How we have supported the National Trust so far...

Biddulph Grange is a National Trust landscaped garden, in Biddulph near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and is described as a masterpiece of Victorian garden design - a quirky, playful paradise, with an important collection of plants from around the world arranged in a series of garden rooms.

Founded by James Bateman in the early 1800’s, the gardens include the oldest Stumpery in the UK, itself the inspiration for many others, including the King’s stumpery at Highgrove House!

The Stumpery consists of hundreds of upside-down, mature, oak tree roots, creating an atmospheric, sunken path, pre-historic in look and feel and truly fascinating to see.

The team at Biddulph Grange gardens, led by Head Gardener Paul Walton, are working on increasing the size of the Stumpery, so to align with the original garden plans that Bateman created. This project has been made possible by funding from Blue Diamond Garden Centres, which has allowed the team at Biddulph Grange to secure large numbers of stumps. These are now being painstakingly added to the gardens.

Head Gardener Paul Watson said;

Every stump is different and it is like a complex puzzle getting the stumps to fit together, but the rewards are amazing!.

^{Image credit: © National Trust Images/John Mill}

Woolsthorpe Manor, in Lincolnshire, is Sir Isaac Newton’s family home and in September 2023, Blue Diamond auctioned 10 saplings propagated from the apple tree that inspired his theory of gravity.

The auction raised over £30,000, of which Blue Diamond donated £15,705 to the Trust to support the ongoing care of Woolsthorpe Manor. 

_{Image credit: ©National Trust Images/Mike Selby}

Woolsthorpe Manor will hugely benefit from the money given to it by Blue Diamond Garden Centres and will help the team at Woolsthorpe to progress with the garden management plan and care for this very special tree.

 

We planted in October a selection of bulbs – wild daffodils, snow drops, snake head fritillaries and winter aconite, under the trees in the north orchard. We then placed some yellow rattle along one side as our little tester area. We can see if the seeds take and then harvest the seeds more easily if they take. If we find it doesn’t take, we will look to plant plug plants in the spring.

We also used some bulbs towards the ticket office and planted winter cyclamen, so hopefully this should start to make the North orchard look as beautiful as the historic orchard.

Croft Castle and Parkland, in Herefordshire, covers an area of 600 hectares and is renowned for its ancient, veteran and noble trees. Sweet Chestnuts are plentiful, particularly in the Spanish Chestnut Avenue. Hornbeam, Hawthorn, Beech, Yew and ancient oaks can also be found on the estate.

Such is the concentration of ancient trees, that this collection is of significance far beyond the British Isles - few other countries possess such large concentrations.

Given the importance of the woodland, maintaining it is an ongoing task.

_{Image Credit: ©National Trust Images/James Dobson}

Hugh Warwick, Countryside Manager - National Trust Herefordshire said;

We're so excited to be able to restore this missing piece of Croft's designed landscape, especially at a time when planting trees is so important to mitigate the challenges of climate change. Through their lives these trees could sequester enough carbon to offset driving to the moon 1000 times. They will also provide habitat for the myriad creatures which currently call our veteran oak and sweet chestnut trees home, offering fantastic continuity of habitat as they mature. We've chosen to plant a mix of pedunculate and sessile oak, giving this avenue the best chance of surviving whatever changes climate change may bring in the coming centuries.

Funding from Blue Diamond Garden Centres will also be used to ensure the health and longevity of trees, such as those in the Spanish Chestnut Avenue.

The Spanish Chestnut Avenue was the original formal approach to the Castle. Aerial views of the avenue show lines and clumps of these trees which could represent a battle. It is said that chestnuts were gathered from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon and were planted in the formation of the Spanish fleet. This is an area of great historical significance.

A mix of more than 53,000 new flowering plants and bulbs, alongside exciting new wisteria ‘umbrellas’ and a restored Wisteria Walk, will add year-round interest and boost biodiversity. Realigned paths will allow visitors to explore the grounds, enjoy views as originally intended and help to bring back the spectacle, wonder and surprise that 18th and 19th century visitors would have once enjoyed here.

Dave Thresher, Senior Gardener - National Trust Berrington Hall said;

The generous funding from Blue Diamond Garden Centres for our new flower garden at Berrington Hall not only allowed us to plant over 53,000 bulbs and plants, but also supported the construction of a new accessible path network and the installation of beautifully designed ironwork for a wisteria arch and wisteria umbrellas. I am thrilled to be part of this innovative National Trust garden, made possible through our partnership with Blue Diamond Garden Centres. This will enable visitors to enjoy Berrington's gardens for many more years to come.

The funding received from Blue Diamond for this project will help visitors enjoy Berrington’s gardens for generations to come.

^{Image credit: ©National Trust Images/Rupert Truman}

Benthall Hall in Shropshire will use £50,000 from Blue Diamond Garden Centres to rebuild a glasshouse to cultivate, display and engage visitors with tender plants collected by George Maw while living at the hall in the mid to late 19^th century.

Maw collected plants for Charles Darwin and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and is best known for writing and illustrating A Monograph of the Genus Crocus, published in 1886.

_{Image credit: ©National Trust Images/James Dobson}