In April The EAGG visited two outstanding, but very different gardens in Essex.

Ulting Wick, Essex

The first was the beautiful garden at Ulting Wick created by the very creative Philippa Burroughs and her husband Bryan. This is an 11 acre site on the banks of the river Chelmer. There is a wild flower meadow, a beautifully kept potager with a Victorian style greenhouse and formal gardens round the beautiful sixteenth century farmhouse. The three barns are a wonderful backdrop for the floral displays. The garden has been featured on t.v. and in many leading garden magazines.

We were excited to see the stunning tulip display, using thousands of tulips, which is such a feature of this garden in spring. We were not disappointed. Philippa uses tulips of similar heights which flower at the same time. Her vibrant colour schemes are dazzling and I suspect several members will be copying her ideas

One of the beds which really caught my eye was in shades of pink with the gorgeous black ‘Queen of the Night', the lily-flowered ‘Mariette' and the pink ‘Barcelona' and the fringed ‘Curly Sue'

By the gate a planting of pink, orange and yellow tulips looked gorgeous with Tellima grandiflora. I think the orange one was ‘Ballerina' and the yellow looked like ‘West Point'.

There is a pink garden and I loved the combination of Box topiary with fluffy aquilegias, camassias, grasses and tulips.

The white garden was set off beautifully by the black barn. The black wrought iron seat looked wonderful flanked by white tulips and the black cow parsley; Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Raven's Wing.' There were pots full of the lovely, white, fringed, tulip ‘Daytona'.

In fact, the pots of tulips everywhere were really eye catching; I particularly loved the fringed bronze one that I have never seen before. I think it is ‘Black Jewel', although it is not black at all, but bronze-maroon. The row of pots of red and white ‘Estelle Rynveld' looked stunning against the white wall.

Snare's Hill Cottage, Essex

After a morning in this lovely garden, the next one at Snare's Hill Cottage, Duck End, Stebbing was a complete contrast. Liz and Peter Stabler who gave us a warm welcome have created a quirky, yet charming 1.5 acre garden. It was featured on Gardener's World. There is an enclosed garden with a lovely summer house which features a natural swimming pool, I love the giant dragon fly sitting on a bulrush and watching over the reeds at the side of the pool.

Peter has built a wonderful tree house, ostensibly for his grandchildren but I suspect it is as much for his own delight as for the grandchildren.

In fact Peter is clearly very fond of little houses and he has built several, each one more charming than the last. I think the summer house with the old bike leaning against it would not look out of place in a Chelsea Flower Show garden. There are old gardening tools and chimneys and even a beehive here.

There is a beautiful beach hut complete with a shingle beach and even an anchor.

If you carry on from here you find a folly and a lovely birch copse. The bog garden which looks very boggy indeed is edged with natural woodland.

I loved the quirky, vegetable garden presided over by a charming scarecrow clutching an empty bottle of wine. An old wheel barrow is full of nasturtiums which will look pretty as the summer progresses.

Snare's Hill Cottage consists of a series of enclosed gardens. I love the one you enter through a wrought iron arch with the sundial in the middle and chairs for relaxing and enjoying the view.

There are so many unusual features here that it is a job to mention everything. I loved the greenhouse and also the water features everywhere. The large pond had a beautiful fountain and I also loved the lizard dribbling into a little pool from a plaque on the wall.

When we eventually made our way back to the house there was tea and wonderful homemade cake waiting for us.