Glorious Gardens from Above episode 13 – Norfolk: Christine Walkden’s balloon travels over the flattest part of Britain as she descends on Norfolk.
At East Ruston Gardens she helps cut a hole in a hedge and meets Kathryn, a very determined woman. At the Bressingham Gardens, Christine assists in preparing a tree for felling and we discover the fascinating human history of the Norfolk Broads.
Glorious Gardens from Above episode 13 – Norfolk
East Ruston Gardens
East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens is a notable privately owned garden in the county of Norfolk at East Ruston in Eastern England. The gardens were established in 1973 by Alan Gray and Graham Robeson, who have created a 32-acre (130,000 m2) design which incorporates exuberant and innovative planting alongside a more traditional formal design.
On an unpromising site, close to the North Sea and surrounded by arable prairie, the gardens are protected from harsh onshore wind by a shelter belt of Monterey Pine trees which created a unique micro-climate. Exotic and unusual plants from around the world flourish alongside more hardy species.
Notable are the tree ferns, succulents and palms which surround the house, as is the Californian ‘Desert Wash’, the Exotic Garden with a water sculpture and a large cornfield sown with a selection of native but now scarce ‘weeds’ such as Cornflower, Poppy and Corn Marigold. The gardens contain an interesting collection of sculptures by local artists as well as many architectural features.
Bressingham Gardens
Bressingham Steam & Gardens is a steam museum and gardens located at Bressingham (adjacent to a Wyevale garden centre), west of Diss in Norfolk, England. The site has several narrow gauge rail lines and a number of types of steam engines and vehicles in its collection and is also the home of the national Dad’s Army exhibition.
The gardens were established by Alan Bloom MBE at Bressingham Hall. He moved to Bressingham in 1946, after selling his previous 36-acre (15 ha) site at Oakington in Cambridgeshire to raise the capital for the 220 acres (89 ha) in Norfolk, where he hoped to be both a farmer and a nurseryman. Alan Bloom was a plant expert of international renown, particularly in the field of hardy perennials. He laid out the Dell garden with its well-known island beds. His son, Adrian Bloom, laid out the Foggy Bottom garden.