Walking past the elegant Georgian façade of 30 East St Helen’s Street, Abingdon, you may not be aware that this historic Grade II listed building with its rich and long history provides visitors with the opportunity to spend time in its tranquil and spiritual riverside garden.
Now under the care of a charitable trust, established by Dorothea Pickering in 1997, St Ethelwold’s House is used by community groups, especially those exploring a spiritual path through meditation and yoga. The garden which many people are surprised to discover, is tended by a skilful and creative team of dedicated volunteers. It also provides a venue for various events throughout the year.
With parts of the house dating back to 1518, the property has had many uses over the centuries. By the 16th century it was probably commercial premises and then a brewery established by Thomas Hulcotts in the late 17th century. The front house was built around 1707 for the marriage of Thomas’s daughter, Hannah, to William Hawkins, a rich widower. Until the 19th century, you would have stepped straight out of the main house into a bustling yard, with horses, carts, and bails of barley and hops. The River Thames played a vital role in all this and, indeed, the yard was originally much bigger than today’s garden, to allow barges to be loaded and unloaded. There were outhouses, too, and it was in those that the beer was brewed. By the mid-19th century, it was Pemberton’s coal yard.
In the 1930s there was a garden, possibly much like it is today. According to an estate agent’s leaflet from that period, it had a “secluded Old World charm”. There were paths, rose beds, box-bordered flower beds, espalier and wall fruit trees, a heated greenhouse, summer house and “delightful” access to the river for bathing. Viscount and Lady Chetwynd lived at the house.
In 1964, the property was purchased by Dorothea Pickering. She first used the house for her prep school, moved from the Vineyard and called The Vineyard School until 1967: it later became her retirement home. During the 1970s, Dorothea believed it could be the base for a traditional Benedictine Community. She named it St Ethelwold’s after the reforming Abbot of Abingdon Abbey, a major figure in the Benedictine revival in England. She was then inspired by the Benedictine monk Bede Griffiths, who had an Ashram in India, to create a spiritual centre where people of all faiths could learn from each other and find peace and inspiration. He visited and wrote to her about the plans. Under Pickering’s leadership, St Ethelwold’s House became a popular destination for spiritual seekers. It hosted various events and workshops, including meditation sessions, and interfaith dialogues.
Visitors to the garden will be able to see plants flowering all year but there is a profusion from March to September with single flower plants selected to give bees and pollinators a continuous supply of pollen and nectar, and woolly plants, such as Lamb’s Ears to encourage wool carder bees. Parts of the garden are kept unmown and unweeded to provide additional pollen and nectar.
As you enter the gardens at St Ethelwold’s House, the entrance path beds are filled with lavender, clematis, oxalis and Persicaria, with the stone wall covered by fruit trees. In late April to early May, a fabulous wisteria draws visitors in. Further into the garden, where steps and a ramp lead down to the lawn, is a wide swag covered with a pink rambling rose and rich claret-red clematis, Madame Julia Correvon. Early summer sees the beds packed with blue iris, purple alliums and blue agapanthus. The spectacular south-facing orange border blazes in colour during the summer months. A honeysuckle, exuding its fragrance, clothes the stone wall, with a climbing rose and Solanum Crispum Glasnevin, providing a contrasting blue haze. The beds are generously planted with dahlias, alstroemeria, delphiniums, helianthus and rudbeckia.
Providing cooler contrast is the north-facing border with its shade-loving plants in paler tones. Here hydrangeas, Alchemilla, Kirengeshoma palmata with its pale-yellow shuttlecock-shaped flowers along with a white climbing rose provide an attractive spectacle. The border is enlivened in high summer with white Bizzy Lizzies followed by tall white cosmos, delphiniums and petunias.
There is a white border, with dahlias, agapanthus, dianthus, roses and sweet peas, silver leaved Stachys and artemisia, demonstrating the effectiveness of a single colour scheme. A lawn is shaded by a mature walnut tree, which offers welcome shade for visitors to enjoy the view. The end of the garden overlooks the River Thames, with a pretty wild flower area and a shady bed featuring mainly pink planting, including hardy geraniums, Astrantia, clematis, phlox and penstemon. There is also a vegetable patch – an important part of any garden – and the volunteer gardeners are looking to increase the crops grown over all the seasons.
The gardens are cared for by this team of volunteers, who work as ecologically as they can. The drip irrigation system installed around the borders uses river water sparingly and composting is crucial, with large amounts of good compost made on site used to mulch. Comfrey also provides a home-made fertiliser.
The overall effect of the garden at St Ethelwold’s gives much peace and serenity to both the volunteer gardeners and visitors. Entry is free, relying on the generosity of visitors who leave donations in the bird box or via QR code. There are big financial challenges coming up, but Trustees are determined to do all they can to keep the garden free for all to enjoy. So visit, relax and restore.
To find out more visit ethelwoldhouse.com
