The gardens at John Clare Cottage are maintained by our group of willing volunteers. They consist of a herb garden, together with a fruit bed, a vegetable patch, a flowering herbacious border and an orchard.
The plants are varities that would have been around in the time of John Clare. We also have our own bee hive and have successfully produced our own honey which, when available, can be purchased in the Cottage Shop.
The Garden
SPRING 2013
The long hard winter means that Spring has been kept on hold in the cottage garden. Snowdrops and crocuses have only just finished flowering and have been instantaneously followed by primulas, narcissi, muscari, tulips and spring blossom.
Planting in the vegetable garden has been delayed until conditions improved. Now that the soil has had a chance to warm up a little we have planted first early potatoes and a variety of onions.
The herb borders, situated around the terrace where the statue of John Clare stands, are showing signs of new growth and it won’t be long before we’re able to again pick rosemary, thyme, mint and sage to use in the cafe.
In anticipation of the exciting new landscaping work due to be carried out in the bottom garden, our beehive has been temporarily removed to another apiary a few miles away. There has been no shortage of other insect life in the garden and in particular on the gage tree blossom, but it does seem strange not to hear the soothing hum of the honeybees whenever the sun is shining.
RHS Chelsea Garden at John Clare Cottage
Gold winning garden is to be installed at John Clare Cottage and will open to the public on John Clare’s birthday - July 13th.
Adam Frost, 4 times Royal Horticultural Society gold-medal winning garden designer begins work on overseeing the major installation into the gardens at John Clare Cottage of the 2012 gold medal winning RHS Chelsea garden ‘The Rural Muse’. The garden takes its inspiration from the journeys that the renowned poet John Clare took through the stunning scenery around Helpston, Barnack, and towards Peterborough and Stamford.
All plants for the garden were being raised at the renowned Barnsdale Gardens which was started by the BBC Gardeners world favourite Geoff Hamilton and is now run by his son Nick and all other materials used in the garden a were sourced locally, to keep the true feel of the Northampton/Cambridgeshire countryside.
Adam Frost is a Patron of the John Clare Trust and joins former Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion and actor Sir Patrick Stewart in supporting the many and varied projects associated with Clare and his birthplace. For further information or to assist in this exciting project please contact The John Clare Cottage on 01733 253330 or info@clarecottage.org
Cottage Weather for the past month
| April 2013 | April 2012 | |
| Highest Temp | 20.8 Deg C | 18.1 Deg C |
| Lowest Temp | -4.6 Deg C | -2.5 Deg C |
| Rainfall | 19.4 mm | 111.4 mm |
| Max Wind Speed | 33 mph | 25 mph |
