A HISTORICAL HAVEN OF FRUIT AND FLOWERS

KG's Martin Fish takes time out from his own plot to visit a walled garden in Lincolnshire which has been home to the same family for more than 400 years

- Martin Fish

Visiting gardens is a great British pastime and although for me it's a bit of a busman's holiday, I thoroughly enjoy looking at other gardens, large and small.

It's a great way to get ideas and inspiration, and of course garden visits usually involve tea and home-made cake!

When Jill and I moved to Lincolnshire from North Yorkshire one of the things we said we would do is try to visit more gardens, so when a friend mentioned that a garden in a nearby village was opening and it had a walled garden, it was a definite must-see.

Hackthorn Hall is around six miles north of Lincoln in a small village that dates back to Roman times. It's been the home of the Cracroft family since the early 1600s and the current stone hall was built in the late 1700s and is now the home of William and Maggie Cracroft-Eley.

The hall is surrounded by 15 acres of gardens, which include a small lake, formal terraces, clipped yew hedges, serpentine box hedging, a sunken garden and colourful borders leading down to the church. Further out from the house is a woodland area and the Lady Walk, which in early spring is full of snowdrops and leads to the walled garden.

The gardens and grounds at Hackthorn are maintained by head gardener Keith Donner and I found Keith holding court in the walled garden, talking to visitors about the beautifully trained fruit trees on the tall walls.

Keith has worked in horticulture since leaving school. He trained at nearby Riseholme College as an apprentice and continued to work there for 26 years on its commercial fruit farm.

He's been at Hackthorn for almost 20 years, so he knows the gardens inside out and apart from a little seasonal help, he manages the gardens by himself.

A WALLED DELIGHT