In October 2005, Mr Alan Titchmarsh, the well known gardening celebrity, officially opened the first new public garden in Sherborne for 100 years commemorating 1300 years since the founding of Sherborne Abbey and town.
The open space that is now Paddock Garden was once occupied by a row of cottages facing onto Newland. These were destroyed around 1735 to open the view across the valley to the hills for the owner of Sherborne House and the ground was used as a Paddock for his household. The foundations of the original cottages still lie beneath the present garden.
Lord Digby’s School for Girls moved to Sherborne House in November 1931 and two grass courts and the three hard courts were laid out in the Paddock to provide tennis and netball facilities for the girls. The three hard courts were destroyed on 30th September 1940 when German bombers dropped their bombs during a raid on Sherborne and those were not fully repaired until 1947.
In 2005 Sherborne Town council became the owners of the Paddock and held a public competition to find the best garden design.*
*from an information board in the garden
They need more colours in the garden.
Add some yellow, white and orange.
I visited Down House last week.
Their rear garden was lovely.
No fancy design though, just rows and rows of colourful flowers.
I have visited Down House. There are some interesting plants and trees and also bees
I really enjoy looking at flowers in bloom.
So do I