Description

Forthhampton Court is a charming and varied garden surrounding a North Gloucestershire medieval manor house within sight of Tewkesbury Abbey. The Court was built around 1400 as an Abbatial palace where the Abbots of Tewkesbury could live and entertain at a suitable distance from the Abbey. It came into the ownership of the present family at the end of 18th Century. Extensive re-modelling happened in the late 19th Century by the famous Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb. The garden has developed over the last 500 years but most significantly over the 150 years. There is a large expanse of front lawn, a croquet lawn and a magnificent Victorian vegetable garden with a vegetable bed lattice bordered by grass and some wild grass areas. The day will begin with tea and coffee while everyone settles in to meet the Forthampton team. Head Gardener Jonathan will discuss the equipment needed to manage lawns effectively. Jonathan will show and talk about an article he has written for a magazine on lawn care. Participants will be shown around Forthampton Court to look at problem areas of lawn, how to identify the issues and will be taught how to fix them. Techniques will include seeding, scarifying, identification of Pests and Diseases and methods of treatment, moss treatments and others. From late morning participants will get hands on experience of lawn care. Throughout the day people are invited to ask questions and get all of the answers to their lawn care problems.

Jonathan Bishop is in his fourth year as Head Horticulturalist at Forthampton Court. He has been an RHS Advisor since 2011, frequently writing for gardening magazines and teaching horticulture to gardening clubs in the UK. Jonathan has been on BBC Gardeners World, Question Time and BBC Radio Gloucester offering his wealth of gardening advice. His company Foliation Ltd, has been featured in ‘Country Life magazine, ‘Gardener’s world magazine’ and ‘The Times’. Jonathan has had the privilege to plant for Rotary in this country and abroad. Jonathan’s own company has exhibited at all of the RHS flower shows over the years. He is a medallist at Hampton Court and has also won medals at The Chelsea Flower Show where he built his first garden back in 1998. Since then, he has built the RHS show garden for all of their 7 shows a year from 2016 to the present day.

Please bring gardening gloves, appropriate footwear and outdoor clothing for the weather. If you have steel capped boots please use them and if you can bring full sized forks and spades those would also be useful. Tea/Coffee will be provided but please bring a packed lunch.

The cost of the day is £65.00 for WFGA members and £85 for non-members.