Monmouthshire garden owner recognised by National Garden Scheme
Sarah Clay received an engraved garden fork from Debbie Field of the National Garden Scheme (NGS) for her and her husband Anthony's commitment.
The couple's garden, designed collaboratively by Eric Francis and Avray Tipping, is in the Italianate Arts and Crafts style, featuring a range of elements from a rose garden to a summerhouse.
The garden is opened as part of the NGS, which raises money for charities by charging an admission fee for private garden viewings.
Over the past two decades, the Clays have raised thousands for the cause.
Ms Field said: "Gardeners never think their garden is good enough to open for the NGS; they are their own worst critics."
She encourages more garden owners to consider joining the scheme to aid in the ongoing fundraising.
The Clays' garden includes a rose garden designed by Sarah Price, added in 2018, which hosts a variety of flowers from April to October.
There are also features like ancient sculpted topiary, a sunken garden, and woodland areas.
A walled garden houses fruit trees, and a recently added Platinum Jubilee border features lavender and an arbour, with a mural painted by Andrea Davies in 2023.
The NGS depends on the generosity of private garden owners to raise funds for its causes.
Ms Field calls for those interested in opening their gardens or knowing someone who might be to get in contact at wenalltisaf@gmail.com.
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South Wales Argus
5 days ago
- South Wales Argus
Monmouthshire garden owner recognised by National Garden Scheme
Sarah Clay received an engraved garden fork from Debbie Field of the National Garden Scheme (NGS) for her and her husband Anthony's commitment. The couple's garden, designed collaboratively by Eric Francis and Avray Tipping, is in the Italianate Arts and Crafts style, featuring a range of elements from a rose garden to a summerhouse. The garden is opened as part of the NGS, which raises money for charities by charging an admission fee for private garden viewings. Over the past two decades, the Clays have raised thousands for the cause. Ms Field said: "Gardeners never think their garden is good enough to open for the NGS; they are their own worst critics." She encourages more garden owners to consider joining the scheme to aid in the ongoing fundraising. The Clays' garden includes a rose garden designed by Sarah Price, added in 2018, which hosts a variety of flowers from April to October. There are also features like ancient sculpted topiary, a sunken garden, and woodland areas. A walled garden houses fruit trees, and a recently added Platinum Jubilee border features lavender and an arbour, with a mural painted by Andrea Davies in 2023. The NGS depends on the generosity of private garden owners to raise funds for its causes. Ms Field calls for those interested in opening their gardens or knowing someone who might be to get in contact at wenalltisaf@
Edinburgh Reporter
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Co-op band marks 150th jubilee of West Calder pioneers
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The tiny Welsh village full of beautiful hidden gardens The gardens and allotments of Cefn Cribwr are the hidden jewel in the village's crown John Loveluck built ponds in his garden which are now home to rare newts, toads, frogs and dragon flies (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) You could drive through Cefn Cribwr and almost miss it. The village five miles from Bridgend, once home to an industrial ironworks, is spread out with a road running through it. People driving through might pass with barely a backward glance. But behind the unassuming houses and side roads are the hidden jewels in Cefn Cribwr's crown - the carefully tended and beautiful gardens of the village community and members of the thriving gardening club. Founder club member and now vice chair John Loveluck proudly ushers us into his garden. Stepping into the lovingly tended space is like entering a green tardis. John's garden opens out into new sections and sub plots just as you're admiring the last. At nearly 80 the retired stonemason is fit as a fiddle, something he thanks his love of gardening for. He's out every day in the garden behind his house as well as looking after his vegetable patch at the community allotments in the centre of the village. John is a leading light in Cefn Cribwr Gardening Club, something that grew from an idea he had one night in the now-closed village pub, the White Lion. The club, opened in 2008, is now at the centre of village life with members ranging in age from their twenties to their eighties. