Ahead of their National Garden Scheme event, we were delighted to talk to Sunnyside Rural Trust’s Head of Horticulture, Ian Barrow. Read on to learn the story behind Sunnyside Rural Trust and what you can expect on Saturday 13 May, when the trust opens all three of its sites to the public.
I’m Ian Barrow, and I’m the head of Horticulture at Sunnyside, which involves helping and advising our team of horticulturalists, and trainees to grow vegetables in our market gardens, perennial and annual bedding plants in our glasshouses and poly tunnels, and fruit in our orchards.
We are opening our three sites at Two Waters (Hemel Hempstead), Ivy House Lane (Berkhamsted), and New Road (Northchurch), for The National Garden Scheme open day on 13 May. This is the first time we have done this, but we hope to make it an annual event.
Each site is different from its partners, but all three lie along the Bulbourne Valley linked by the Grand Union Canal, railway and local bus routes. So, we hope visitors will call in to each site to see what we do and make a day of it.
At Hemel, we have glasshouses where we grow bedding plants and perennial plants; herbaceous borders featuring pollinator-friendly and drought-tolerant plants; a restful lawn area and fruit orchard alongside the canal; and extensive vegetable plots. There’s a popular cafe for drinks and light meals, where visitors can also buy produce from our activities.
Three miles away is our Berkhamsted activity centre, which is set in a tranquil woodland garden, bounded by vegetable plots and fruit growing areas. There’s a woodland trail and a newly created border for the event. This is the site where our famous jams, chutneys and pickles are made so there will be a stall selling these along with drinks.
Northchurch is our main market garden, where aside from vegetables, there are goats, sheep, pigs and 400 chickens! There’ll be a trail for the kids to follow, and vegetable seedlings ready for planting to buy and take home. Close to the coffee shop and produce stall, there’s a Knott garden created from the plants used at our RHS Hampton Court show garden a couple of years ago. Our team at Northchurch have created an orangery with newly installed lemon trees to showcase on the day, also on site is our partner plant nursery selling a wide selection of herbaceous plants.
Sunnyside was started at Northchurch over 30 years ago, by families who found there was no provision for people with learning difficulties to engage with nature and the land. Now we provide engagement and training in horticulture, animal husbandry, catering, baking, and crafts, for 150 trainees each day, helping them gain life skills, experience and friendship.
We have over 50 staff members but rely heavily on volunteers, both individuals and company teams, to keep all we do running, and get new projects off the ground. This unstinting work by our volunteers over many years gained us, and most importantly them, The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2021. We are very proud to have been awarded this in recognition of the huge contribution Sunnyside volunteers make to our people and the communities who host us.
Our Hemel and Northchurch sites are open to visitors Monday to Saturday 10am–3pm. We have regular events throughout the year. Do check our website for things coming up. We also run produce stalls at local town markets and have a Veg Box scheme and sell the plants we grow from our shops. People will see us out and about. We are always happy to get help from volunteers. Simply contact us for a chat about what we might do for each other.
We are looking forward to meeting new friends on The National Garden Scheme open day and hope they will become regular visitors.
The three six acre gardens in Hemel Hempstead, Northchurch and Berkhamsted will open with the National Garden Scheme as a group on Saturday 13 May 2023, as a Sunnyside Rural Trust Trail for you to explore. Three sites on just one ticket!
