A BEAUTIFUL PRIVATE GARDEN TO VISIT IN LANCASHIRE, NORTH WEST ENGLAND

The garden is open

BANK HOLIDAY SUNDAYS AND BANK HOLIDAY MONDAYS (excluding Easter from 11 am until 5 pm)
WEDNESDAYS AND THURSDAYS in June, July & August from 11 am until 4 pm

Private Group Visits by appointment

Home made cakes and cream teas available on open days

Plants also for sale

ADMISSION £5.00 Cash only (no card facility), CHILDREN UNDER 12 FREE

Open Days for NGS (National Gardens Scheme) are MAY DAY BANK HOLIDAY MONDAYS and AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY.

‘The Ridges’, a private garden covering some 3.5 acres, is one of Lancashire’s well-known gardens to visit, having featured in the NGS (National Gardens Scheme) Yellow Book since 1995 and can also be found on the Britain’s Finest website.

So when you visit Lancashire, you mustn’t miss the gardens at The Ridges (also known as Barbara Barlow’s Cottage Garden). Situated 1½ miles from Chorley town centre on the way to Rivington, the Georgian house is set in approximately 3½ acres of sheltered gardens.

The gardens have gradually been restored and further work, plus new features, are included each year to give visitors additional interest and lots of good ideas for garden planning and planting.

Originally a cotton mill owner’s house, the once walled kitchen garden is now full of perennial herbaceous borders with perfumed rambling roses and colourful clematis running rampant over fruit trees and trellis, giving a cottage style feel to the garden.

Through a living arch is a large formal lawn fringed by natural woodland and surrounded by long borders planted with perennials. Shrubs and bright foliaged specimen trees have been cleverly positioned to shine against the original old dark copper beech, holly and rhododendrons. This shelter protects such tender plants as Windmill Palm and Davidii (Handkerchief Tree): a lovely setting for the Victorian-style glasshouse, which protects tender plants in winter and is used for entertaining during the summer.

More recently a woodland walk has been added where winding paths through restored glades and dells are planted with specimen trees, ferns and other shade-loving plants.

In a natural looking stream garden, damp loving plants such as Gunnera and Rogersii grow down towards a pool fringed with colourful Iris. An old buttressed wall has been uncovered to create a naturally planted quiet area, with scented plants and herbs to attract butterflies and bees.