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 at 10.00 and working parties on the second Wednesday of the month. It enters the village in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition.

Addingham was awarded a Silver Gilt medal and was category winner in the 2006 and Silver Gilt Medals in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Yorkshire in Bloom competitions

2010 Spring Judging is on Friday 16 April at 1.30pm

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

Notes on Addingham Village Gardens (April 2010)

Medical Centre
Our new Medical Centre(opened last year) 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 a few weeks ago. 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 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.

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

Marchup Ghyll Nature Reserve Silsden Road.
This area was a Victorian landfill site which was mainly ash and broken glass. It has been 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 work has been largely been under the leadership of the Parish Council with finance from the Onyx Environmental Trust and trees provided by ‘Bradford Forest’. The reserve was formally opened in 2004 and now has an information board to help visitors.

‘Lay-By’ Garden (opposite Townhead Trading Estate)
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 have a colourful wall planting.

‘Sailor Corner’ Graden above Sailor Pub.
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 Public House makes the most of the small area of garden available to them.

‘Old Cottages’ Garden (opposite Burnside Mill)
This garden is so named because it was created after old cottages were demolished during ‘slum clearance’ in the 1960s. Across the road you will see railing planters which were initially planted by the 2nd Addingham Brownies for their badgework.

Old School Fountain Garden (beside the Library)
This garden has been rebuilt by the AGF, with a large ‘pebble’ fountain as the centre piece. The small auxilary fountains were deliberatly 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 adjacent Hen Pen Garden) a very popular area with villagers and visitors.

Hen Pen Garden (opposite the Post Office)
This is the largest of the village gardens and has been completely re-designed and re-planted by A.G.F.(main picture). This major project is now almost complete (some planting is still to be finished and a feature stone gatepost is to be erected in the centre). 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, access ramp (right) built by Addingham Parish Council and stone edgings by B.M.D.C. Parks & Landscape Dept.

Sugar Hill Green
This grass area was created when the railway was demolished about 1969. We have 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 as shown below, and planted a Korean Pine in memory of 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.