Berkshire
Gardens Trust
Reg.Charity No.1201501

We are very pleased to welcome you to the second of our spring garden tours with our visit to the beautiful gardens at St Timothee, with the current owners Sarah & Sal Pajwani.  We will start with a 45 to 60 mins fully illustrated slideshow about the garden, sharing the things that Sarah loves, followed by a leisurely wander of the garden, with Sarah still around to answer any specific questions. 

 

Fifteen years ago, when Sarah started work on the garden, it was little more than an empty field with perimeter trees, a section of hornbeam hedging and four isolated pampas grasses in the lawn. Her inspiration came from other gardens, in particular Le Jardin Plume in Normandy and Knoll Gardens in Dorset, where Sarah was drawn to ornamental grasses.

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This aesthetic dovetailed with Beth Chatto’s ‘right plant, right place’ philosophy. “The garden is open and quite exposed, so plants, especially in winter, need to be tough, resilient and largely look after themselves”. Sarah’s 1930s red-brick house looks out on to her Grass Island, where the planting includes a Piet Oudolf-inspired mix of grasses and perennials that continue to provide interest in their senescence throughout winter.  The classic parterre garden, devised by Acres Wild, sits between the potting and tool sheds. The idea to round the edges of the box hedging is from designer Mary Keen’s former Cotswold garden.​

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Our visit will include:

• Introductory talk from 10.30pm;

• Tea/coffee and homemade cakes; and 

• A tour of the gardens. 
   

​​Booking: Tickets are £25 for members and £28 for non-members. Unfortunately, our numbers are limited to 15 people. The visit has been arranged through NGS so we will be accompanied by others who have booked direct with NGS. The tour however includes a maximum of 25 people.

 

Parking arrangements: Parking will be outside the main gates on a grass verge. Please aim to arrive at c. 10.15am to allow time to park and also be served with tea/coffee and cake.

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Access to Gardens:  The garden is largely flat with only 2 small steps to the front terrace. However, everything on the terrace can still be seen from below.

 

Please contact Kim at BerksGTmembership@gmail.com for queries about the visit. Kim will send out joining instructions by email in the week before the event.

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All pictures courtesy of NGS