The latest issue of the Derbyshire magazine contains an article by Lynne Dixon about the Gardens and how they were taken from an overgrown mess to the spectacle they are now. If you would like to read the article click here, otherwise below are some of the images taken from the article.

Written by: Linda Viney
Cascades Gardens. Bonsall, Derbyshire
When Alan and Elizabeth Clements bought Cascades in Bonsall ten years ago, the garden was overgrown and dark, with 30-foot high holly trees along the southern border. There were few plants and shrubs, but plenty of six feet high hogweed, brambles and nettles.

Ancient elderberry trees were another problem, while the pond was completely choked with weed and full of silt. Once they had put the house in order, which has been built for the son of the owner of the corn mill that once dominated the site, work started outside.

‘Alan has a grand vision, which is great when deciding on the main structure of the garden,’ explained Elizabeth. I am better at the nitty gritty of planting out, so it is a good working combination. I would dearly love to buy him a JCB, as we always seem to be hiring one.

The fascinating landscape of Cascades was mapped out in the early 18th century and now surrounds the ruins of the corn mill with ponds, stream, canal and waterfalls. An old lead mine, which at one time thrived and provided work for local people, stands within the grounds.

As both Bonsall Brook and a canal run through the garden there was no need to add a water feature. The cascades, after which the house is named, can fall as a raging torrent or a small trickle, sometimes drying up altogether.

Backed by limestone cliffs, azaleas and camellias have been grown in pots filled with ericaceous compost. Elizabeth has managed to source a lime tolerant rhododendron. Two hebes were lost this year as the four-acre garden lies within a frost pocket. If a plant dies, the Clements never try it again because there are always others that will cope with the elements.

As the plot is situated on many levels, surrounded by mature trees, high cliffs and banks, there is always something of interest to suit all tastes.

A zigzag path leads up to the glebe and a cliff walk, which has been established as a wild flower area with seats where you can pause to enjoy the views of the Peak District beyond. It’s also an ideal spot to get an Ariel view of the garden, which has been designed as a series of ‘rooms’ each with its own identity.

There is an area of lawn surrounded by herbaceous plants, plus a striking vegetable garden sheltered by a steep cliff. The large pond is planted with marginal water plants and has recently been enlarged. Surrounding gravel paths lead to the next area. The water and plants carefully chosen to provide nectar bees and butterflies have attracted wildlife.

Once Elizabeth had filled the garden with plants, the couple began collecting seeds and propagating some of them. Alan became enthusiastic, started learning all the Latin names and discovered it was relaxing to spend time in the poly tunnel seeing plants grow.

He now spends most weekends nurturing the seedlings in the ‘baby factory’ as they have named this area. As the plants grew in abundance, they decided to start a small nursery selling specialist hardy perennials.

Statues found in the garden remind Elizabeth of her childhood and add an extra dimension. She and her brother were brought up on Charles Kingsley and acted out parts of Greek mythology.

Cascades is very much a garden for all seasons. Trees and shrubs start turning to rich gold and red as autumn approaches and the cascade really comes into its own. During winter, there is plenty of structure and snowdrops herald the first signs of a new year. There are lots of spring bulbs and by summer the herbaceous perennials are flourishing.

When Bonsall held an open garden day for charity, the Clements decided to follow suit and were immediately approached by the National Garden Scheme to open for the ‘Yellow Book’. To be open for this scheme, the garden has to offer at least 45 minutes of interest. You could easily spend half a day in Cascades and still not see everything.

Published in “Peak District Life magazine”

Written by: Lawton Slaney
Alan and Elizabeth Clements only opened their gem of a garden two years ago, as a result of an invitation from the NGS. Tucked under the limestone cliffs that reach from Bonsall up to the high ground at the western side of the Heights of Abraham, the Cascades covers four picturesque acres. Through these, runs the Bonsall Brook on its way down the valley at the side of the Via Gellia to join the Derwent at Cromford. The brook is affected by the sporadic state of the water table at the head of the valley, and sometimes dries up, as it did – partly – at the time of our visit last month, but it runs all winter, so this phenomenon doesn’t affect the gardens survival.

It’s a place to suit all tastes. There are lawns, unexpected vistas, and streams, and a path leading to the top of the cliff. From where there are stunning views of the open, rolling countryside to the west. There’s a ruined moss-covered corn mill, originally powered by the brook, and the garden is a magic place for children to explore. It has, for instance, an old tunnel which was part of a lead mine – an adit long enough to raise an exciting sense of adventure in an exploring youngster. There are places to sit and admire the views, a reed bed which houses the resident moorhen and, naturally, an abundance of plants, trees and flowers.

