Winterbourne - a Magical Garden

I've been meaning to visit Winterbourne House and Gardens for several years and yesterday I finally made the effort. I'm glad I did because I discovered a real gem of a garden.

Winterbourne situated in the Birmingham suburb of Edgbaston is a rare example of an early twentieth century suburban house and garden following the style of the arts and craft movement.

The house was built in 1903 for John and Margaret Nettlefold of Guest, Keene and Nettlefo1d. John Nettlefold carried out important pioneering work as chairman of the first housing committee in Birmingham. The house was designed like a small country estate with large gardens and outbuildings.

The gardens were designed by Margaret Nettlefold who was inspired by the books and designs of Gertrude Jekyll. The last owner of the house - a John MacDonald Nicolson - added various new features such as the scree garden. In 1944 on his death the house and garden were bequeathed to the University of Birmingham who still use it as the University's botanic garden and a teaching resource.

The gardens cover 7 acres and contain over 6000 plants from around the world.






On the Terrace



The Walled Garden














Glass House









Entering the Scree Garden





A wooden door marked "The Orchid House" led into a small, steamy greenhouse full of rainforest type plants. There was a magical atmosphere in here - it was like entering another world and took me back to my childhood (I guess I must have visited somewhere similar many moons ago)









A Fernery



Cactus House - like a very very miniature version of the one at Eden, Cornwall







Also in this area was an alpine house, coldframes with succulents and cacti and this lovely trough



I next walked through an area called The Geographics which contains plants from North and South America and China







Sandstone Rock Garden





Woodland Walk





which leads to a pool (shame about the coating of algae!) and a Japanese style bridge built in the 1930's







The Stream Lawn and Mini Arboretum













Walking back towards the house there was a pergola on the Lower Lawn











Herb Circle



Before leaving I just had time for a quick look around the house which illustrates how a traditional Edwardian home would have looked like





I wouldn't fancy lugging a camera like this around on my travels!!





I will certainly be returning to these beautiful gardens as there were many areas I didn't have time to explore and I would like to see how the gardens change through the seasons. Its also possible to access Edgbason Nature Reserve from the gardens so I'll take my binoculars next time!