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Garden Name: Bramdean House
Last Modified: 20/01/2011
Garden ID: 0218

pic: 0218_bramdean.jpg

Owner: Mr and Mrs Wakefield
Address:
Bramdean
Alresford

Postcode: SO24 0JU
County: Hampshire

tel: 01962 771214
fax: 01962 771095
website: 
email: victoria {at} bramdeanhouse.com

Features: 
Collection of sweet peas, paeonies, tender nerines.
Featured in new book by Andrew Lawson/Ursula Buchan "The English Garden".
Written up in "Kitchen Garden" May 2009

English Heritage Grade:
II

Opening Times:
20th February, 20th March, 17th April, 12th June , 17th July, 18th September; 2pm - 4.30 pm
Other dates by appointment only. Not weekends
Time: 2pm - 5pm.

Best Times of Year to Visit: 
April, June, July, Sept

To see: 
Spring Bulbs, walk down kitchen garden, collection of sweet peas, herbaceous borders, unusual plants and bulbs

National Collection: 


National Garden Scheme days: Yes
Comments: 20th February, 20th March, 17th April, 12th June , 17th July, 18th September; 2pm - 4.30 pm

Parties / Coaches: Yes 
Comments: 

Viewing by Appointment: Yes
Comments: Weekdays only 10am - 4pm 

House Open for Viewing: No
Comments: 

Admission Prices:
By appointment on weekdays. Adult £6 per head.
NGS Days £4; Child free

Parking: Yes
Lavatories: Yes
Disabled Access: Yes
Shop: No
Plants for Sale: Yes
Lunches: Yes
Teas: No
Refreshments: No
Picnics: Yes
Dogs allowed: No
Only on Lead: No
Events: No

Other Facilities:
Teas only on NGS Days, plants for sales sometimes on NGS days. Limited access for disabled.


Designer: Victoria Wakefield
Description of Garden:
This is a real plantsman s garden, full of interest all year round, and especially from April until October. The fine eighteenth-century red-brick house is protected from the road by a vast undulating cloud hedge of yew and box. Behind the house five acres of garden slope up through the exemplary mirror-image herbaceous borders, planted with over one hundred genera and reaching their peak in June with nepetas, geraniums, tradescantias, Clematix x diversifolia 'Hendersonii' and galegas, followed by yellows and then the russets of late summer. The way forward towards dianthus and roses, leads to the wrought-iron gates of the walled kitchen garden, filled with a well-ordered abundance of fruit and vegetables, a special collection of old-fashioned sweet peas and a mass of herbaceous flowers. Beyond a second wrought-iron gate lies the orchard with its curving tapestry hedge of alternating box and yew, flowering cherries, and fruit trees underplanted with daffodils. Trees on the eastern side include Ginko biloba, Maytenus boaria, Liriodendron tulipifera and Davidia involucrata, magnolias and fine specimens of Staphylea colchica AGM. Spring brings to the garden carpets of aconites, crocuses and other early bulbs, autumn a large collection of tender and hardy nerines.


History: 
Mrs Wakefield's parents purchased the house and the garden in 1944. They have photographic records of the garden in the late 1800's and early 20th century. It has evolved through time and events. The soil is very alkaline (PH8) . It has been featured in many gardening books and articles, most recently by Robin Lane Fox in the Financial Times. It will be featured in the BBC "Flying Gardeners" programme in April 2003.

Local Inns: 
Fox Inn, Bramdean
Globe on the Lake, Alresford
The Milburys, Beauworth

Accomodation: 
Hotel du Vin, Winchester
Royal Hotel, Winchester
Wessex Hotel, Winchester

Restaurants: 
Various good restaurants in Winchester

Village/Town/Sightseeing: 
Alresford 4 Miles
Winchester 9 Miles