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here . Veronica Davies with her dog Dylan in her garden at Cefn Cribwr (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) Article continues below Some are busy getting their gardens ready to open to the public next month, keen to show off their labours of love. The biggest annual event for the club, and probably the village, is Open Gardens Day when the members open their gardens to the public in conjunction with the National Garden Scheme to raise funds for charities including Marie Curie and Macmillans. The event on June 22, like the allotments, fosters some healthy competitive spirit as well as camaraderie in the village, John says. He's all for gardening as hobby and competition saying it keeps people physically and mentally fit and brings the community together. Cefn Cribwr allotments (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) Back at his house John's garden is complete with streams and a pond stocked with carp and goldfish. The pond is abuzz with jewel-winged dragon flies and is also home to rare newts, toads and frogs, who sometimes oblige by sitting on the lily pads. The ponds, linked by streams, make up a large part of this garden which also includes flower borders as well as fruit trees. The large greenhouse is graced with a grape vine and tomatoes and there is the obligatory man-shed. As electric blue insects flit across the water of his ponds John explains that he has to keep hungry visiting herons away with wiring. Somehow they always find a way to slip their long beaks in for a quick fish snack. Other birds such as the nesting blue tits and blackbirds are less of a problem. Newts, toads, frogs and dragon flies are among wildlife in the ponds and streams in John Loveluck's garden in Cefn Cribwr (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) The five guinea pigs, who run wild nibbling the immaculately kept lawn, nominally belong to John's grandchildren. Luckily they leave his flowers alone, he jokes. John and his wife Anne enjoy sitting in a small arbour he built beyond the clipped and bright green lawn surrounded by flower beds. A sun room opens from their living room onto the patio, vibrant with pink and mauve pelargoniums and colourful cacti in pots. Anne admits she's no gardener so she's in charge of cooking and preparing the weekly stock of fruit and veg that John brings back from his allotment. These include melon, peppers, chard, tomatoes and other salad in the summer and in winter turnips and parsnips among other veg. For John his love of gardening is social life, fitness coach and hobby all rolled into one. He and Anne are looking forward to welcoming the public in to see their garden on June 22 and sharing the place they enjoy. Although there is now a community bought and run pub in the village John misses the old White Lion just a few steps from his door. It was here that the gardening club has its roots. "The gardening club started from a conversation in The White Lion," John recalls. "We were talking about the lack of allotments in Cefn Cribwr although we were keen gardeners." Soon the then leader of Bridgend Council, Huw David, was approached and it was agreed that an area of wasteland behind the village community hall on the main road through could be cleared. Mr David is now chair of the gardening club. But it was no mean feat clearing the scrub land that would be transformed into vibrant allotments. The council-owned land had once been used for tennis courts and was overgrown and unusable with rubble and weeds. It took 18 months of work to clear the area before allotments could even be dreamed of. While interested locals helped do the work a vast majority of the clearance was carried out by people on community service orders, something organised by community services in Bridgend. "Once the ground was cleared I put up a sign in the village shop asking if people were interested in having an allotment and there was a fantastic response," says John, "we had more people interested than plots so we had a waiting list and it was first come first served." At the same time as the allotments opening the Cefn Cribwr Gardening Club was set up - something that any villager can join whether or not they have one of the 12 allotments. "The joy of the allotments is the friendship up here. You can come up here on any day and there is always someone about, " says John Loveluck. (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) As secretary of the club, Veronica Davies is keen to get new members and for some years, apart from 2024 and during the pandemic, has arranged for the allotments and private gardens in the village to open for the annual National Garden Scheme Open Garden day. The event, being held on June 22 this year, brings hundreds of visitors to Cefn Cribwr not just to see people's beautiful usually private gardens, but also to visit the allotments and enjoy tea and cake in the community hall, organised by the gardening club. The club will also run plant and craft stall in the village hall to raise funds. A tractor is also organised to ferry visitors between gardens to cut down on traffic and add to the fun. "I think the club and the event does bring the village together," says Veronica, "the beauty is you can go into the gardens that are open and each one is so different. You learn a lot. "I would like to think the club has spurred on an interest in gardening in the village. We have six gardens opening on June 22 and sometimes others join in. You can see formal vegetable gardens, wild gardens, ponds and places to sit." As a keen plantswoman she's always on the look out for tips and says all gardeners enjoy sharing cuttings. She even moves wild flowers around her own garden to get them in just the right sppt to enjoy. The village, which has couple of thousand inhabitants, according to the census, can be windy as it sits atop a ridge between Pyle and Bridgend. Gardeners have to be aware of the weather but are also working in an area of natural beauty all around. Bedford Park, on the outskirts of the village is 40 acres of ancient woodland and meadows. It was not always so. It was once