The Green and Blackbrook Estate

The Green sits on a gentle Herefordshire hillside overlooking the River Wye. Forty years ago, Lorna and Patrick Vaughan transformed a once-derelict farmhouse and its old barns into a deeply enchanting garden. A series of former farm buildings now frame a warm, sheltered courtyard used for outdoor seating.

A lawn leads to a formal box parterre with a circular pond and below that lies a thriving potager terrace, filled with sweet peas, salads and vegetables. Iron gates lead down to the lower terrace, where a small orchard grows. Beneath the fruit trees and across the grassy banks, summer brings a tapestry of ox-eye daisies, wild geraniums, yellow rattle, mallows, agrimony and campion.

Mown paths guide visitors through the long grass and wildflowers into the surrounding parkland. A gentle walk leads to a secluded pond, making this garden not only rich in detail but deeply harmonious with the landscape.

Blackbrook Estate’s Walled Garden has been lovingly developed since 1995, when it was little more than a sheep field with two derelict greenhouses. Over nearly three decades, the garden has evolved through hands-on work and experimentation, guided by the owner and passionate amateur gardener, with invaluable help from gardener Kathryn Owen.

Four yew hedge squares divide the garden into distinct spaces filled with colourful borders. Both restored greenhouses now house fruit trees including apricot, peach, fig, lemon, orange and a productive vine. Everything is propagated from seed or cuttings, often saving their own seed to ensure resilience.

Kathryn and the owner also run Growing in the Border, a hands-on garden school teaching practical skills for real-life gardening.

Please note the garden is on a slope with steps and is not accessible for wheelchairs.

Includes arrival refreshments and a light buffet lunch.

You will require your own transport between venues.

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