Blooming wonderful open garden displays at Freston House

Freston House opened its grounds to visitors on Sunday as part of the 2020 Suffolk Open Garden Scheme, raising funds for various charities.

From beautifully manicured lawns, a croquet lawn, a pond, thousands of plants boasting a vivid array of colours and acres of greenery, Freston House was an oasis of tranquility and so spacious that social distancing was not a problem.

Tea and cake were among the refreshments provided with visitors able to find plenty of tables and chairs to choose from while taking in the sheer beauty of the grounds.

The former rectory was built around 1845, but it is believed an original building was on the plot, with some rooms in the current Freston House beloved to date back to Tudor times.

Owned by keen Andrew Whittle and his wife Judith, the Georgian house sits in parkland with 20 acres of gardens, including a one-acre kitchen garden, three colour themed gardens (white, purple and yellow, gravel garden, Winter garden, and a wildlife pond, complete with beautiful water lilies and coi carp.

Mr Whittle, who works in the film industry and is also part owner of the Freston Boot, is a keen gardener and collector of Hostas, boasting a collection of around 1,500 varieties. There are also hundreds of bearded iris, lupins geraniums, nepeta, alstroemerias, dahlias, asters, perovskia and aconites, whilst osteospermum, penstemon and verbenas continue interest through the four seasons.

Mr and Mrs Whittle bought the house from a banker in and started work in earnest on the gardens in 2006 and it continues to evolve with with a pallet of reds, oranges and yellows, looking gorgeous in the August sunshine, with plants including rudbeckias, alstroemerias, dhalias, achillea 'Cloth of Gold', helenium 'Flammenrad' and lysimachia punctata 'Alexander', near the tennis courts and croquet lawn.

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