Magnificent Mellor

Mellor lies to the south of Manchester, on the edge of the Peak District. To passers-by, it is one of many lovely Peak-fringe communities, stretched out along an old coaching road with its fine pubs, select shops and lovely houses. But Mellor is special. Every four years, many of its finest private gardens open their gates to raise money for Cancer Research and the superb Parish Centre. It is both a feat of horticulture, hospitality and logistics of which the community is rightly very proud.

I had a fantastic day out, visited all 16 gardens and chatted to most of the garden owners. All the owners have put in weeks of gardening and event planning and the results are truly inspirational. I can’t hope to do them all justice here, but I’ve compiled a mini-review of each garden, listed in order that I visited them.

Garden No. 1. The garden drops away below the house in tiered lawns, finally leading to a gorgeous woodland with fine rhodedendrons. The candelabra primulas were magnificent, I suffered a touch of leaf-mould envy and we visitors were treated to a virtuoso jazz quartet performance with garden owner Kay’s saxophony skills clearly a match for her gardening talents. Fantastic.

Garden No. 9 starts like many other rear domestic gardens, with neat lawns and a great herbaceous collection, but then a gap leads to the new, cleverly planted vegetable area, of which Louise and Stephen are justifiably proud with its smart black painted raised beds. And a view over the cricket pitch behind the fruit cage – perfect!

Garden No. 10 is quiet and calm, with a large pond, a lovely vine covered pergola and the neatest bit of box hedging I think I’ve ever seen.

A well marked footpath between ponds and across fields took us to:

Garden 11 had us all drooling. Set in a hillside, the first view is of a large pond, complete with boat-house and paddle boat and the most stunning orange azalea reflected in it. I managed to miss the tunnel behind the waterfall, but loved the arch and blue shed.

Garden 14 had the steepest back garden I’ve ever seen, the most impressively blue Ceanothus and much more to admire – the result of real love. The Choisya ternata hedge, the gorgeous Pieris, the yellow poppies with yellow glass balls (brilliant!), the sense of just the right amount of control and the fabulous view across to the old mill building visible only if you travel right to the end of the garden round the remaining rhododendron. I really loved this one.

Garden 15 is the highest and unfolds in a series of surprises – first the newly planted alpine bed, then the terrace under the trees, then a further tiny lawn and finally as the garden narrows to just a few feet wide, a tiny but beautifully managed vegetable plot, complete with purple shed. And a fantastic view across the meadows to the hills. Sorry I couldn’t name your geranium, Ted!

Garden 16 is a real labour of love by Charles and Sylvia. Again full of surprises hidden behind a tall hedge of shapely conifer columns, the garden has a gorgeous collection of Heucheras, Hostas, mature Pieris and a wonderful Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’. But then it rises to reveal a large rockery, layers of grasses and a high bark path across the top of the lawn. And a new ‘must-have’ plant for me – Halimium lasianthum. Thanks so much for the excellent tour, Sylvia.

Garden 12 is an enigma. Part garden, part archaelogical dig, this site is now something of a national treasure as it includes a partially excavated Iron Age fort. Clearest in my memory is the long, informal Nepeta hedge which flanks the path, the stunning view over the valley from the terrace and John, forsaking thoughts of entertaining visitors and focussed on getting his seeds planted in the veg plot. Quite right too.

Garden 13 is tiny but lovely, with its weaving paths through the gravel to the seat in the sun, the ranks of bright pelargoniums in the conservatory and the intermingling of produce amongst the flowers. I’m so sorry I tripped and stepped into your pea plot, Stan!

A lovely downhill walk from the church through the meadows and down through the woods led to:

Gardens 4, 5 and 6 tell a remarkable story of friendship through gardens. As gardens were divided and sold to new neighbours, the boundaries in the back garden were all but ignored and three wonderful gardens remain completely connected to one another. Peter and Margaret’s garden at No 6 is a fine mix of lawns, shrubs and perennials with a superb orchard leading down to the ancient stream valley. No 5 is naturalistic with self-sown annuals and a wildflower meadow. No 4 has the largest and most impressive veg plot on the tour, surrounded by a fine hornbeam hedge and a gorgeous mature willow with rich planting and lawns around it. A collective testament to the companionship of gardening.

Garden No 3 is in two sections, an ornamental section, then a path leads to the rear section with a fine greenhouse and veg. plot. Most memorable for me was the orange border, with orange tulips, azalea and wallflowers making a very pleasingly zingy combination.

Garden No 2 welcomed visitors with the sweet scent of Azalea luteum and wraps round the house to the front where the highlight was a paticularly fine clump of double red paeonies in full flower.

And a final cut through behind the houses back to main road to:

Garden No. 7 – a very calming, interesting garden, owned and expertly gardened by the very knowledgeable Alan. Highlights are a mature fastigiate yew with its lovely natural columnar form, a beautiful Pyrus salicifolia, pruned just enough to stop it looking scrappy but not so much that it loses its natural shape, a wonderful Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Atropureum’ – must have been 25 years old. And a very fine limestone trough planted wtih the tiniest of sedums and alpines. A real treasure trove.

And talking of treasure, Garden No 8 was bursting with it. A gardener’s garden, but very child friendly too, with three boisterous boys in daily occupation. A feat of imagination, creativity and DIY, from the mirrored corner, the dangling blue bottles chime, the hanging baskets on black scaffolding, buddha heads peeking out of the tops of shrubs, the pirate ship look out station on top of the shed, the zip wire, the snaking slide, the gutter golf-ball run wrapped round trees…. I could go on. And the plants do their job wonderfully too, with bamboos, phormiums and evergreen shrubs keeping the shape all year round. And to cap it all, a camera in a bluetit nest box with the TV screen in the garage window. We were all transfixed. Am I allowed to vote? If so, I have to say that this one had it all – it was fabulous.

So, congratulations Mellor for a superb event, for showing what modern communities can achieve, for opening your gardens and for some seriously impressive fundraising. And thank you for the invitation to come and share it with you.