April and May have been extraordinary months at Goldstone Hall Hotel & Gardens in Shropshire. With over 170% of the usual sunshine and less than half the expected rainfall, the weather has thrown us a curveball. I think our roses are about 14 days ahead of them selves and currently the lawn looks like a dead hay field but am sure all will change and as I tap this stair rods are belting the peonies.

June in the Garden: What to Look Out For

If the weather behaves, here’s what to enjoy this June across our award-winning gardens in the Midlands:

• Carriage Circle Roses: The Super Trooper roses are in their element, bursting with vibrant red-orange blooms.
• Terrace Herbaceous Border: This eye-catching stretch is flourishing with phormiums, Ballerina roses, and ‘Bowl of Beauty’ peonies.
• Rose Borders: Keep an eye out for Tickled Pink and the Rhapsody in Blue.
• Star of the Show: Those pristine white spires? That’s Chamaenerion angustifolium F1 album — a sterile white hybrid of rosebay willow herb.

Kitchen Garden Highlights
Inside our polytunnels, tomatoes are thriving and cherries are ripening (if the blackbirds allow). Two of our vines are heavy with developing grapes, and our trial vineyard, now home to Pinot Noir and Solaris, is rapidly climbing the trellises.

Our Head Gardener Sarah is busy planting in the kitchen garden — the beating heart of our Shropshire restaurant’s seasonal menus. We seem to have acquired a “virulent” strain of Johny Nail (Fat Hen?) in our farmyard manure and planting poppies as a quick fix in Covid years may come home to haunt us for years to come. That is a weed warning.

One to watch: the impressive swathe of Leucanthemum x superbum, due to dazzle later this month.

Pollinators and Wildlife Wonders
Our Bed of Thyme garden sign is beginning to flower, drawing in a host of insects. Bumblebees work tirelessly, and we’re also home to a long-standing wild colony of honeybees nesting above the office roof — unobtrusive but utterly fascinating

Wine & Wanderings
No garden wander is complete without something refreshing in hand. This season, we’re loving a chilled glass of Vidigal Verde from Portugal — the perfect accompaniment for a sunny stroll.

Whether you’re visiting for a hotel stay, a seasonal dining experience, or one of our special events, the gardens at Goldstone are the perfect backdrop to experience the best of rural Shropshire.

With warm wishes,
John and the Goldstone Garden Team

Goldstone Hall Hotel & Gardens offers an unforgettable countryside escape in the Midlands — with a celebrated restaurant, peaceful gardens, and warm hospitality at its core.

A Georgian manor house and restaurant with 12 comfortable bedrooms overlooking the rolling tree-strewn hills of the North Shropshire countryside. Boasting 5 acres of award-winning gardens, including a productive one-acre kitchen garden.

Located in the ‘golden garden triangle’ close to Wollerton Old Hall Garden, Hodnet Hall Gardens & Bridgemere Show Garden.

A warm welcome awaits you.

Find out more about the hotel and garden opening times here.