Waltham Place Visit 25th September 2008

About twenty members joined us for the Trust’s inaugural visit to Waltham Place. This intriguing garden was redesigned by the Dutch garden designer, Henk Gerritsen in 2001.

We were taken on a guided tour by the head gardener, Beatrice Krehl who explained the biodynamic principles that were used to manage the Kitchen Garden. The guiding ethos of the garden is to work with nature rather than battle against it and plants that elsewhere would be considered weeds are incorporated into the design of thje garden. In order to encourage birds and insects, plants are left to die back naturally rather than being cleared away as soon as their flowers fade. This approach results in bio-diverse rich habitats and distinctive landscapes throughout the garden and wider estate.

At the end of the tour a group photo was taken of the members and then we had tea in the canteen where we were joined by Mrs Openheimer.