The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire
180 acres of family history
They say that familiarity breeds contempt and it wasn’t until very recently that I even considered writing a piece on the garden that I visit most often. The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Braishfield, Hampshire which is only about fifteen minutes from my front door. The garden is named after its creator, horticulturalist Harold Hillier (1905 - 1985). He was part of the Hillier dynasty, who are famous for having created fabulous displays and won 74 consecutive gold medals at Chelsea Flower Show over the years. Chelsea has also been where Hillier have introduced their new varieties of plants, bred by their experts.
There are 22 Hillier Garden Centres across the South of England. Although there is a garden centre on site at Braishfield, the gardens are now run separately as they were gifted to Hampshire County Council in 1977 and are now run as a charity.
Because I have an annual pass to the gardens and can pop in on a regular basis. I have got blazé about the amazing 250 metre long double herbaceous border, which in its entirety, covers an area of 5000 square metres. It is in fact, the longest double border in the country. It’s packed with colourful shrubs and perennials. It’s called the Centenary Border because it was created in 1964 to celebrate 100 years since Harold’s grandfather, Edwin Hillier founded the nursery and floristry business in a little premises in Winchester. The border lasted 45 years in its original format, before it was deemed to be rather overgrown and in need of improvement. It took two years to completely remove the overgrown shrubs and replant a new, wider border with a lawn running the full length. It’s edged with pale grey granite paving, interspersed with granite setts and has a focal point of a central ellipse. The newly revamped Centenary Border was opened in 2013, by the then Duchess of Cornwall.
I always try to make time for a visit in January or February. It’s a must, as there is an absolutely glorious winter garden and it’s perfect to get out into the fresh air on a cold sunny winter’s day. The winter garden is full of the scent of daphne, sarcococca and hamamelis and the blooms of snowdrops, crocus and aconites. Large beds of dogwood stems glow brightly on even the dullest day and live up to the name Midwinter Fire. It’s great to get a garden visit ‘fix’ at this most gloomy time of year.
My most recent visit was with the rest of the family, on Christmas Eve to see the Light Up installations. It was a really magical evening. It was surprising how different the familiar spaces seemed in the dark, illuminated by amazing coloured lights. The Yorkshire pudding wrap and the Baileys hot chocolate weren’t half bad either!
The gardens and arboretum cover an area of 180 acres and is home to over 600 champion trees. A champion tree is the tallest, widest, oldest specimen of its species. Information about these special trees is held on the Tree Register. The Hillier Garden has one of the largest collections of champion trees in the British Isles.
The Hillier garden centres chain was started by Edwin Hillier, Sir Harold’s grandfather in 1864 when he opened his small business in Winchester. He started working in gardens well before that. Leaving school at 14 Edwin began his training as a Journeyman.
Young gardeners were positively encouraged to move from place to place every couple of years. Only by travelling around could they become familiar with different soils, climates, methods and routines, while gaining experience under some of the great names in gardening. They were known, logically, as journeymen improvers.
from Hillier the Plants, the People, the Passion by Jean Hillier
The Hillier family first took up residence on the site in Braishfield, near Romsey, Hampshire in June 1953, the day after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
The beautiful cream painted house on site Jermyn’s House, was once owned by Brigadier General Cuthbertson, who used it as the headquarters of the local Home Guard during World War II. That conjures up some very Dad’s Army images for me, which probably isn’t fair at all.
For anyone interested in the history of the Hillier family, I recommend the book by Jean Hillier, Hillier the plants, the people, the passion, which was published in 2014. My son had a Saturday job in the Braishfield Garden Centre at the time and every member of staff received a signed copy of the book personalised to them. It impressed me hugely, that she should take the time to inscribe a book for every member of staff right down to the young saturday boy. I wish he still worked there, I do miss the staff discount!
Have you ever been to the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens?
Wonderfully informative Julie. Think a visit to the winter garden is calling! Meet you there for lunch?!
Must make time to visit soon!