The group visits interesting gardens which are available to the public either through the National Gardens Scheme, National Trust, Historic Houses, or private gardens by arrangement.

Gardens will be chosen and visits arranged by the members. Access will usually be by car as many of these gardens are unavailable by public transport, a car share arrangement will operate from the Civic Hall car park. Communication within the group is through a WhatsApp group and members post details about the visits.

The Convenor will put details of arranged visits onto the website regularly.

Please contact the Convenor if you are interested to join the group. 

U3A Garden Visit Group Meeting January 23 rd at 4 Auction Court

Present: Ann Beeby, Isobel & David Metcalf, Joan Firth, Joanne Barker, Sally
Maxwell, Ruth Buckley.
Apologies from Chris McWilliam
Judith Clerk, and John Curtis and Gillian have left the group.

Joanne reported that one of her Book Group members was interested to join
although she couldn’t be with us this morning.

Programme agreed so far:
February: Sunday 1 st February Snowdrop Day to Rufford Hall & Bank Hall.
Rufford Hall free to members, non- members £6.50 Bank Hall £4 at the gate.
Car Share Departing Longridge Civic Hall at 10.30am with a light lunch at Rufford
and on to Bank Hall in the early afternoon.

March: Saturday 21 st March ARLEY HALL Garden Entry £7 Café open
Booking in advance gains access to discounted prices for garden and car park.
Car share from Longridge Civic Hall time on WhatsApp

April: National Garden Scheme gardens now available.
Tulip Open Days Saturday April 11 th and Sunday April 12th at Brighter Blooms,
Walton Flats Nursery, Walton le Dale.

Rest of the Season:

Other Suggestions for gardens not in the scheme include: Sizergh Castle, Holker
Hall, Levens Hall, Tatton Park, Myerscough College (Joanne Barker will arrange a visit)

.
Kington Cottage in Treales A very fine small Japanese style garden.
Ann Beeby will arrange a private group visit, probably in June, this follows discussion
with the owner last season.

Castlefield Viaduct Greater Manchester by train. Ruth Buckley would like to
organise another trip. Visited last year in association with the Preston Gardening
U3A gardening group.

Snowdrop Visit - Rufford Old Hall and Bank Hall, Bretherton

Our first gardens day out was a great success. Weather kind and snowdrops magnificent, particularly at Bank Hall. At Rufford we enjoyed a circular walk through woodland and along the Rufford branch of the Leeds Liverpool canal plus lunch,

Rivington Gardens Pre-visit

On Saturday 23rd August David and I did a recce of the above site to see how the conditions and challenges of the terrain and steepness of the paths plus the many steps would affect any proposed future visit.

As you can see from the photographs (below) some of the ascending paths are very rough and quite steep, I would estimate at least 30 mins to get to the lowest level of the garden from the nearest car park. Once there we can slowly meander around the site taking in all its many attractions at our leisure, stopping at the cafe for hot and cold drinks plus snacks.

However, this does involve many ascending paths and multiple steps and obviously the reverse on our way down.

I hope you can see from the photographs some examples of this.

We leave the site via the same path we climbed earlier remembering that this can be rough, with trip hazards and some uneven areas.

Good walking boots, walking poles and a drink will be essential. David and I were out for about 3.5 hours including lunch, but it could take longer if we walk more slowly, stop frequently and view additional sites which is all absolutely fine.

There are no toilets in the gardens, nearest being at the visitor centre next to the Great Barn.

Our visit to Calder House Lane gardens

Our visit to Castlefield Viaduct with members from Preston u3a