The Dower House Garden at Morville

The Dower House Garden at Morville Garden in south Shropshire Created from scratch by Katherine Swift.

24/03/2026

The garden at spring equinox

It isn’t just the plants that make a garden. The flowers, shrubs and trees are all painted by light and shadow.

I was thinking about this on my last visit where I enjoyed watching the theatre of spring. The show started with daffodils beaming reflected light, backlit fritillaries hang their heads like tavern lanterns and white blossoms melodramatically swoop across the stage, framed against a backdrop of dark yew hedges.

As the garden awakens, bees, butterflies, ladybirds and feathered friends keep watch as they warm themselves in the gentle sunshine. I wonder if they are as curious about me as I am about them.

This theme of light and shadow seemed all the more relevant at the spring equinox. Saying goodbye to winter, we welcome back the light without forgetting the darkness.

What is happening in your garden?

Accompanying this slideshow is Laurence Pedrick Music’s beautiful dreamy guitar piece “Starlight”. Indulge yourself and take a tour of the spring garden, perhaps with your favourite drink by your side.

Thank you to Katherine, Michael, James, Jennie, Andria and Tim for keeping the garden in tip top shape over the last few months.

01/02/2026

Droplets of spring

The garden at Morville is dotted with tiny nods to spring. Bobbing to the beat of the breeze, laden with promises, the snowdrops and crocuses signal a return of hope, light and warmth.

Are there any signs of spring in your neighbourhood?

Thank you to Laurence Pedrick Music for the use of his music, an excerpt from “On Derwent Water”.

30/11/2025

Welcome to the garden in autumn, we hope you enjoy your guided tour.

Thank you for this piece of writing by volunteer, Tonia Collet

"All of the sixteen trees - each one trained into four perpendicular cordons - are laden with fruit. These are not the flawless spherical fruit of supermarket shelves, but ... hu**ed and bossed, flat-round and oblong-conical, with basins ribbed, puckered and russeted, eyes open and closed, skin flushed, striped, spotted and seamed, flesh redolent of acid drops and honey, pear drops and strawberries, pineapples, hazelnuts, aniseed and cloves. Some of them are gaudy as peacocks ... Others, subtle as scholastic philosophers, hide their exquisite flavours beneath dun exteriors, like 'Ashmead's Kernel' and 'Court Plat Pendu'." The Morville Hours.

October was such a month of richness at Morville: the quince, the apple and the pear hanging like jewels from rain-damp branches. The light is low, softened now after the harsh glare of August, and the colours light our way around the garden as the evenings draw in closely, like a child pulling up a stool for a story. It is the season for remembering, for gathering and for readying the larder for winter.

Here in the garden, we have harvested, pruned, raked leaves, tended the auriculas, mowed. There is ever weeding to do. Lit bonfires that crackle, lingering a little longer by them to warm fingers chilled by the brush of the air.

Thank you to Jennie, Tim and Andria for their stalwart volunteer gardening in all weathers as well the ever hard working Katherine, Micheal and James. Other contributions from volunteers include Music, (The Sailor Who Fell From Grace), by John Laurence Pedrick Music and photos by me, Alexandra Preston.

21/09/2025

September

Here we are, again bursting with the energy of what feels like a new term at the garden. As the fruits fall and the warmth of summer imbeds in the reddening leaves, us happy gardeners get to work on a balmy day, the warm soil, freshly watered by the returning rains.

We snip and pull and dig beneath the a smoky September haze. A small bonfire cremates the leaves from our old friend, the quince tree, which fell in recent winds. One remains, so laden with fruit that I feel sure it will survive next door to its companion the medlar, surely a character from I play you say, but no, the curious fruit of bygone days.

Thank you to the wonderful creators and helpers, Katherine, Mike, James, Jennie, Andria, Tonia and also to John Laurence Pedrick for the music.

10/08/2025

Blazing Summer

Hot listless days, sleepless nights, brittle leaves, wilting stems, golden grass, sun-baked seed pods, the garden basking in a cascade of relentless sunshine.

How have you and your gardens coped with this year’s weather?

