The committee of the Friends hopes to use the Blog to communicate with members of the Friends and others interested in the Gardens or in Shaldon generally.
The Blog will include information about Homeyards, our plans for development of the gardens, and the progress we are making. It will also pass on details of events and opportunities for you to get involved.
Communication is a two way street, and we hope that you will take advantage of the comments facility included with each post to let us know your thoughts, views and opinions about what we are doing, and of course any ideas of your own for the gardens.
Hire the Castle
Good Luck. I lived at The Homeyards in the Seventies so the Botanical Gardens was like an extended garden to me. Camps in the trees, hiding in the bamboo bushes near the pond, ghosts by the grotto or the castle and as for that avenue of trees which I swear was haunted. Approaching the gardens through the big gate up those wide but shallow stepping stone type steps alongside the allotments. Great stuff.
Hello there Lisa,
I am replying via the ‘blog’ because I am concerned. Did you not receive my e-mail of the 8th July, 2013 in reply to yours? If you did receive it and there is a problem then please could you let me know.
With many thanks,
Karen Byfield 19th July, 2013
My understanding is that these gardens were gifted to the people of shaldon. Therefore can you explain who ‘homeyards’ are and what legal right they have to develop this area?
After Mrs Homeyard’s death in 1944 the gardens were sold to Teignmouth Town Council and were opened to the public in 1955. Following government reorganisation in 1974 they passed into the stewardship of Teignbridge District Council. If you’d like to know more about the history you can find it in a widely available booklet ‘Aturfuqil’s Shaldon’.
I like this garden, especially the pond, very much and have made a slideshow of my photos taken yesterday at https://youtu.be/ixoyHgvGPwo. The only thing I would say, is that you are doing the right thing clearing the brushwood, but the trees need an awful lot of work as my guess is the main point of the site is to present a succession of fabulous views. I know this is very expensive and wonder whether Teignbridge DC, who benefit from being able to include it in their list of parks, might be able to help? They are currently reviewing ‘their’ Green Spaces, in which I suspect they include Mules Park although strictly speaking it isn’t theirs
Thank you for your kind comment Dorothy, and the slideshow is lovely. As for Teignbridge DC, they are already heavily involved with the works in the Garden – they decide on what needs to be done to the trees, and do it.
Hello Dorothy
It was good to see you in the gardens with your camera yesterday. I like your pictures, but you should try to see the gardens on a sunny day! You are absolutely right, the objective is to return the views from the gardens to how Mrs. Homeyards would have seen them, and that means removing a lot of rogue trees and brushwood. With an enormous amount of support from Teignbridge DC and other benefactors we have been able to remove quite a lot of trees over the years, but we know there is still a lot to do (the occasional gale has helped out as well!).
If you get chance to visit the gardens during a week day you might enjoy chatting with our gardener Gary – he is usually around between 8am and 2pm and is both friendly and knowledgeable.