Cheshire treats: the gardens at Arley

Exploring the footpaths and lanes around Arley has been one of my regular walking circuits this year – it’s about 14 kilometres from where I’m living so a good workout for my legs! – but yesterday was the first time I’d ventured inside the gates.

Arley Hall is home to the Viscount and Viscountess Ashbrook, and his family, the Egerton-Warburtons, have lived there for over 500 years. Each generation has made its mark on the land, and Arley’s magnificent gardens are the product of 250 years of imagination, experimentation and creativity by successive family members.

In 2015 the gardens have been opened to the public from March onwards, earlier than is usual and perhaps a little too early this year, as very few of the spring bulbs and blossoms were in flower on this early March day. Still, this is a garden with lovely bones – magnificent trees, a walled garden, elegant topiary, a series of well-defined garden rooms that leads you through from one wonderful vista to the next – and it is much easier to admire and enjoy these structural features without the eye constantly being diverted by the prettiness of colourful flowers. This is truly a garden to be enjoyed in all seasons. Take a walk with me …

The entry road is a statement in itself, flanked initially by woodland, then opening out on to large horse-studded paddocks.

The entrance is enticing – look at those trees, the rich warm bricks, the mid-19th-century archway through the old barn, the mid-18th-century clock and that weathervane. I’m hooked already!

Having recently blogged about lime avenues, I was amazed by this most unusual pleached-lime example, planted in 1856. Apparently, the limes are clipped annually to maintain their juvenile state, so they never produce flowers or fruit or grow to the size of mature lime trees.

The Grade I-listed Cruck Barn (‘cruck’ is the name of those huge oak beams running down each side) dates from around 1470 and was originally used to store corn sheaves prior to threshing. The herringbone brick floor is not original, having been laid in 1976 to a design by Elizabeth, Viscountess Ashbrook.

My exploration of the gardens began in The Grove, an informal garden in a woodland setting, studded with lovely pieces of sculpture, many not-yet-flowering shrubs, an exotic arboretum, and a large assortment of rhododenrons and azaleas. I did find some flowers to appreciate.

Back to the formal gardens - one of the views from the flower fountain, by Tom Leaper, which sits at the centre of the Walled Garden.

The impressive Ilex Avenue, with its seven pairs of holm oaks that have been pruned to the shape of cylinders.

The Fish Garden, a sunken garden with a small central pond, was created in 1930 on the former bowling green. I love the rounded shapes of the topiary bushes.

Another view of the Quercus Ilex Avenue. Those cylinders are about 30 feet tall and were planted by the present Viscount’s great-great-grandfather Rowland Egerton-Warburton in the 1830s.

One of my favourite things in the garden was the Tea Cottage, a tiny half-timbered building dating from the eighteenth century, that was once used for garden tea parties. Inside, you could almost hear the laughter of children past.

Though spring has not yet really sprung at Arley, there were some flowers, like this prolific-blooming polyanthus and a little touch of New Zealand lighting up one of the glasshouses, the kowhai.

A view along the famed double herbaceous border, towards the Alcove, a beautiful enclosed garden seat that acts as a focal point at one end. This border dates from 1846 and is thought to be the earliest to be planted in England. I particularly liked the topiary divides between the beds – more striking sculptural elements.

Looking back towards Arley Hall along the Furlong Drive, a 200-metre walk that was added to the gardens in 1856.

Arley Hall is only open to the public on Tuesdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. At other times, it can be hired for private functions and is a favourite wedding location for the well-heeled. The vintage wedding car looked perfectly placed when I visited, liked a scene from history.

One last little gem I found tucked away by the toilets. Tick, tock, the bench sat by the clock!

And what better way to finish a perfectly magical day than to have Mother Nature put on one of her spectacular cloud displays as I slowly wended my way homewards.

It’s a sign: England, part two

When out for one of my countryside rambles recently, the realisation that I was just a tad lost finally dawned on me when I saw this sign on a side road.

