The Ridges

BRITAIN'S FINEST - GARDEN DESCRIPTION WORDING The Ridges, a Georgian house, was built in the late 1700' s by local landowners the Standish-Langtree family and has had only a handful of owners since then. In the mid 1800's it was the home of a local mill owner and in 1880 was bought by John Haslem Gillett a wealthy cotton mill owner, with many mills around Lancashire. The walled garden was planted with fruit trees and much of the six acres of land was developed into landscaped gardens and lawns, including many different species of rhododendrons, with woodlands on three sides making the gardens very sheltered. Since 1994 the old walled kitchen garden and orchard, with trees still bearing fruit today, has been replanted with wide perennial borders, a herb garden, a natural looking stream with moisture loving plants and spectacular, highly scented rambling roses and clematis scrambling through the apple trees. A natural living arch leads from the orchard garden through a sturdy metal gate into the more formal area where a large, rectangular lawn has now been surrounded by new beds, planted with shrubs and brightly foliaged trees to contrast with the older and larger rhododendrons, hollies and copper beech. The centre of this lawn is now a mock pond with moisture loving plants and grasses surrounding a large stone urn overlooked by a Victorian style glass house. Undergrowth of the glades and woodland has been cleared to make way for ferns and shade loving plants and each year new features are created or areas that have been neglected are cleared and restored to provide interest for visitors.