Achamore Gardens

Entrance Glade

Achamore Gardens are accessed by a footpath from the Village Hall car park. The walk through to the visitor reception site gives an excellant flavour of the type of plantings and how quickly they grow and establish.

This woodlland walk has bluebells galore in the Spring followed by the rhododendron and camellia that flower but the tree canopy develops and the heavy shade increases the expectaion when arriving at visitor reception.

Notable plants along this walk include: Gunnera manicata which is the very large rhubarb-like leaf that towers over all else (Except the mature woodland trees including Fagus sylvatica, the beech tree). Probably one of the finest and elegance in maturity trees is the Katsuri tree better known as Cercidyphyllum japonicum from Japan. If you lucky to be here in the Winter this tree looks magical in its skeletal state, in other it is deciduous and looks good naked. In Spring the new foliage of greens and purples and pinks all on the new heart-shaped leaves must be seen. Finally, the Autumn colour of bright yellow is phenominal along with the scent of burnt candy-floss in the air.

The Honesty Box that is attached to the little shed is the key to all the maintenance of the 54 acre (22 hectare) site. Without the admission of £4.50 per head, we would struggle to keep the gardens going.

We have put some benches for picnics, cycle racks for all cycles and various leaflets are all housed within the shed. The very large shed next door is a new interpretation unit where I intend to tell the story of the gardens. We have panalled and painted and display some of the tools once used in the garden. New interpretation will be added as the season progresses.

There are 2 signposted routes around the garden The red arrowed route is slightly longer than the yellow arrowed route. (Times taken to complete vary from folk to folk). There are also strategically placed maps around the garden).

I would like to provide for the future of this entrance walk, is to thin out some of the mature trees, remove the hedging screens of Griselinia littoralis and house some art installations. (I must speak to Henry in the Art Gallery about this)

(Updated by Micky Little March 2010)