On Thursday Sth May nine of us spent a very interesting afternoon at Lukesland Gardens just outside Ivybridge.

We were welcomed by Lorna Howell, who, with her husband, has lived there since 2003. Lukesland has 24 acres of woodland gardens with flowering shrubs, magnificent trees and a wealth of wild flowers. The bluebells were at their best and you could smell their scent all over the garden. We wandered by ponds and waterfalls looking at huge rhododendrons and azaleas, in fact wherever you looked there was something to see. Rodgersias caught our eye with their beautiful bronze leaves. Ferns, especially Osmunda Regalis planted over 100 years ago, were just beginning to unfurl and two amazing low wisterias at ground level in full flower were just a few of the wonderful plants; it truly was a feast for the eyes.

We had a delicious tea in the sunshine.
The June visit on Thursday 2nd to Whiddon Goyle near Okehampton has been cancelled due to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

From their website. 'Throughout the season you will see the clear waters of the stream cascading over waterfalls and lying tranquil in the ponds. The garden is based around numerous islands and bridges, which makes it great fun for all age groups to explore. There is something unexpected around every corner!

At the latest count (May 2015) there are now 4 National champion trees in the garden, 4 English champions and 25 Devon champions. The famous Magnolia Campbellii has been slightly outgrown in girth by a couple at Borde Hill in Sussex, "but would be the champion for spread if we counted this" Owen Johnson, National Tree Register. Tree lists are available on request in the tea room.

In the middle ages, tin streamers worked the valley that is now the site of Lukesland Gardens. They disturbed the entire course of the stream and left piles of stone and gravel along its sides. But this can only be seen now on the moor and fields above the garden.
 

There was a house in what is now the formal part of the garden, that is thought to have been Tudor. It was quite substantial (records refer to its seven bedrooms), but it disappeared from the records around the mid nineteenth century. Was it consumed in a dramatic fire? The current house was built in 1862 in the distinctive Victorian Gothic style, by W. E. Matthews. He wanted a base for hunting on the moor, but did not live here for long. Around 1875 he sold it to James and Barbara MacAndrew, who came from the family of the Liverpool shipping line of that name. They extended the house and built the Lodge at the entrance.
In 1930 the house passed to the Howell family. Over the last seventy-five years they have greatly improved the gardens, changing them from dark Victorian laurel groves to bright displays of flowering shrubs.'