Author: erlas_admin

Even though the temperatures are slowly dropping and there is less daylight to enjoy, there are lots of activities going on in the gardens.

The picture shows the Monday afternoon group from the Gwersyllt pupil referral unit, who help out for a few hours. The volunteers all seem to be enjoying the fresh air!

The bird hide has been made more weather proof, thanks to Malcolm, who kindly gave up some of his spare time to fix plywood panels and elbow rests into the hide.

One of our most keen bird watcher is Rachel, and here you can her catching our feathered friends as they visit.

Finally, the students are still cutting roses which are dried to make our organic confetti.

If you are interested in buying confetti from us, then we can prepare whatever colours you want. The whole process is carried out by our students – and with much loving care and attention!

Here you can see a happy couple enjoying our special confetti at their wedding last July. Please contact us on 01978265058 if you are interested.

If you have a Co-op loyalty card you can simply register as a supporter of the Erlas Victorian Walled Garden and our charity will receive 1% of everything you spend on selected Co-op branded products and services from Co-op Group businesses, including food stores and funeral homes.

Watch this short video to see how simple it is!

Of course, if you don’t already have a Co-op loyalty card – why not?  In addition to the 1% you could be donating to the community you can get 5% of what you spend put into your Co-op Membership account.

On Friday 20th May the Charity was delighted to welcome 12 volunteers and 2 mini diggers from Scottish Power, very fortunately the weather was kind to us.

As can be seen from the photographs below they absolutely transformed what was an uneven jungle of bramble and briar to an area fit to sow to grass, a magnificent achievement.

They also tackled some previously “unbroken” ground including removing a tree stump, making the area plantable.

These were tasks that we would just not have been able to do ourselves.

We are extremely grateful to Roy Jones (community liaison manager) and all the volunteers for their kind help. We hope that they enjoyed themselves and we look forward to their next visit to the garden

Here at Erlas Victorian Walled Garden we are always grateful for help so if you or your business would like the opportunity to help or spend a team-building day with us, please get in touch.

LEEK and CHEESE CRUMBLE
30g butter
4 large leeks
30g plain flour
400ml milk
175g cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons mustard
30g chopped parsley

Topping:
100g plain flour
100g rolled oats
75g diced butter
50g chopped hazelnuts
50g grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
seasoning

Preheat oven to 190 c
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the diced leeks and cook for 10-12 mins
When soft, add the flour and stir for a few minutes then add half the milk, stir again
and bring to the boil.  When the sauce starts to thicken, add the remaining milk and repeat.
Now add the remaining filling ingredients, stir then remove from the heat to cool.

Make the crumble by combining the flour and oats, then add the diced butter and
combine with finger tips.  once resembling breadcrumbs, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Put the filling into a baking dish and top with the crumble.
Bake for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbling.

If you try our recipe, let us know if you like it  – and dont forget that fresh leeks are avaiilable from the Garden!

On the morning of Wednesday 23^rd March, 23 members of the Nordic Walking Group took part in a 4-mile walk around the farms and woodlands near to the Erlas Victorian Walled Garden.

The ladies usually meet and walk around the grounds at Erddig, every Wednesday morning, but Sheila Meadows, a Nordic walker and also a volunteer at the walled gardens, suggested a change of scenery for the group.

The weather was cloudy but not too cold, and the walkers covered the distance in just over 90 minutes, remarking on the views that could be seen on the walk, and also catching up on news!

To finish the walk, the ladies were served some hot tea and coffee, and also had some home-made cakes to savour in the ‘roundhouse’ in the West Garden.

Many of the visitors did not realise the extent of the gardens here, and were impressed by all the hard work that goes on here. They also saw some of our students taking part in an Easter Egg Hunt.

The ladies donated around £88, and also sales of early green salad vegetables and leeks of £20 were made.

It is hoped to repeat this event in the future.

The Charity is submitting an application to the ‘Create Your Space’ Fund, which is part of the Big Lottery Fund, and is a seven year programme that will enable communities to lead on making positive and sustainable transformations to their natural environment.

The funding will support communities to come up with their own vision and plan, for conserving and/or improving their natural environment in a way which meets their needs and those of future generations.

On Thursday 24^th March the Charity invited over 100 people/organisations to come and hear about our exciting development vision (which can be read on our ‘Future Plans’ section of our web-site), and the weather bode well, despite warnings of rain, allowing 30 visitors to be shown around the gardens, and hear short presentations from Ann Morton, the Charity Officer, and from Geoff Rate, the Chair.

Visitors were invited to feedback to us on what their thoughts were about our plans, and completed feed-back questionnaires, which will be analysed to inform future plans.

We are hosting another ‘consultation event’ on the afternoon of the final day of our 4 day plant sale from Wednesday 20^th April to Saturday 23^rd April, between 1.30 pm and 3 pm at the walled garden. This will be for the local community; the people who live on the surrounding estate(s), our beneficiaries; their friends and families, and for our volunteers. We will host this in the ‘log cabin’, as we hope more people will attend.

Hope to see you there!

The answer to our February competition was that the first rose of the season was delivered by the head gardner, to his wife under his hat.

The lucky winner was Pam Wilson.  Pam wins a £20 voucher, kindly donated by Mrs Sheila Meadows.

Pam collected her prize and has donated it to our art classes to help purchase much-needed materials.  Congratulations & thank you Pam!

Here are some examples of the beautiful work from the art classes.

Our latest prize competition is now available on our website.  A £20 voucher is up for grabs!

Earlier this month we were delighted to welcome the High Sheriff of Clwyd, Janet P. Evans to the Walled Gardens
Janet had first heard about our project following a talk by Ann and Emma at an event last month at the Catrin Finch Centre hosted by the Community Foundation in Wales.
Janet and her husband enjoy gardening and they were particularly interested to learn about our mulberry tree, which they agreed was very old.

Janet will come back in the spring to try some of our asparagus, which will be one of our first crops of the year.

And, as 2015 draws to a close, the team at the Erlas Victorian Walled Garden would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.