Garden diary: October
Our beautiful 18th-century garden was badly damaged in the flood that devastated Cockermouth last November. Many plants were lost and several mature trees had to be felled as they had become unsafe.
Because the garden is peat-free and contains only heritage plant species, it will take a while to source replacements. The box hedges may take several years to regenerate – we can’t bring in new plants due to the current high risk of box blight.
Rebuilding of the walls began in early May. We couldn’t start any sooner because lime mortar requires temperatures consistently above 5 degrees. It also took time to source exactly the correct shade and cut of sandstone to replace blocks that were lost in the flood.
The walls are now complete and the terrace, where William and Dorothy loved to play, has been rebuilt – after also being declared unsafe – and is now ready to be planted.
Most of the cost of restoring the walls is covered by insurance. Unfortunately, since it is not possible to insure a heritage garden like ours, we must cover plant losses and damage to paths and bed edging ourselves. We will also have to meet a large part of the terrace costs.
As a charity, this will put a considerable strain on our finances, and we are asking for donations to help us.
We believe this is a wonderful opportunity to make our garden even lovelier than before. Funds permitting, we would like to realign the beds in the main garden to make it even more authentic, to rework some of the planting and to redesign the small walled garden.
Despite all the damage, we are aiming to have four Scotts Dumpy chickens and a bespoke Georgian-style hen house – paid for out of the proceeds of last year’s raffle – installed in the small walled garden by March 2011.
In time, we hope to plant greengages, quince and new, more appropriate trees. Also on our wish list is a summer house for the terrace – we think William and Dorothy would have approved!
If you would like to contribute, we have donation boxes at Wordsworth House in the shop and reception.
If you can't visit but would like to help, please make a cheque out to the National Trust and send it to Wordsworth House and Garden, Main Street, Cockermouth CA13 9RX. A big thank you in advance!
Amanda Thackeray
Gardener, Wordsworth House and Garden