a hive of industrial activity when Birmingham industrialist John Bedford built a blast furnace there in 1780. He sank pits in the ground to mine ironstone and coal as well as founding a forge and brickworks. The ironworks were not successful and were shut after his death in 1791. Coal mining and brick making went on through the 19th century before industry at Bedford Park stopped after World War One. The ironworks, one of the most complete of their kind in Britain, can still be seen today and are protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Hidden behind the Cefn Cribwr community centre is a beautiful strerch of allotments filled with plants and wildlife (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) Visitors on Open Gardens Day can enjoy the local industrial heritage against the backdrop of the more beautiful environment it is in the 21st century. John takes in the view but is happiest when he is working on the land. As well as enjoying tending to his allotment he likes to meet friends there every day and enjoys sharing a can with them on long summer evenings. Veronica is more of a solitary gardener and prefers to go to her allotment in the early morning when fewer people are about. It's a peaceful time for her to see to the courgettes, chard and sweetcorn she's growing this year, while at home she has flowers. The garden behind Veronica's house is only a few yards from the allotments and wanders down a slope from cultivated sections to wilder areas with fox gloves and even orchids. She and husband Peter are busy building a folly. Veronica likes plants for their sensory value and in the evening clusters of white-flowered sweet rocket fill the air with their heady scent. She is proud of the insects and pollinators her gardening encourages. but while cabbage white butterflies are abundant they are not always welcome visitors. In the face of hungry butterflies, caterpillars, slugs and insects Veronica prefers to "be as organic as I can". Her tip for getting rid of slugs is to boil up a few cloves of garlic in water, cool the end result and add to watering cans. "Water the plants that slugs love with the mixture and they don't like it," she advises. Veronica grows vegetables including sweet corn and chard on her allotment (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne ) Like many gardeners the allotment and garden owners say their plants are suffering from the long dry spell and are wishing for rain - although preferably not on June 22. At nearly 80 John, a farmer's son, says he has seen weather patterns change. He has no doubt that global warming is real. With this in mind Cefn Cribwr Gardening Club is on the look out for more donations of 1,000 litre tanks to store the rainwater they collect from the roof of the community centre building to water their beds. Gardeners are never wasteful and they know water is valuable as well as expensive. "Maybe you could put in a word for us that we are looking for anyone who has some tanks to donate," John asks. Looking across the allotments in the full glory of a late May morning John tries to put into words what it means to him. The small orange flowers that will become beans, the bright green leaves and shoots and the promise of more to come are radiant in the sunshine. The air is abuzz with the sound of gently humming insects and birdsong. It is busy and peaceful all at once. "The joy of the allotments is the friendship up here. You can come up here on any day and there is always someone about. he says. "It's about community spirit and we are gardeners of all ages. Gardening keeps you fit and it's about friendship and camaraderie. "We sit here of an evening with a can and put the world to rights and talk about what we've been doing in the gardens. "There's competition too mind, " he adds with a sparkle in his eye - it's not all soft and glowing this gardening business. John nods across to Dai's allotment and mentions Dai won the gardening club award this year. But it's amiable contest and the group are always keen to share their success with tips, advice, cuttings and seeds. Gardening can cost money, even if it does also provide food, and sharing is part of the fun. "I have not yet met a gardener who is saving money from gardening but the fruit and veg we grow is fresh and tastes better than shop bought and we swap our fruit and veg," says John. "It's all year round - in the winter I grow brussel sprouts and kale and I have a green house." Veronica is busy getting her allotment and the garden behind her house ready to open on June 22 and frets that hers is more a wild "ramshackle" environment. But she says perfection is not required, or even possible in the plant world and the club, like the open garden event is open to all enthusiasts. "The biggest mistake is thinking your garden can be perfect. It will never be perfect," she says, secateurs in hand, running a critical eye across her flower beds. On a morning in May, with the sun shining and blue skies. it looks as near to perfection as can be. Article continues below * Six gardens will be open to the public in Cefn Cribwr as part of The National Garden Scheme open garden day on June 22 and you can find more details of that here. * Hundreds of gardens are opening right across Wales for the NGS open day, including a number of new ones not seen before. You can find out more details about gardens open across Wales on June 22 here.