With thanks to John Laurence Pedrick for his guitar piece “Interlude in memory of Nick Drake”

22/06/2025

The Cloister Garden at Midsummer
A quick glimpse of the Cloister Garden at Midsummer.
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Wishing you well and hope the sun that shines on you warms your soul.
Thank you to Laurence Pedrick Music for the use of his music “From the Edge”.
🍃🌿🌹🌾🌞🌾🌹🌿🍃

02/02/2025

January

A bitingly cold month, where layer upon layer of wooly fleeciness did little to keep us warm. In the garden, the plants rested beneath their frosty coats and sparkling tiaras.

Only the bravest leaves witnessed the iridescent clouds and the planetary line dance above. The structure of the garden laid bare, outlined in glittering white, silent and still, waiting for the frenzy of spring not yet awakened.

I took a wander as the sun was setting finding Katherine tucking up the tender plants, ensuring a snug long night for them in the poly tunnel.

Meanwhile stalwart gardeners, undeterred, ever busy preparing for warmer days ahead. Thank you Micheal, James, Jennie and Andrea, as well as our new volunteer Tonia, to John Laurence Pedrick Music too for the use of his beautiful song, “Starlight”. Together, we hope to bring you another year of this ever-changing garden.

01/01/2025

December

As the leaves and petals fold into the soil, protected by thorns and spikes, the plants can rest now, safe beneath their earthy blankets. Moss coats branches and pots like tiny wooly forests, lichen perched on branches resembles soft green blossom and ivy embraces trunks and pillars.

I find myself looking for light in these darkest days and delight in seeing snowdrop shoots poking skywards, hellebores dipping their heads, a pink rose, and a bright little daisy. Feathers lodge themselves on twigs fluttering in the breeze.I am as uplifted by these small discoveries as when unexpectedly bumping into an old friend.

Wander around and breathe deeply, scents emerge to greet you from the dark foliage, ballerina-like creamy white flowers dance on shrubby honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), tight yellow buds on the yellow mahonia, the warm comforting fragrance of pink viburnum, winter jasmine and the delightful Christmas box (sarcococca) which I only noticed for the first time when Katherine lifted the leaves to reveal the glistening dark berries and tiny flowers. A festive bouquet lingers in the apple tunnel from the fallen fruits feasted on by the birds.

The recent storm, brought down a large tree down behind the urn, but its absence will allow more light. So we end the year with a kind of optimism and wish you the same.

Thank you dear friends for joining us in the garden, we love sharing it with you and wish you all a very happy New Year.

For those local people who might be thinking of a new challenge in 2025, perhaps you might like to volunteer, we would welcome a little extra help in the garden. Please send a message if you are interested and we will get back to you in the next few weeks.

Thank you kindly to John Laurence Pedrick Music for allowing us to use a section of his piece “ Hiraeth”.

03/12/2024

November

A time of fading light, falling leaves, seeds, snow, shadows. A time to lay low, dream deeply, make plans, allowing our eyes to linger over shimmering mornings and shifting mists.

How was your November?

Thank you to Laurence Pedrick Music for allowing us to use his original music,inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “Gethsemane”, with Andy Szirtes on Violin and Jane Hadley on recorder.

No Gardening todayThank you to Katherine for taking these pictures of her garden this morning. I love how she shows us w...
19/11/2024

No Gardening today

Thank you to Katherine for taking these pictures of her garden this morning. I love how she shows us winter catching up with autumn.
Wherever you are we hope you are cosy and warm.

03/11/2024

Flutter and fade, scatter and sway, ripen and fall, nestle, autumn is in full swing in the October garden.

Thank you to John Laurence Pedrick Music for the use of his song "Waiting", to the volunteers aswell as Mike and James, and of course, to Katherine for her drive and vision which keeps the garden thriving.

02/09/2024

Hello friends, how are you and your gardens? Are you seeing many signs of the seasons changing?

Summer Fades

Bending stalks and yellow leaves, golden light and abundant ripeness. Seed heads wave and scatter, apples thump upon the the first fallen leaves. Late flowering roses, dahlias, clematis, sweet peas and trails of berries light up the garden, their intense colours complimenting the fading russet tones.

There is a richness here amongst the jewel-like rose hips, vibrant fruits, crimson leaves and papery petals, a promise of leaning into autumn, to the quiet work that sustains us.

A harvest of Summer’s bounty.

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Thank you to Katherine, volunteers, garden helpers and especially John Laurence Pedrick Music for allowing us to use his music “Town Hill” from his album “Postcards”
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We hope that you can take a little time out to soak up the beauty and warmth of these final days of summer .
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Morville
WV165NB

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