This Love Your Garden is a very special episode as it is the first time the team have ever visited a Zoo. Our Inspirational garden is equally as exceptional, as Alan goes to visit a stunning country garden in Lancashire; which inspired our garden in Blackpool Zoo in so many ways!
Claire Spendlove has created a wondrous series of garden rooms which transports visitors into different areas of planting, winding pathways and garden sculptures. As you enter the garden you go up a steep set of stone steps, onto a stunning terrace complete with a Gazebo – planted with Roses, Wisteria, and Clematis. A recent addition is a wonderful stone planter which doubles as a low-key water feature.
A series of garden rooms leads you through formal box hedging & topiary with herbaceous planting, into looser planting with ornamental grasses. There is some beautiful stonework spread throughout the garden, and a variety of quaint seating areas for people to sit and relax in the ambient settings.
As you make your way through the garden rooms, you finally reach a lovely wild flower garden, which has panoramic views of the surrounding hillside.
The garden is also complete with a working greenhouse, and a small terraced potager which takes full advantage of the sunniest spot of the garden; giving Claire and her family some home-grown vegetables for her to cook up in the kitchen.
In many ways it is a traditional, beautiful country garden. However, the addition of the garden room aspect means that it is constantly evolving, as Claire adds more bordered sections to the garden – creating a plethora of different planting, settings, and atmospheres for you to soak up as you wander through the garden.
If you would like to visit Claire’s wonderful garden yourself, she opens it up as part of the National Garden Scheme on select days in May, June and July each year – click on the link below for more details:
Love Your Garden 