Great Gardens of East Anglia – 2022

Travelling in our luxury coach, the first place we visit is Fullers Mill, an enchanting and tranquil seven-acre creation on the banks of the River Lark. It combines a beautiful site of light dappled woodland with a plantsman’s collection of unusual shrubs, perennials, lilies and marginal plants. It is a garden of truly year-round interest.
The garden was created by Bernard Tickner MBE (1924-2017). He moved to Fullers Mill in 1958 and spent over 50 years creating the garden you see today from rough scrub and woodland. In 2004, he and his wife, Bess, donated the garden to The Fullers Mill Trust, a registered charity, which was established to manage the garden and to ensure its future.
In 2013, the garden was gifted to Perennial, for its long-term preservation. Perennial is the UK’s only charity looking after people in horticulture and their families at any stage of life, and by visiting this garden you’ll be assisting the charity in raising funds for horticulturalists in difficulty.
In the evening we’ll arrive at our home for the next two nights, the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich.

Today is a day of exclusive, private entries for our group and we begin with East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens.
A favourite of everyone we know who has visited, the gardens were established in 1973 by Alan Gray and Graham Robeson, who have created a 32-acre (130,000m2) design which incorporates exuberant and innovative planting alongside a more traditional formal design.
On a flat, windswept 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 create 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.
The owners have kindly agreed to open the café for us, and we include lunch in the visit.
Later in the day we enjoy another exclusive entry to Henstead Exotic Garden.
The press has called the garden “Jaw Droppingly impressive”, “Fantastic” and “Suffolk’s Most Exotic Garden”. It has been featured in The Daily Telegraph, Homes and Gardens and filmed by Channel 5 and Gardeners’ World.
Starting the garden seven years ago from scratch, owner Andrew Brogan has made an acre-plus garden packed full of exotic plants, 100 palms, bananas, tree ferns, three large ponds, streams and a 30-foot tiered wooden walkway leading to a raised Thai style pavilion, giving fantastic views over the garden.
We’re sure the excitement of visiting this venue will be so overwhelming, we’re including afternoon tea and fresh cakes in the price, which will be served in the gingerbread/tropical style summerhouse.
We’ll leave the final word to Alan Titchmarsh who says that “Visiting this garden is like going to the jungle”.

For our final day we visit the Bressingham Gardens.
Renowned nurserymen Alan Bloom and his son Adrian Bloom’s gardens, the Dell and Foggy Bottom, are a sight to behold. With over 8,000 species of plants there is always something new for visitors to see. These gardens are a learning experience, with 17 acres featuring many different styles. The colourful gardens are the ideal place to wander and pick up a few ideas.
Alan Bloom’s Dell Garden ably demonstrates how different types of perennials can be planted together and support each other avoiding the need for any type of support. For those interested in steam, there is also a museum showcasing a collection of trains and traction engines.
Our final visit of the holiday is a trip to the private garden of Ulting Wick.
Nestling in the conservation area of the Chelmer Valley in rural Essex, the eleven acre garden at Ulting Wick has been redesigned, extended and developed over the past 20 years by Philippa and Bryan Burrough.
The garden is centred around three listed black Essex barns and a 17th century farmhouse. The buildings provide structure, shelter and a canvas for exuberant, colourful and vibrant planting of an exotic display of dahlias, bananas, grasses, cosmos, sunflowers and other annuals to provide summer interest.
Away from the barns and the farmhouse, the garden extends out into the countryside and the emphasis changes to a more naturalistic and permanent style of planting. Mature weeping willows grace the side of a large pond, with herbaceous perennials in shady stream beds. Woodland, pink and white theme gardens as well as drought-tolerant borders and a newly-created wildflower meadow provide other areas of interest throughout the season.
From here we return to our pick-up points for the onward journey home.