
English Heritage, which took on the country estate in 1990, has teamed up with horticultural charity Garden Organic to help grow rare seed varieties in some of its historic gardens.
The charity, which over 40 years has ‘saved’ hundreds of rare vegetables from extinction, has donated a number of heirloom varieties to selected properties, with some gardeners signing up to become ‘guardians’, championing local varieties to return them to the library for future generations to enjoy.
Gardeners are being invited to a Northumberland seed swap.
Wednesday, 28th April 2021, 1:51 pm
For National Gardening Week, English Heritage gardeners are inviting members of the public to a seed swap on May 1-2.
Visitors to Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens, near Morpeth, are encouraged to bring their own seeds along to exchange for rare varieties which have been donated by Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library. These include an array of heritage seeds like the Dwarf French Bean and the ‘Avon Early’ Beetroot.
Tickets need to be booked in advance on its website.
Belsay Hall.
Last modified on Fri 16 Apr 2021 07.02 EDT
You choose the plants online but before you’ve even decided where to plant them, a second email arrives: “Unfortunately, there has been a delay with the dispatch of your order. I am very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.”
It’s been a familiar story over the past few years from keen gardeners ordering plants and seeds – and a source of great frustration for those eager to get on with their planting.
Two years ago, Guardian Money featured a complaint about Thompson & Morgan failing to deliver a reader’s plants as promised. At the time, the company blamed the problems on a new IT system.