Ashwood Nursery and John Massey’s Private Gardens
Ashwood Nurseries is a traditional working plant nursery situated in a rural location, where many of the plants on offer are grown on the premises. The nursery is beautifully set out in a lovely natural garden setting. There are several greenhouses, a garden shop and a gift shop in which to browse as well as the beautiful, mostly home grown, plants for sale everywhere. There are many specialist collections, including hellebore and hepatica.
The Tea Room You can relax in the charming Tea Room with its beautiful garden views and enjoy delicious food freshly prepared by our team of chefs., coffee and cake and super lunches and desserts.
‘John’s Garden’ at Ashwood Nurseries is a wonderful eight acre private garden created by nursery owner and Chelsea Gold medallist John Massey VMH. Informal borders, island beds, woodland dells and a wildlife garden are set against the beautiful backdrop of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.
Regarded as one of the finest private gardens in the UK, there are magnificent collections of trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and conifers adding to the interest all year round with an abundance of rare plants as well as familiar favourites.
Its many fine features include a stunning pool and rock garden planted with choice alpines and miniature bulbs, an Anemone pavonina meadow, a rare tufa garden and a dramatic fern stumpery. The ruin garden and Christopher Lloyd border put the spotlight on some inspirational seasonal planting.
Throughout the garden, urns and patio pots are imaginatively planted.
‘Adam’s Garden’ is an area within John’s Garden dedicated to the memory of John’s former head gardener Adam Greathead who died aged 27 in 2017. This tranquil space is home to specimen trees selected for Autumn colour, rare conifers, island beds planted for spectacular Summer colour, a delightful Mediterranean border and a a fine collection of named snowdrops.
John’s Garden has been featured on TV as well as in numerous articles in the national and gardening press, and has been described by Carol Klein as ‘the most loved and looked after garden I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting’.
There will be two guided tours of John's garden, one at 11.30 pm and one at 2.00pm which should each last about 90 minutes.
You will also be able to visit the Wildlife Garden if you still have the time and energy!
The Wildlife Garden
This walk has uneven ground and slopes but has benches to rest on and take in the surroundings.
In a rural canal-side setting adjacent to John’s Garden, surrounded by undulating farmland and pockets of woodland, our wildlife garden is ideally situated to attract a wide variety of creatures for visitors to enjoy.
Here, we are developing and maintaining the garden using the same ecological principles used to manage nature reserves across the country.
The aim is to provide a variety of habitats in order to attract a range of species and achieve a high level of biodiversity while creating an environment that is also attractive and pleasing to the eye.
Developing habitats
Mature native trees such as oak, birch, alder, and wild cherry, as well as an area of coppiced hazel, are characteristic of woodland habitats and provide for visiting woodland creatures. Hedgerows of hawthorn and blackthorn with flowers and berries for foraging are perfect habitats for birds and insects.
The canal-side setting brings aquatic creatures such as dragonflies and damselflies and the stunning sight of kingfishers, who can be seen fishing from a perch we have installed.
The grassland itself provides the largest habitat. An estimated 97% of British wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s. The remaining habitat is vitally important to many of our favourite British species and countless other less well-known ones.
We have added numerous native wildflowers to the meadow to provide nectar for butterflies, bees, moths and other pollinating insects. Twenty-one species of butterfly and over 270 species of moth have been found so far, and careful management should encourage more species in the future.
When can I visit the wildlife garden?
The wildlife garden is adjacent to John’s Garden at Ashwood Nurseries and will be open to visitors (weather and ground condition permitting).
The wildlife garden offers a fascinating nature experience for families and enthusiasts. You can stroll along waymarked paths with something new to discover on every visit, hopefully providing inspiration and ideas for your own garden.
There are viewing screens and a bird hide for viewing the bird feeding area; kingfishers, woodpeckers, bullfinch, and nuthatch are regularly seen, as well as seasonal migrants such as siskins, swifts, and swallows. Numerous nesting boxes provide additional interest.