GREEN SHAPES AND GRAVEL - MOULTON GARDENING GROUP
Behind the tall stone walls that border the Holt Road, Kingston Road and Mill Lane lies one of Bradford on Avon’s hidden gems - the gardens and grounds of The Hall. Whilst The Hall itself looks out over these walls (as do the enormous Redwoods planted by Stephen Moulton in the latter part of 19th century), much of the garden is difficult to view from any vantage point.
The Alex Moulton Charitable Trust are looking at ways to allow more access to this unique listed garden and as part of this scheme we are establishing a small volunteer gardening group. Initially this group will assist the Estate Manager with light gardening taks as we start to bring the Trust’s small but perfectly proportioned garden back to its former glory and much more into the public sphere. We will meet on Wednesday mornings. If you would like to join us and help us open up the gardens, please get in touch - see our Contact page.
The centre photograph above (click the picture for a larger image) shows Moulton’s team of staff in the 1890s - the men would have worked in the garden and the women in the house. With the passing of time the staff numbers were greatly reduced and in later years the garden has been maintained solely through the efforts of our part-time Estate Manager.
One may ask how this is possible, and part of the answer lies in Alex Moulton’s great skill in reducing things down to their fundamental properties or qualities. “A garden”, he stated, “is green shapes and gravel”. And so it came to be. Flourishes and flamboyance were greatly reduced, although some concessions were made - including a border of Catmint on the West Lawn for Toby to play in.