January 2022
Looking back twelve months to what I had penned this time last year, there was a lot of hope that things would get back to normal and we would be able to run a full programme of events in 2021! Little did any of us expect that twelve months later we would be where we are now. However, the exceptionally successful vaccine roll-out has made a huge difference and we feel more confident now that we can keep the garden open and hold events throughout the year.
Details of our proposed programme of events for 2022 are on page 2. In addition to our regular events, we plan to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in early June with a new exhibition in the Challis House – details in due course. We also hope to have Half Cut Theatre return in the summer with their witty and entertaining take on popular Shakespearean and modern plays.
As noted in previous articles, the Challis Garden has never been so busy, with more and more people finding this tranquil and safe haven in the heart of the village. We certainly hope our regular visitors will continue to use the garden even as other venues start to re-open. The many groups and clubs who met and practised here last year are also very welcome to hold regular sessions.
A lot was achieved in the garden last year, helped by the addition of many new volunteers, for which we are very thankful. Besides all the regular garden maintenance work, we made improvements to our gift and plant stalls, refurbished some garden furniture, renovated the front garden, and planted some new areas with spring bulbs, cyclamen and foxgloves, which will add interest from spring through to autumn.
Plans for the coming year include paving in front of the chicken sheds, improving disabled access across the car park, and installing a water feature and some new plantings in the vicinity of the new building. The last one depends, of course, on when the new building is completed pending favourable weather and approval of the planning authorities. All being well, we hope to open the building with a new exhibition some time later this year. We’ve also had a generous grant from Sawston Fun Run towards the cost of making improvements to disabled access in the car park.
We plan to establish some ‘dead hedges’ along sections of our boundary. This is a useful way of utilising garden waste, simply stacking pruned material, dead stems and cut branches to form a barrier. This organic matter gradually breaks down, releasing nutrients back to the soil and providing a great habitat for insects, birds and amphibians. It also means less time and effort disposing of this material and substantially reduces the amount to be burnt each year. What’s not to like?
The museum and archives remain closed until Covid restrictions are relaxed to allow visitors into the house again. Who knows when this might be? Meanwhile, the museum team are pressing on with sorting and cataloguing the many archives, records and photographs in our collection. It is an onerous task, but some recently installed cataloguing software will facilitate the work.
The coming period of February to March is the best time to enjoy the early floral displays in the garden. Our winter/spring walk has colourful dogwoods repeated along the border, under-planted with snowdrops and crocuses and interspersed with a number of winter- and spring-flowering shrubs, notably Christmas box (Sarcococca), shrub honeysuckles, Viburnum fragrans and Mahonia. The drifts of snowdrops, aconites and daffodils are another spring highlight, brightening up large areas of the lawns and orchard. Crocuses have spread and naturalised along the footpath leading to the summerhouse, an inspiring sight on a sunny spring day. But don’t take my word for it – do drop in to see for yourself!
For those of you with woodburners or open fires, we have a good stock of logs for sale. Ask one of our volunteers to assist if needed. Keep safe and stay warm.
Mike Redshaw
Platinum Jubilee Appeal
The Challis Trust hopes to have a display in the House to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, with material showing how Sawston has celebrated in the past. We should be very pleased to be loaned any photographs or accounts of celebrations and also any recollections and photographs from those who have met or seen the Queen. Any items you lend us can be copied and so originals will not need to be displayed. If you have any such items please get in touch either in person at a time when the garden is open, or by email to chair@challistrust.org.uk
Mary Dicken, Challis Trust Secretary
Published in the February–March 2022 Sawston Scene
Read MoreNovember 2021
We were delighted to be able to hold our Spooky Saturday event this year on Saturday 30th October. Despite the wet start, the weather improved during the morning into a lovely autumn day. Judging by the number of visitors, this is very popular with Sawston families. It was wonderful to see so many happy faces and colourful Hallowe’en costumes. Well done to everyone for entering into the spirit of the occasion. All the activities were well attended, especially the do-it-yourself face-painting. Mums and dads impressed us with their painting skills and evident enthusiasm! We loved all the photos and complimentary posts on Facebook.
The homemade cakes and Andy’s soups were fully consumed, and all the pumpkins carved. Many thanks, as ever, to our wonderful team of volunteers and helpers, without whom we would not be able to stage such events. Special thanks to Chris Baker for donating an impressively large – and characterful! – pumpkin to display and for bringing colleagues along to help prepare the pumpkins. “When shall we three meet again…?” – well, how about Saturday 29th October 2022?
Visitors will have noticed the steady progress on the new garden building. Weather permitting, we hope the roof will be in place well before winter really sets in. For the time being, we need to keep the main garden gate closed due to building work, so please continue to use the side entrance on the left-hand side of the car park. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
The Challis House and museum remain closed at the moment but new exhibitions are being planned. The archive team are still at work filing, cataloguing and sorting through the large collection of artefacts. One of the functions of the new garden building is to house some of the large collection of Challis artefacts recently donated by the Moulton family; Mary Challis’s mother was a Moulton. We are very grateful to them for donating this material.
The herbaceous perennial beds in the garden are still surprisingly colourful, though some tender plants were caught by the first frosts in early November. Autumn-flowering pink nerines (Guernsey lily) have been particular good this year. If the current mild weather continues, colour will last for a few weeks more. Summer bedding plants have now been replaced with winter-flowering pansies and wallflowers.
