Visit the snowdrop flurries at Wentworth Woodhouse
Known as the first flower of the year, the valiant little snowdrop is about to make a big impact at Rotherham’s hidden gem Wentworth Woodhouse once again.
Throughout February, snowdrop flurries form dainty carpets of white at every end and turn in the grade I listed mansion’s private garden.
The flower symbolises winter nearing an end and hope for better times ahead. Five varieties – from the most common Galanthus Nivalis to the honey-scented Galanthus Atkinsii – stretch across several acres at the house being brought back to life by Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust.
They peep from woodland areas, surround the Punch Bowl near the South Terrace and line the avenue of beech trees leading to the mansion’s Baroque West Front.
The picturesque scenes are thanks to backbreaking toil each year by Head Gardner Scott Jamieson, his right-hand man Andy Smith and their two teams of local garden volunteers – the Tuesday Welly Wangers and the Wednesday Bramble Bashers.
Each year, once the time is right, they begin the back-breaking task of splitting and transplanting thousands of snowdrop bulbs, ensuring the drifts are ever-bigger the following year.
Members of the charity ArtWorks South Yorkshire and local businesses involved in Corporate Responsibility Days play a huge part, too.
“Our Snowdrop Mantra is ‘Dig, divide, plant, repeat!’ said Scott. “It’s hard work but wonderfully rewarding. We all get stuck in, knowing we are making next year’s snowdrop flurries all the more special.
“Our drifts firmly place the gardens at Wentworth Woodhouse in any discerning gardener’s diary as a must-do visit and light the fuse for the kaleidoscope of colour arriving in the next few months – from swathes of daffodils to our showy rhododendron and camellia collections.”
Wentworth Woodhouse gardens are open every Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm and on Tuesday February 15 and 22 (government COVID-19 guidelines permitting).
The house will be temporarily closed from February 15 to March 2.
Book garden tickets online at www.wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk (£6 for adults and £3.30 for children, U5s free. Family tickets: 1 adult, 2 children £11; 2 adults, 2 children £12).
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