Low-flying aircraft

As far as I was aware, I shouldn’t have been anywhere near an airport. Turns out I wasn’t too far from a rather large, now abandoned airfield, former Royal Naval Air Station Stretton or HMS Blackcap. According to the Forgotten Airfields website it was built as a Royal Air Force night fighter station to protect Manchester and Liverpool from Luftwaffe raids during the Second World War but transferred to Admiralty control when the Germans stopped bombing British cities. The Navy had 41 Fleet Air Arm Squadrons based at Blackcap for varying periods, flying regular missions to and from aircraft carriers based in the Irish Sea.

Construction of the M56 motorway in 1971 went right through the site, half of which is now an industrial area but the south side is still very obvious in this aerial photo. In recent years, apparently, Shell used the airfield to test engine oil but it seems currently to be languishing unused. The Warrington Guardian of 11 June 2014 reported on plans to turn part of the land into an underground vehicle storage facility but that is being opposed by local councils, and car-racing enthusiasts have been eyeing the site for a race track, something neighbours have also opposed.

I’m assuming the sign has been there for a long time – I don’t think there have been any low-flying aircraft in the vicinity since the airfield closed in 1958!

The Pinfold

‘This enclosure dates from the Eighteenth Century and was used as a pound to secure stray livestock.’

You never know what you might stumble across when out walking! First an airfield and then, on that same long rural meander, something much much older. I discovered this enclosure and its explanatory sign on Budworth Road, not far from Arley Hall, in Cheshire. I’d never heard the word pinfold before so, when I finally got home, I hastened to google to discover more. Professor Wiki notes that the terms ‘pinfold’ and ‘pound’ are both Saxon in origin and both mean ‘animal enclosure’ – the only difference in usage is which part of England you’re in: it’s a pinfold in the north and east and a pound in the south and west.

Due to its age, this pinfold is a Grade II listed structure. It’s of ashlar contruction with large coursed stones, is rectangular in shape, with walls just over 100cms tall and has a single entrance. Dating from the days before enclosed fields were in common use, it would have been used to house stray pigs, sheep and cattle until their owners reclaimed them.

Signpost to Arley

‘This Road Forbidden Is To All / Unless They Wend Their Way To Call / At Mill, Or Green, Or Arley Hall.’

Having mentioned Arley Hall above, I thought I’d also include this rather wonderful signpost in this blog. The sign marks one of the side entrances to Arley Estate, an entrance only for use by those who reside in the old houses along the lane or those on foot, intending to walk the local public footpaths. If you’re not familiar with Arley, it’s a magnificent country estate that has been home to members of Lord Ashbrook’s family since the fifteenth century. 

So far, I’ve only been able to view Arley’s glorious vistas from the public paths as the house and gardens have been closed over the winter but I’m planning on exploring further when the 2015 visitor season opens in March. 

Footpath signs

As you’ve no doubt gathered, both from the name of my blog and from the numerous times I’ve mentioned my rambles and meanders, I’m a very enthusiastic and active walker. One of the things I like best about living in England is the public rights of way that make this country’s green and pleasant lands easily available to everyone. They give access to places you could never reach by road, allow you to appreciate the sounds of Nature not motorways and, as some are hundreds of years old, they provide valuable insight into the history of the people who have lived in the area.

There are various types of rights of way: public footpaths, for pedestrians only; public bridleways, for horse riders and pedestrians to share; and restricted byways, for horse riders, pedestrians and non-mechanised vehicles (the horse and cart of olden times) to share. Walkers can also often use concessionary paths, where use is allowed at the discretion of the landowner but is not a legal right. These are often also called permissive paths (which always makes me chuckle!).

The signage for these paths varies from place to place and from county to county so I have included several different examples here. 

As the sign below reminded me, you do have to be mindful of track boundaries when using footpaths (though this warning of potential shooting is a rather extreme example!) and you should always always follow the Countryside Code.