We first saw The Bannut at Bringsty in May of 1984 and decided immediately that this was where we wanted to live.
The three acres of land, with its open aspect and acid soil, was very suitable for the expansion of our wholesale heather nursery, and we loved its beautiful situation - with Bromyard Downs to one side, Bringsty Common to the other, hundreds of acres of National Trust, Brockhampton Estate, opposite and superb views to the Malvern Hills.
Most of the three acres was pasture, although some trees had been planted at the front of the house, including the Bannut tree (Bannut being the old English name for the walnut) and a weeping willow. We set aside an acre of land around the house for our garden and the rest was laid out as nursery. Within a few years we were producing ¼ million heathers annually.
The garden at the front of the house was planted with heathers, as a display garden for the business. The rest was set out with lawns, shrubs, trees and herbaceous plants; the knot garden was designed to link the two terraces by the house. After a few years we gave up growing vegetables (we never seemed to have the time) and turned that area into two garden rooms – the Yellow & White Garden and the Arbour Garden. Our two pet goats, who had inhabited a small paddock on our southern boundary for several years, eventually left for heavenly pastures and ‘The Old Goat Paddock’ was also incorporated into the garden. From 1992 we opened the garden for the National Gardens Scheme (‘Yellow Book’) and other charities.
In 1996 we decided it was time to think about retiring, so we scaled down the nursery by half, and created the ‘Far Garden’ (a grassy area planted with a variety of trees and shrubs and where wild flowers, cowslips in particular, are encouraged) and another heather garden.
We closed the wholesale business completely in 1998 and the remaining land was incorporated into the ‘Far Garden’ (all that now remains of the nursery is a small area where we grow the plants for our plant-sales tables). It was at this point, and at an age when we should have known better, that we took the ‘momentous’ decision to open The Garden at The Bannut to the public, from May 1999, on a regular basis. However, the garden hasn't been standing still. Our Millenium Project (even though it spilled over into 2001) was an intriguing Secret Garden and, for our Golden Wedding year (2002), we planted a Laburnum and Clematis Walk.
We enjoy sharing our garden with our visitors and we do hope it gives you pleasure too.
© The Garden at The Bannut, 28 March 2004