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Visit to Beggar’s Knoll Chinese Garden

Beggars Knoll Chinese Garden 1

On Saturday 15th June, Colin Little and Penny Stirling welcomed two groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, to their fascinating Chinese Garden.

Fortunately, a heavy shower of rain had moved across just in time for the morning visitors, although it was still cool and windy so everyone enjoyed coffee, tea and home-made cakes before venturing out for a guided tour in two smaller groups led by Colin and Penny.

Beggars Knoll is a Chinese-style garden, split up into small garden rooms, each named in the Chinese fashion, with a wide variety of plants from the orient and elsewhere. There are Chinese garden pavilions, and a Chinese moongate. Several of the pathways have mosaic designs typical of Chinese gardens. The site is steep – on the edge of Salisbury Plain – but easy paths let us wander around. There is an extensive potager, with chickens, and there are three small ponds of different types. Additionally, Colin and Penny have planted many quite rare trees and shrubs from China and elsewhere, including a collection of viburnums and a collection of podocarps.  There are also great views to the west, towards Longleat, the Mendips and the Cotswolds.

The weather held for the afternoon visitors and Colin and Penny repeated their tours, which were equally well received with several people saying that they had been inspired by what they had seen.