The Snowdrops are out – Spring is on its way!
It’s always so heartening when you start to see snowdrops peaking through the undergrowth whilst out on a walk. With that in mind if you’d like to take a stroll amongst the snowdrops to lift your spirits here are some stunning locations around our area.
- Waterperry Gardens (near Wheatley): Famous for its Snowdrop Weekend in February, showcasing over 60 varieties and a riverside walk.
- Welford Park (near Newbury): Known as one of the best in the UK, with 5 acres of beech woods filled with snowdrops, open Wed-Sun, Jan 28 to March 1, 2026.
- Kingston Bagpuize House (near Abingdon): A private estate opening in February with stunning, snowdrop-filled woodlands. Opening Days: Every Sunday and Wednesday in February (1st, 4th, 8th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 22nd, 25th).
- St Botolph’s Church (Swyncombe, near Henley-on-Thames RG9 6EA): Offers a peaceful, charming, and free, scenic walk, often with “snowdrop teas” available.
- Basildon Park (National Trust, near Goring): Features lovely, accessible woodland trails blanketed in white.
- Thenford Gardens and Arboretum (near Banbury): Boasts over 600 species of snowdrops, creating a spectacular, diverse display.
- Evenley Wood Garden (near Banbury): Boasts over 80 named snowdrop varieties in a woodland setting.
- Badbury Hill (National Trust, near Faringdon): Known for bluebells later but offers nice early-season snowdrop walks.
- Colesbourne Park (near Cheltenham): Renowned for over 350 varieties, with open days every weekend from late January to February 23, 2026.
- Newark Park (Gloucestershire Ozleworth, Wotton-under-Edge GL12 7PZ): A National Trust property featuring snowdrop-filled woodlands.
- Boddington Manor (The Manor Boddington Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL51 0TJ): Features an annual snowdrop trail in the woods. Sunday 9 February 2025, 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm. £5 admission, cash only.
- Painswick Rococo Gardens (near Stroud GL6 6TH). Open daily from Saturday 17 January to Sunday 1st March 2026. While there are only 15 named varieties, the garden is famous for its massive, naturalised display of over 5 million individual snowdrops.
Also, the days are starting to get a little bit longer, this is especially noticeable if we’ve had a sunny day (although they seem few and far between at the moment!). So, on days when it is sunny, it’s a chance to wrap up warm and get out in the garden. Here’s the link to the RHS website on jobs in the garden in February.
Continuing the snowdrop theme, I subscribe to the newsletter from Bunkers Hill Plant Nursery, and this week received an offer of a FREE pot of snowdrops and an opportunity to collect the new Bunkers Bonkers Bonus Card. All I have to do is to guess how many of them there are at Painswick Rococo Gardens…the answer is in the list above…so I may have a go!!! They do have regular offers but you have to subscribe to the newsletter https://bunkershillgardenshop.co.uk/
For those of you who haven’t ventured over to Bunkers Hill, it’s a bit of a trek but worth it as they often have different plant varieties than the garden centre chains. Bunkers Hill, Kidlington OX5 3BA.
For those of you who prefer a bit of armchair gardening during January, why not take a peek at Monty Don’s Rhineland Gardens, his new gardening series on the BBC. He travels from the Alps to the North Sea on the River Rhine as it flows through big cities, dramatic landscapes and romantic valleys. Along the way Monty explores extraordinary gardens shaped by the mighty River Rhine. Well worth a watch. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002px5m/monty-dons-rhineland-gardens
Just a reminder that as a member of the Black Bourton Gardening Club you can enjoy 10% discount at some of our local gardening centres, just take your membership cards along and show them at the checkout before you pay.:
- Bampton Garden Centre (full priced plants only),
- Timms Garden Department, Brize Norton (all products in the department)
- Cassington Garden Centre (plants only).
We also now have 20% discount for purchases from Thompson & Morgan. This includes seeds, plants, bulbs, onion and potato sets and more. Products which they refer to as ‘non live’ i.e. garden pots and tools etc are not included. To benefit from our discount you can either order from their website HERE, or by post. If ordering online you will need to set yourself up when you order so that they have your address etc and can link the discount to it. When setting up and placing an order make sure you quote our unique order code which is TM_GT748P this will ensure you get the discount. If you would prefer to order by post we have some copies of their seed catalogue for 2026 and paper order forms, please just let us know and we will get them to you.
Thank you for your continued support, we look forward to seeing you all in March when we kick off the year with a coffee morning on March 14th and we have a talk on planning herbaceous borders on March 17th, please see below for our programme through to the summer.
Best wishes from your committee – Ellie, Jo, Niki and Rachel