Addingham Garden Friends

Addingham Garden Friends

The Garden Friends is a group of volunteers who aim to help to enhance and maintain the appearance and wellbeing of the village open spaces and public garden areas, with the assistance of Bradford Council and the Parish Council. The group has planning meetings on the first Wednesday of the month in the Old School (above the Library) at 10.00 and working parties on the second Wednesday of the month at 9.30am. It enters the village in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition.

Great News! Addingham has been awarded a GOLD Medal in the 2011 Yorkshire in Bloom competition AND is WINNER of the Small Country Town Class. Very well done.

Thanks and congratulations to all who helped.

Addingham was awarded a Silver Gilt medal and was category winner in the 2006 and Silver Gilt Medals in the 2007 to 2010 Yorkshire in Bloom competitions - a full list of our certificates can be seen HERE

If you are interested in gardening and would like to join us please telephone (01943) 831412
or Contact the Chairman.

Notes on Addingham Village Gardens (April 2011)

Medical Centre
Our new Medical Centre is proving a great asset to the village, and now incorporates the village Pharmacy as well. The beds around the Centre were planted by contract gardeners employed by the Doctor.

Children’s playground
This new playground was officially opened by the 2009 Gala Queen last year. The playground was built for the village by the Addingham Civic Society, with donations from village individuals and groups as well as grant money. The adjacent flower bed (front) has been planted by B.M.D.C.

War Memorial and Bowling Green
This area adjacent to the Memorial Hall Car Park and the sports ground behind are owned by the Parish Council. The access drive to the Memorial was re-paved by AGF using a grant from the Living Spaces organisation, and new beds have been made along the drive. .

The Fleece Pub
The patio area and the frontage are always very colourfully decorated with tubs and hayracks.

High House Mews (‘9’ on map)
This development for retired people has beautifully maintained gardens. The maintenance is mainly carried out by the residents themselves. It won the Ben Bailey Homes Trophy 4 years after construction.

Ilkley Road Welcome Bed
The welcome bed has been re-located and rebuilt by a villager (f.o.c.).

Church Orchard
This garden, opposite the Church, has been developed as a re-creation of a traditional Rectory garden. The owner has also planted thousands of snowdrops in the garden and in the adjacent field.

St. Peter’s Church
Our ancient and beautifully situated Parish Church. The area is decorated with approximately 40,000 daffodils in the spring, which have been progressively added to since the original ‘Golden necklace’ around the walls was planted (see front cover and Page 7). Maintenance is by Church members.

North Street Garden (below)
This was previously planted with roses but they suffered from rose sickness and, perhaps, the shallowness of the soil. The AGF have edged the central bed with boards, built up the soil level, and re-planted it with ‘cottage garden’ perennials and shrubs.

Addingham Primary School
The school Gardening Club, run by three enthusiastic teachers, grow flowers, salad plants, herbs and vegetables, the latter used by the school kitchens and bought by a local pub. Children of all ages are keenly involved. The greenhouse is used for raising seeds and some experiments.

Marchup Ghyll Nature Reserve
This area was a Victorian landfill site which was mainly ash and broken glass. It was sealed with a layer of soil, sown with wild flower seed and planted with over 900 native trees and shrubs (planting by a working party of villagers) and bird nesting boxes (provided by the Wharfedale Naturalists Society) have been erected. The maintenance work is being done by AGF volunteers and BMDC, with finance from the Parish Council, the Onyx Environmental Trust and trees provided by ‘Bradford Forest’. The reserve was formally opened in 2004 and has information boards to help visitors.

Silsden Road Recreation Ground
This was equipped with a new children’s play area, using money (£45,000!) raised by an action group of parents and other villagers. An area was planted with native trees by volunteers led by the Parish Council to link with the nature reserve across the road.

Silsden Road Allotments
These are two of the three allotment sites in the village - the other is at Newtown (Map Square E6). As well as holding regular talks and running as shop, the Addingham Allotment & Gardens Association holds well supported Spring and Summer Flower Shows in the village. The field below the upper allotments has be converted to new plots by the Parish Council and the Allotments & Gardens Association to eliminate the allotment waiting list in the village (below).

Street House Farm Estate
This estate (built during the 1990s) has many very well planted and maintained private gardens, visually helped by the open plan frontages.

‘Lay-By’ Garden
This small garden was built a few years ago by the Parish Council on land sold to them for a nominal £1 on condition it was used as a garden in perpetuity. We are progressively re-planting to give more year round interest and have added two variegated hollies to act as focal points and rhododendrons (donated by a villager) in the wood above. The nearby Craven Heifer pub has colourful wall-top planting.

Street House Farm Estate
This estate (built during the 1990s) has many very well planted and maintained private gardens, visually helped by the open plan frontages.

‘Sailor Corner’ Garden
We have made new beds in this shady area with woodland plants to add a new area of interest in the village - most other gardens are in full sun. Planting includes bamboos to add a background. Note that the nearby Sailor pub makes the most of the small area of garden available to them.

‘Old Cottages’ Garden
This garden is so named because it was created after old cottages were demolished during ‘slum clearance’ in the 1960s. With the help of B.M.D.C. Work has started to clear overgrown shrubs and ivy, re-shape the beds and build a new wall along the pavement side. Across the road you will see railing planters which were initially planted by the 2nd Addingham Brownies for their badgework.

Old School Fountain Garden
This garden was rebuilt by the AGF, with a large ‘pebble’ fountain as the centre piece. The small auxiliary fountains were deliberately positioned close to the front to allow children to play with them. The Civic Society sponsored re-paving of the surrounding area (formally poor asphalt) and a villager has donated a seat in memory of his wife to make this (with the adjacentHen Pen Garden) a very popular area with villagers and visitors.

Hen Pen Garden (below)
This is the largest of the village gardens and has been completely re-designed and re-planted by A.G.F. Over the past three years (main picture below). This major project is now complete and includes new roses and an old village gatepost (as a central feature). The original design idea was produced by a local professional designer (f.o.c.) and this has been developed by A.G.F. with financial help from Addingham Conservative Trust. The access ramp was sponsored by Addingham Parish Council and stone edgings and paving provided and built by B.M.D.C. Parks & Landscape Dept.

Sugar Hill Green (adjacent to Hen Pen)
This grass area was created when the railway was demolished about 1969. AGF created a corner bed to replace an old dog rose, new planting in front of the toilets to replace a scruffy grass bank, a grasses bed beside the toilets and snowdrops to add to the daffodils in the grass. The Parish Council has recently replaced the central seat and planted a Korean Pine in memory of the late Councillor Mick Aldridge. Bird boxes (made by a villager) have been fixed to trees on the green.

See www.addingham.info, the Addingham village information website for all the info about the village.