Winter wonders

In this case, "they" are rabbits and squirrels. Despite the bitter winter, they have fared well, thanks to the new seven-acre winter garden – the largest of its kind in the UK – at Dunham Massey, which sits just off the M56.

Head gardener Damian Harris and his team – plus more than 1,000 volunteers and school children – who worked hard planting tens of thousands of bulbs to bring colour to the darkest months, probably never expected the pesky rodents to take a shine to one particular variety.

But the 10,000 crocus bulbs have been under constant attack from the hungry critters who have made their home at the lovely National Trust property just an hour's drive from the heart of West Yorkshire. For now, there's not much that can be done about the problem, but next year the crocuses will get better protection – in mesh cages – to deter attacks by the little perishers.

Meanwhile, the rest of the winter garden is settling down and beginning

to shape up.

Apart from the 200,000 spring-flowering bulbs which have gone into the ground, there are almost 700 different plant species and a further 1,600 shrubs, bred specifically for the Winter Garden. So there's plenty of colourful winter bark, flowers, fruits, colours and scents.

There are also the seven dwarfs – dwarf rhododendrons with the names of Walt Disney's cartoon characters, so if the children want a challenge, you could always set them searching for Grumpy and Dopey.

The garden's design and its planting schemes were planned with the guidance of the plantsman and tree fanatic, Roy Lancaster, working in conjunction with Dunham's garden staff.

Damian Harris describes the result as incredible. "We're pushing the boundaries with what grows so far north," he said.

And although a few of the new plantings appear to have fallen victim to the Arctic weather, most have come through relatively unscathed and are attracting an increasing number of visitors keen to see what exactly does – and will – grow in winter at 53deg North.

It's a lot; from all those bulbs (more than 60 varieties of snowdrops in their tens of thousands, winter aconites, the delightful Cyclamen coum, dwarf iris, hellebores etc, to the bright yellow of witch hazel, and fragrant mahonia, winter honeysuckle and Christmas Box which start to make their mark in December.

Soon (again, weather permitting) the snowdrops and cyclamen will be joined by 20,000 narcissi blooming among the trees, where the brilliant white of beech bark – Harris has planted two clumps of the silver birch, Betula utilis 'Doorenbos', one underplanted with white cyclamens and anemones; the other, single-stemmed trees interplanted with black dogwood over white cyclamen and 25,000 snowdrops – emphasises the fact that you don't need foliage to make an impact.

And the story doesn't end there. As Harris says, the winter garden is more than just for winter.

Early spring brings splashes of colour from the Camellia Walk, where 50 different types of evergreen and flowering camellias are underplanted with thousands of cyclamen.

Brilliant blue and purple iris, blue chinodoxa and scilla should transform the Blue Meadow, in contrast to the multicoloured swathes of dwarf tulips which start to bloom this month. Finally, it's the turn of daffodils to bring the Winter Garden's season to a glorious climax.

And with the cold persuading many sensible plants to bloom a little later this year, there's still plenty of time to take a trip to an inspirational garden.

And if you want something more, Dunham Massey has it – from formal and informal gardens to an Edwardian house and even a herd of deer.

For opening times and more details about Dunham Massey, Altrincham, Cheshire, telephone 0161 941 1025 or visitwww.nationaltrust.org.uk/

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