Citadel is a breath of fresh air

I recently visited a garden in Shropshire that I had never been to before and it was a breath of fresh air. The Citadel Garden was in the Yellow Book - in fact it was also in the Yellow Book for 1927.

It was originally built in 1820 as the dower house for the Hawkstone Park House, just down the road, and shares the craggy ground and large trees with that building.

The garden suffered many downturns in the period between 1827 and 1956, when it was bought by the present owner’s father.

Since then his son, Mr Beverley Griffiths, has taken it over and planted rhododendrons and other plants in the grounds.

He has also resurrected the paths and built dry stone walls over the last 40 years or so in the four acres of grounds.

In spite of the dry weather that we have had in the past few weeks, the plants all looked in prime condition.

The rhododendrons were all fantastic, planted in groups on what looked like very thin ground indeed.

There was a rhododendron loderi that looked as good as any I have seen, in spite of it having fallen over several years ago and grown up again.

This seemed to typify the relaxed and happy attitude of the whole garden.

I suppose that the secret is the very large old oaks, pines and limes which spread their canopies high over the newer plantings. And the newer plants are well established in the ground.

The earth is obviously acidic and suits the growth of rhododendrons very well. Also there is an acer grove, which is really pretty.

There was also a well established vegetable garden, with much soft fruit in it, and one of the best asparagus beds I have seen for a very long time, all grown from seed.

Add to this some newer herbaceous plantings, and some very good stretches of lawn, to make a garden which is most satisfying.

Around the garden are some surprises. An owl sits in one of the trees, looking very realistic, and a gnome is sitting under a wooden toadstool, close to some of the biggest hostas, with not a sign of slugs or snails.

When asked about this Mr Griffiths said that he put a notice at the gate saying that they were not welcome in the garden.

There is a thatched summer house which has the most lovely view across to the Berwen Hills, although Mr Griffiths did admit that he rarely sat there to admire it.

No doubt he is always busy on the next bit of his beautiful garden.

The garden is open to the public on Sunday, May 27 from 2pm to 5.30pm. Admission to the grounds is £3 per person.

By Pat Edwards

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