Airfield Gardens

Opening Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Opening Days: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Opening Hours: 10-5pm, Sun and Bank Hols 11-5pm
Admission Charge: Adults €6 Children€3 concessions€4 Family day pass 2 adults,2 children €18

• Appointment Only
• Admission Charge

In their day the late Misses Overend, Letitia (b.1880) and Naomi (b.1900) were a legend. There are lots of colourful recollections about the sisters from the way they gave lifts to local school children who were able to recite the registration numbers of their wonderful vintage cars, to their involvement with the St John’s Ambulance Brigade.

Airfield, where the sisters ran a model farm with a herd of jersey cows, is their legacy to the city and was left in trust to the public. The gardens around the 1820s house now reflect both the old world charm of a long established garden and a bold new planting scheme very much in the pioneering spirit of the sisters.

In the walled garden at the heart of the estate, the contrast between the traditional cruciform layout of paths edged in precision clipped box and the blowsy newcomers - burly rudbeckias, Salvia sclarea turkestana,statuesque artichokes, Maclea cordataand a host of shimmering swaying grasses - is brilliant. Like happy champagne drunks, the plants refuse to behave primly and there is the odd surprise guest - banana palms and the glistening black berries of the Joe Pie-plant to liven things up even further.

In the midst of all this exuberant display the rectangular sections laid out around a circle of hornbeam contain traditional rosaries planted with old roses like R‘Souvenir de St Annes RComte de Chambord, ‘Fantin Latour’ Rde Rescht, an orchard with unusual fruits like medlars and mulberries, a knot garden of herbs, and a lily pond. The tea garden on the terrace looks out over a U shaped bed of yet more exotic planting with Verbena bonariensis, Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ and Ferna Osten.

Guarded by an art deco gate twined with a wrought iron serpent, the yew walk with corseted Florencecourt yews has an exotic shrub border (the green catkins of Itea ilicifoliaand the glory flower Clerodendrum bungei are particularly eye catching) and leads on to the soothing lawns where
Wellingtonians sweep the grass with their skirts.

On the far side of the walled garden, frost tender plants like aeoniums and tibuchina have their summer break outside the green house; there an inspirational garden packed with new grasses whispers to herbaceous plants,(sedums, Japanese anemones echiums and heleniums) around wood chip paths.

And beyond are walks that invite exploration, past the orchard patrolled by speckled hens and geese, past the Garden Heaven Vegetable Garden, round the boundaries, through the flower meadow, or round the evocatively named Golden Path.

With a farm and car museum, paddocks with Thelwellesque ponies and a thoughtfully provided picnic area, there is a lot to see and do on family outings.

 

Best time of year to visit: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Gardens Strengths

Soft romantic and hot contemporary planting

Groups & Tours

• Groups Accepted
• Groups Need Appointments
• Accept Only Groups
• Guided Tours

Minimum Group Size:

1

Tour Days:

Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Tour Times

Daily by appointment

Additional

Trails

No

Festivals

None

Events

Sculpture in context, Shakespear on the lawn and many concerts in the summer. Check the web site

Other Facilities

Working Farm & Car Museum