Walkden Gardens

We have seen lots of laburnum arches, and very beautiful they are. So we decided to look for a wisteria arch. I put it in a search and the first entry came up as Walkden Gardens in Sale!

I wondered why we had not heard of the place until I looked at the history of the garden and found that the area was not given to the local council until 1983 - almost 25 years after I had left the grammar schhol next door. The photo does not really do the arch the justice it deserves; all you locals should go to see it quickly before the flowers fade. Most of the work seems to be done by volunteers and lots of events are held there during the year. There are several small gardens including a new Japanese garden. There is also a dovecote that was rescued when the work was being done on the M60. It was taken to pieces bit by bit and relocated.

While we were in the area, we went along to Fairywell Road to see if the house had changed much, and what a surprise. We went down the back first and saw a building almost as wide as the garden. At first we thought it may be a new garage, but it wasn't [and because there were workers there, we could not investigate further]

When we went to the front, there was another surprise. The garden has gone! In its place there is grave and flags, with a car parked on it. It would be good to see what has gone on inside too, but no chance of that.

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather. We are off to Scotland next week, so hope it holds.