There’s a huge range of perennials and shrubs in the garden, but Alan and Elizabeth are particularly proud of a green flowered clematis florida plena alba, and the ‘pea pod bush’, an orange-flowered shrub known formally as coluta x media. The garden is also home to a wide range of hosta’s, which flourish, in damp shaded mixed borders. Alan has also been experimenting this year with producing his own hosta seed. Another of the gardens outstanding plants is the bright red crocosmia Lucifer. But pride of place must be given to their enkianthus campanulatus chosen by the Derby Broomfield College horticultural students. It will be shown in the Chinese garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

The proud proprietors live on site in a house, which was originally built in 1823 for the fill-owner’s eldest son. Alan has always been an enthusiastic gardener from childhood – he used to help his uncle, whose hobby was growing prize-winning roses, and from whom Alan learned the rudiments of propagation and taking cuttings. Living at that time in Norfolk he had frequented Alan Bloom’s Bressingham Nurseries as a teenage neighbour, and discovered a lot as a result. Elizabeth caught the bug later in life but has turned from being an earnest amateur into a capable partner in the enterprise, going to horticultural college whenever possible to hone her skills. Other plans for the immediate future include the addition of an alpine plot to the existing herb garden, together with a determination to continue maintaining the standards they have already set.

‘It is,’ says Alan, ‘the end of the development stage and the beginning of serious gardening’.

The Cascades is open every Sunday from April to the end of September and by appointment during the week. The entrance fee is a modest £3 (no charge for children), and refreshments are available. Pot plants in 5� pots are available for sale, and further income from these, of course, goes to charity.

A myriad of charities gain from the income generated by the National Gardens Scheme and the Clements chosen philanthropy is probably one of the smallest and most unusual. It goes to benefit a people who no longer officially exist … the Tibetans. These unfortunates survive unhappily in neighbouring India and Alan and Elizabeth have already adopted a young Tibetan girl … adding her, as it were, to their existing grown-up family of four. Alan, who runs a marketing organisation specialising in commercial Internet projects, is chairman of both the Tibet Relief Fund in the UK and YOTA, an international trust raised to help raise young Tibetans.

Published in Reflections

Written by: Frank Constable

Cascades garden in derbyshire: The cottage style of gardening must be one of the most successful that has developed over the last 100 years, one of its greatest merits is that it is uninfluenced by fashion. While landscape gardeners argue about style, many of us continue to garden in the traditional way – one which is convenient and fits in with the plants we like and are able to buy or grow easily. Today’s cottage gardeners do not have the same need for thrift and care as their humble predecessors and can be much more generous and splendid with plantings. Cottage gardens are now a pleasing mixture of trees, shrubs, plants and bulbs and can best be defined as having a lack of self-consciousness.

‘Cascades’, the home of Alan and Elizabeth Clements in the attractive old village of Bonsall, is a garden very much in this style. It has been planted in keeping with the ideas of Gertrude Jekyll, the well known gardening architect of the early 1900s who was employed in Derbyshire by the then Lord Scarsdale to advise on the layout of Kedleston Hall’s gardens.

On entering the short drive that leads to the house you are immediately drawn to a waterfall with about a 15-foot drop and realise straight away why the house is called ‘Cascades’. The Bonsall Brook runs through the garden, dividing in two with one half becoming the millrace, which feeds the cascade and the other half taking a more leisurely level route through the garden. The banks of both streams have been thoughtfully planted with hostas, iris, primulas, water buttercups and other water-loving subjects. The natural stream systems and its associated ponds adds immensely to the beauty of this very attractive garden.

On the site of an old mill, the mill owner built the present house in 1823 for his son. Over the years, the garden has seen many changes and when Alan and Elizabeth became the occupants some seven years ago it was very different. Now it is planted as a garden for all seasons, on different levels and set out in various ‘rooms’. Some four acres and at the base of an attractive rock face over which clumps of established green ivy have been carefully grown to break up the hard surface, the garden has been integrated into the surrounding countryside. At the top of the rock face – from where there are excellent views both of the garden below and of the distant countryside – is a fine group of older trees. Linking to them throughout the garden are other forest trees which have been surrounded by stretches of grass set with wildflowers and bulbs – snowdrops followed by daffodils then bluebells (recently voted the most popular countryside flower). Trees make a difference to any garden, particularly if maintained in a proper manner as they are here. Beech, oak, and occasional lime and yews some century and a half old, are coupled with conifers and evergreens, which make a pleasant winter scene. In addition to the established trees Alan and Elizabeth have planted for the future, setting young trees in bold clumps.

On Moving down the garden away from the house there are some impressive formal plantings of shrubs and perennials together with annuals and seasonal bulbs. These are backed by arches covered with clematis, honeysuckle and roses offering bursts of colour to welcome the summer. This mixed planting is ideal for the cottage garden effect with delphiniums, peonies, iris and lupins as well as some less familiar plants and a shady border of hostas and hellebores.

One delightful corner forms a winter garden that is a true miniature of the well-known winter gardens at Cambridge Botanic Gardens. Conifers in their shades of green, blue and yellow are supported by winter flowering vibutnums, colourful-stemmed cornus and silver stems of Rubus cocburnianus which later has attractive fern-like leaves.

