31st May 2022
Saltram House- ATF Devon Field Visit
On the 7th of May 2022, as part of the ATF Devon Group, we organised the first field visit since the pandemic, to National Trust’s Saltram House in Plympton.
The visit was guided by Saltram’s head gardener Martin Stott, as he showed us around the immediate vicinity of the iconic mansion, overlooking the River Plym and set in a rolling landscape park. There was huge relief from all the attendees with finally having in-person events take place.
We were taken around the mostly 19th century garden and shown some beautiful veteran trees, including a large bundle-planted lime, a veteran storm-damaged oak (Quercus petraea) that still had vigorous growth, a stunning sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) that Martin and his team have been reluctant to remove even though it was directly over a footpath (thus being carefully managed), as well as an impressive Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). We were also very lucky to have had ATF founder president Ted Green MBE join us for the walk around, as he shared with us his profound knowledge of ancient and veteran trees and told us stories of his adventures. Jill Butler and Caroline Davis MBE were ready as ever too with their knowledgeable anecdotes and tackling questions from curious attendees.
It was an unusual visit with veteran and ancient trees within a well-established garden setting; this also gave us an opportunity to look at some exotic tree species.
Martin was very engaging in his open and frank discussions with us. He was also refreshingly receptive to different perspectives on how trees could be managed and preserved. We had an interesting discussion about a Holm oak avenue and how to marry historic landscape design processes with evolving conservation values. The future security of tree resources was also one of the topics discussed, leaving some food for thought.
Even though we’ve barely scratched the surface due to time constraints, everyone who participated had a great time and are looking forward to visiting Saltram again in the near future to have a better look at its historic parkland.
Many thanks to everyone who attended and the Devon core group for organising this visit.
– Cheryl Duerden
(ATF Devon group)
