Restoration, Restoration, Restoration

Ford Green Hall, Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent

There's nothing quite like a proper project you can really get your teeth into to banish the bad weather blues and thankfully, such a project has come my way!

After the dismally wet day that thwarted their 'Garden Party' at the beginning of this month I was determined to do something to help the Friends of Ford Green Hall as they go through the tricky transition from being a City Council run museum to a self-governing independent project. 

I'm not going to get into the politics of that; if you haven't picked up my opinion on public spending cuts etc by now, you haven't been paying attention!

Ford Green Hall is an early 17th Century house operating as a museum and education centre.  I first visited a couple of years ago with a party from the school where I've been doing the allotment project and we had a fabulous time with the staff really bringing the place to life and giving the children a proper flavour of life in Stuart-era England.  The highlight was probably the moment when, asked why people in those days saved the urine in their chamberpots in a big barrel, one girl suggested "to make gravy?"

There's an idea now, Heston!

Overgrown herb bed

My mission has become to get the garden looking in tip-top condition ready for whenever the official launch comes along.  Initially, that involved taking a tough line with the mint and soapwort hell-bent on domination of the six raised beds used for growing herbs.  These are classified as 'culinary', 'domestic', 'cosmetic', 'medicinal', 'textile' and 'magical'.

Presumably some of the local ne'r-do-wells assumed you might be able to smoke those in the last category, because most of them have disappeared!

Now you see them, now you don't!

It's early days yet and I'll post some more pictures as things progress, but as well as taming the herb beds I've also clipped one section of the knot garden and started doing battle with the ash saplings and bindweed invading the flower beds.  It's already visibly better after just three afternoons. 

And it's so good to have the privilege of combining my love of history with that of horticulture.  Watch this space for further progress - between showers, of course.