Synopsis
Ivy Croft is an inspiring example of a great looking country garden designed with a deep understanding of and love for plants. Sue and Roger Norman moved to Ivy Croft in 1996, attracted by the flat site of just over 4 acres. Formal areas around the house are shaped using hornbeam hedges, pleached limes, a pergola and raised beds made using railway sleepers, where an attractive mulch of blue slate is used to suppress weeds. A short walk away is a formal vegetable garden where raised beds and a fine central mulberry tree are framed by a boundary of espaliered apples trained on post and wire frames.
The garden is home to a huge range of plants including specialist collections of ferns, willows and snowdrops. In the 17th century it was a cider house surrounded by orchards and though the fruit trees were long gone when they moved in, the couple planted a new orchard of apples and perry pears nearby. The garden is open to visitors throughout the year beginning with 'Snowdrop Thursdays' in February.
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