GENERAL INTEREST
32
South East
Mottisfont, Hampshire
Mottisfont’ s winter garden has matured into a beautiful and unique landscape, full of horticultural treasures. Stroll along paths through winterflowering shrubs and both late- and early flowering perennials, rich in colour and scent. Brilliantly coloured dogwood bark and silvery ornamental bramble provide splashes of colour alongside berries and fruit even on the shortest days of the year. Gullies of foliage appear to wind through the banks of willow like water and spill into the stream. As winter continues, the garden becomes a refuge for other late flowering shrubs such as mahonia, sweet-smelling winter honeysuckle and daphne. www. nationaltrust. org. uk / mottisfont
Ham House, Surrey
Discover frosty topiary in the formal Cherry Garden glistening in the winter sun. Then take a crisp winter walk across the Ham House estate to the mazelike Wilderness. Part of the original 17th-century garden, the Wilderness has 16 compartments to explore and is transformed into a winter wonderland during the cold months. Finish your tour with a stop at the Kitchen Garden and discover the vegetables and herbs still available at this time of year. www. nationaltrust. org. uk / ham-house-and-garden
Osterley Park and House, Middlesex
Meander through the ever-evolving Winter Garden at Osterley which provides bursts of coloured bark, fabulous leaf shapes and seed heads in abundance during the winter months. Covered in a thick haw frost, every branch and berry is defined. A highlight at this time of year is the Clematis Urophylla‘ Winter Beauty’. Its delicately fragrant, waxy, white bell-shaped flowers shoot through lush green foliage even in the depths of winter. www. nationaltrust. org. uk / osterley-park-and-house
Midlands
Biddulph Grange Garden, Staffordshire
Biddulph Grange is one of the most exciting survivals of the great age of Victorian gardening. The garden was the vision of one man, James Bateman, who from 1841 spent more than twenty years collecting plants from all over the world. The plants and trees were brought together at Biddulph amid rock-work, topiary, tree-stumps and an extraordinary collection of eclectic garden buildings designed by Bateman and Edward Cooke. Take a stroll through the Pinetum during the winter months where the path weaves its way between conifers, hollies, yews and monkey puzzle trees, which look especially enchanting with a frosting of snow. www. nationaltrust. org. uk / biddulph-grange-garden