Although it is now well into autumn, there is limited autumn colour this year as a result of the protracted mild weather. However, some species are beginning to show marked changes in leaf colour, notably acers, dogwoods, ornamental ivy, sumach (Rhus spp.) (spp meaning ‘species, so more than one type) and Berberis spp. Autumn highlights in the Garden include our lovely ginkgo tree, Nandina (heavenly bamboo), cotoneasters and Amelanchier (juneberry). There is an impressive display of red fruit on the yew tree along the path into the garden.
Although winter is now upon us, there are many things to look forward to in our gardens. The first signs of spring bulbs emerging from the soil can already be seen. There should soon be snowdrops, aconites and crocuses to cheer us up. We can also enjoy the wonderful fragrance of wintering-flowering shrubs, such as shrub honeysuckles, Mahonia spp., Christmas box (Sarcococca confusa) and witch hazels (Hamamelis spp.). The winter/spring border will be at its best in the New Year, punctuated with clumps of red, green, yellow and multi-coloured dogwoods (Cornus spp.). Do come and have a look on a bright winter or spring day to enjoy the sights and smells.
The traditional winter and Christmas favourites of holly, ivy and mistletoe look great this year, with lots of berries. If you need any materials for wreath-making, do come and ask us for some.
Thanks to our dedicated team of volunteers, work in the garden is well up to date. The main tasks for the coming period are to apply leaf mould and compost to the herbaceous beds, gather leaves and carry out winter pruning. Regular seasonal attention is needed to keep on top of vigorous herbaceous perennials that can be invasive if left alone. So lots of digging up, splitting and cutting back to do. Andy Jackson has been busy in the raised vegetable beds, planting broad beans and giant garlic. There are always plenty of jobs to occupy us.
Please remember that the garden remains open, as usual, throughout winter. Opening times are in the Directory and on our website. Do have a look at our Challis gifts for possible Christmas presents: notelets, tea towels, preserves, miniature and old bottles, woodturned articles, honey and plants. And there are always logs available for some winter warmth!
Mike Redshaw
Read MoreChallis House, Museum and Archive are closed until further notice
Check here or our Facebook page for updates.
Read MoreSeptember 2021
Writing this during the mini-heatwave in the second week of September, it feels as if summer is still with us, but there are clear signs of autumn in the garden – heavy morning dew, nights drawing in and ivy flowers alive with honeybees, hoverflies, wasps and the specialist ivy mining bee. Our beehives have produced 80lb of honey to date, with more to come – there is usually a boost at the end of season from ivy flowers, which the bees love, but ivy honey is a tricky one to process.
Apart from our Worcester Pearmain apple and a half-decent crop of Victoria plums, the top-fruit harvest has been poor this year. Not much prospect of producing any apple juice this season, but we are always hopeful of some donated fruit. On the other hand, raspberries are doing very well and should continue into October. Results from the vegetable beds have been rather mixed. Outdoor tomatoes and some potatoes succumbed to blight disease and had to be destroyed. But there were good crops of runner beans, French beans, beetroot and giant garlic, and decent bunches of grapes in the vinehouse.
After all the cancelled events this year, the combined Challis Fete and Horticultural Show on 4th September was a resounding success. No surprise that many visitors remarked just how much they had missed these events and it was great to be able to enjoy an outdoor event again. The exhibits in the main marquee were as colourful as ever, displaying an impressive range of fruit and vegetables, floral arrangements, cakes, preserves, handicrafts, photos and children’s creations. Wonderful! Many thanks to everyone who participated and congratulations to those who won trophies and prizes.
Mr and Mrs Wells – enthusiastic supporters of the show – won two trophies. Mrs Wells gained the most points in the fruit and veg section and between them they were the family with the most points in the entire show by a wide margin. Very well done to them. The Kent family and the Cook family (from Bassingbourne) were second and third respectively for most points won. This year’s trophies were presented by our Patron, Jennifer Crompton:
- Trustees Trophy (most points in fruit and vegetable classes): Kamlawatee Wells
- Garden News Trophy (best exhibit in fruit and vegetable section): Justin Whitaker
- Frank Matthews Trophy (best exhibit in domestic classes): Alison Kent
- Mary Challis Trophy (best floral exhibit): Ann Redshaw
- WI Trophy (best handicraft exhibit): Judy Saunders
- Sue Reeve Trophy (best exhibit in 8 to 12): Sophie Macfarlane
- John Falkner Trophy (best exhibit 7 and under ): Jessica Kent
- Chair’s Trophy (family with most points): Mr and
Mrs Wells - Norman Carver Trophy (best exhibit): Judy Saunders
We are grateful to the many organisations and individuals for attending the show and setting up stalls, including the Cambridge Flower Club, Royal British Legion, Old Forge Honey, Wool’n’Tea, Pippa’s Cards, Timebank, Paul Stower (woodturner), Jeanette Cavey (machine-knitting), Eleanor Clapp (spinning wheel) and Morsbags. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone. And last but not least, a huge thank you to the many volunteers and helpers who made the day such a success – not just on the day but for the work and preparation beforehand. Andy Jackson’s auction of produce after the show again provided a very entertaining end to the afternoon! Many thanks, Andy.
Visitors will have noticed the ongoing progress on building work for the new garden museum. Work is complicated by the limited access to the site for larger vehicles, but our builders have got around the problem with admirable ingenuity. What would we do without them? The main gate will remain closed for the foreseeable future, so please continue to use the side-gate on the left as you enter the car park.
We aim to hold our popular Spooky Saturday Halloween event, as usual, on Saturday 30th October from 10am to noon. Look out for more information on our website and Facebook page, and posters in the High Street. Save the date and plan ahead. We look forward to seeing lots of families there. Whooooo!
Mike Redshaw
Published in Sawston Scene, October–November 2021 issue
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