Following a footpath through a central arch a new planting in an island bed of perennials attracted my attention. Established in keeping with the principles of Alan Bloom – the well known expert on perennial plants who holds many Royal Horticultural Society awards for his work – great care has been taken with the planting – height, shape and mass have all been taken into account. Anyone contemplating such a planting should be sure to pay particular attention to the width of the bed, which should be in proportion to the size of garden but measure a minimum of five feet and ideally nine feet or more to allow for a balanced, more versatile group of plants.

Close by is a rose shrubbery set with a variety of roses, including many Old English shrub roses, which give a display of flowers from early summer through to late autumn. In the spring swathes of snowdrops followed by daffodils and bluebells full the flowering gap and in summer hardy geraniums are spread amongst the borders.

Adjoining is an almost organic vegetable garden – slugs are a tremendous problem. A wide range of vegetables is grown, including early potatoes which are set in pots in the tunnel greenhouse. The greenhouse is used to grow a range of other plants, many of which have been propagated from the garden. Very healthy looking plants are carefully lined up and the floor neatly swept. Next you come to the mysterious entrance to an old lead mine and the newly planted orchard. It has been set with a variety of fruit trees including apples, pears and cherries, all of which have made an excellent start in cropping at such a height above sea level.

Rising from here is the steep bank of newly planted forest trees with their carpeting of wild flowers through which a footpath leads to the cliff top walk.

Cottage gardening to such a high level requires constant attention, particularly because of the elements that prevail in these higher parts of the county. The soil of the garden has an alkaline base so care has to be taken when planting certain subjects – either to choose those that tolerate a lime soil or to use plenty of compost when planting acid-loving plants. The care that has obviously been taken reflects the owners’ love of gardening with even the most difficult tasks enthusiastically handled. A wealth of wildlife, with the exception of slugs, is made welcome with butterflies, frogs, bats, foxes and badgers frequenting the garden. Birds of prey include an occasional rare buzzard and there are wagtails and woodpeckers with the highlight of dippers playing along the watercourses.

In comparison with the rigid appearance of many urban gardens it is a real pleasure to visit a garden such as ‘Cascades’ which takes as its inspiration the beauty of the countryside.

Published in “Derbyshire life magazine” in June 2003

Cascades Gardens. Bonsall, Derbyshire.

Nestled in the hills of Derbyshire in the old historic mining village of Bonsall, a great discovery was made. For buried deep into the cliff side under a dark, dense and suffocating veil of hogweed, brambles, stinging nettles and ancient Elderberry trees lay hidden a gardener’s land of dreams.

Rescue finally came to this wild four-acre plot in 1996 when garden enthusiasts Alan and Elizabeth Clements moved into ‘Cascades’. Alan and Elizabeth discovered the lost garden after peering over a wall whilst out walking. It was for them like finding their very own Lost Garden of Heligan, it was everything they had been looking for. And so began Alan and Elizabeth’s ten year long restoration project on this very special historic garden.

After a decade of digging, planning, building, pruning and planting, the main elements of restoration have been completed. Set on many undulating levels the garden incorporates the old workings of a corn mill as well as an ancient lead mine. The garden paths meander alongside the watercourse, which at one time would have fed the waterwheel to grind the corn. This now culminates with an enchanting 15ft waterfall fed by a beautiful pond set right at the far end of the garden.

To the opposite side of the garden, stretching skywards is a steep cliff, incorporating what was once a working lead mine. Upon this an arboretum has been planted where you will find more paths. Ensure to take time on your climb up the glebe to fully appreciate the spectacular array of perennial plants and flowers below harbaceous. The cliff top is the perfect place to catch your breath and take in the stunning views of the countryside. Take a moment to pause and fully appreciate nature’s glory.

The garden now boasts hundreds of different varieties of perennial plants all of which have been sourced from as far as North Scotland to Plymouth and all counties in between. Over the years the collection of plants have been found during Alan and Elizabeth’s many plant hunting weekends. Alan has also been able to fulfil one of his other ambitions and has set up his own A to Z perennial plant nursery.

The inspiration for the renovation of this garden has come from many different influences. In particularly from the pioneering herbaceous perennial gardener Alan Bloom with whom Alan follows his great passion for perennial plants and borders. Alan is enthusiastic about locating plants and flowers in their natural settings, planting them as they would have been in nature as well as reintroducing native wild flowers to the landscape. Another of the couple’s major influences in the planning of Cascades has come from their visit to the famous Zen Buddhist temple, Daisen-in, Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, Japan. It was here that both Alan and Elizabeth were inspired to integrate the natural scenery with a very subtle mix of artificial landscaping. The garden has taken full advantage of all the dramatic natural land contours and blends beautifully with the helping hand of human nature. As time goes by Cascades continues to change, develop and mature.
There is a wonderful ambiance of calm captured in this garden, where a spiritual oasis has been created, a sanctuary of relaxation and reflection. It is one of Derbyshire’s best-kept secrets and most definitely worth a visit.