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A brief shuttle took us to The Newt, home to some of Britain’s most ambitious gardens. It is also home to some great crested newts, a protected species, hence the property’s name. Following a refreshing welcome drink of sparkling apple juice made at the venue, we enjoyed a tour of the formal gardens – designed by Italian-French architect Patrice Taravella – which sit alongside wildflower meadows, ancient woodland and historic orchards.
This year, The Newt celebrated its gardens with the launch of the inaugural Great Garden Show – a nine-day event dedicated to gardening, seasonal growing and the estate’s vast landscape. We were led through distinct spaces, including the Victorian, Cascades, Cottage and Kitchen gardens.
There is also the Winter Garden – a temperate glasshouse filled with orchids, tropical fruit trees and rare plants – and the contemporary-styled Japanese Garden, which draws inspiration from Kyoto’s Chishakuin Garden, with bonsai, stepping stones of blue lias (an attractive kind of limestone) and a soothing stone waterfall. Along the way we met a few of the estate’s approximately 40 gardeners at work.
Lunch at the Garden Café [Missing Credit]
We reached the centre of the estate’s impressive Parabola, a walled garden spanning 3,000 sq m and home to 460 apple trees across 267 varieties – one of the UK’s largest collections of historic apples, “arranged by county as a living archive of Britain’s fruit-growing heritage”. We learnt how the apple plants are cleverly weighted down to encourage earlier fruit production.
Lunch at the Garden Café was wholesome, tasty and seasonal, and it was special to know that the heritage tomatoes on our starters plate, as well as herbs, fruit, vegetables and honey, had been grown just outside the windows of the restaurant. Food does not get fresher than that.
A vegetable-led menu, featuring spiced and roasted cauliflower, with almonds, fermented leaves, lentils and coriander, was ideal for kosher noshers; unusually, meat, such as braised beef, can be ordered as sides. In addition to the gardens, there are more than 3,000 cider apple trees. If you, like me, are more partial to wine than cider, the tour and tasting – including a history of Somerset cider making – may be an unexpected delight. Here, the cider is more of a wine-drinking experience.
During the 45 minutes we sampled limited-edition bottles and learnt how The Newt’s artisan ciders are made with 100 per cent apple juice, using state-of-the-art cold-press processes in their cellar. A generous picnic afternoon tea on the return journey included sandwiches (dietary needs should be requested in advance), scones with clotted cream, and an assortment of cakes including Victoria sponge made at The Creamery at Castle Cary station.
A relaxing treat indeed.
The Great Garden Escape runs on selected Fridays and Saturdays from May to September and is £375 per person. The ticket price includes 12-month membership for the gardens.
thenewtinsomerset.com
