Caversham Court Gardens is a Reading Borough Council public park, open to all from 0800 to dusk every day of the year except Christmas Day . It is situated on the banks of the River Thames near Caversham Bridge.
The gardens have won the prestigious Green Flag Award, as well as a Green Heritage Site award again in 2017. They have now done so every year from 2010 to 2017. The Green Flag singles out parks that are clean, well run, and welcoming, and the Green Heritage Site accreditation shows the site is valued and conserved, and that people are helped to appreciate it.
LATEST The tiny blue and white star-shaped flowers of Chionodoxa (Glory-of- the-Snow) are now lending colour to the short grass under the venerable mulberry tree in the Mulberry Court area. An unusual deciduous bush is also flowering near the gate to the churchyard at the top of the Gallery Garden (see Events section of the website)
In 2015, Caversham Court won the Thames and Chiltern award for Horticulture in the Britain in Bloom competition. Congratulations to Head Gardener Will Paice, his RBC team and his band of enthusiastic volunteers from the Friends.
In 2014, Caversham Court was awarded a Special Award for Innovation under the Green Flag award scheme. This was for the Compass project, which was conceived as an alternative way of helping people who experience mental illness. The project promotes personal recovery through catering in the Tea kiosk, gardening and art activities, all based at Caversham Court.
In 2010, Caversham Court also won the Best Regional Park in the Thames and Chilterns region in the Britain in Bloom awards, and a national award for restoration from the British Association of Landscape Industries.
The Friends of Caversham Court Gardens are delighted that the hard work of the Reading Borough Council Parks Department staff has been recognised, especially that of the Head Gardener and the volunteers from the Friends who help in the gardens.
The Tea Kiosk was awarded a Special Innovation Award 2011-12.
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Caversham Court Gardens: A Heritage Guide, written by the Friends of Caversham Court Gardens, has been published by Two Rivers Press. The richly illustrated guide covers the history of the houses on the site, the families who lived there, and the development of the gardens through the ages.
The book is available from local bookshops, from Reading Museum shop, and from Two Rivers Press (http://tworiverspress.com). Price £5. It will also be sold at Friends' events in the gardens, and the Tea Kiosk. |
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