英国 赫尔姆斯利围墙花园 Helmsley Walled – 治疗性园艺花园

花园概况

英国赫尔姆斯利围墙花园（Helmsley Walled Garden）位于北约克郡 Helmsley 镇、North York Moors 国家公园南缘，脚下就是 12 世纪 Helmsley 城堡的废墟。围墙内这片约 5 英亩的花园最早建于 1758 年前后，原本是给附近 Duncombe Park 里 Feversham 家族供应水果与蔬菜的私家菜园。一战以后菜园的使命结束，最后一位租户离开后便长期荒废，直到 1994 年由当地一位社区护士 Alison Ticehurst 重新发现并推动复建。

复建过程与慈善机构

Alison Ticehurst 最初的想法很简单——把这座荒废的围墙花园重新变成一座可观赏的花园，同时让园艺活动本身能帮助有需要的人恢复身心健康。可惜她在花园正式开放前就去世了，未能亲眼看到自己的想法落地。今天的赫尔姆斯利围墙花园是一家独立注册的慈善机构，核心是治疗性园艺方向，平时由一支很小的专职团队维持日常运营，几乎所有园艺劳动、商店服务和管理工作都来自一支人数远超员工的志愿者队伍。

主要分区与特色

围墙内的花园被切分成二十多块独立小主题花园，沿着碎石小径串起来：白花园（White Garden）、秘密花园（Secret Garden）、沉思花园（Garden of Contemplation）、物理花园（Physic Garden）展示药用与香草植物，还有 Long Border 长花境、Labyrinth 草本迷宫、Hot Border 与 Shaded Border 两种极端环境下的对比花境、Kitchen Garden 厨房菜园、Orchard 苹果园（含约克郡本地品种收集）、Community Plots 社区分地块等。最显眼的一块是 Clematis Garden 铁线莲花园，配合底下的城堡废墟背景，是摄影爱好者的常驻拍摄对象。整个花园致力于可持续园艺，长期使用不含泥炭的堆肥，并自建堆肥系统把绿色废弃物循环回花床。

园艺治疗与志愿者

治疗性园艺（Therapeutic Horticulture）是花园日常工作的核心。除了对一般公众开放，花园也与 Wellburn 小学长期合作，让学生定期到花园参与劳动；North York Moors Explorers Club 每年夏天也会带家庭成员来花园一起收球根或种植。志愿者的来源则更广，既有本地 Ryedale 地区的老居民，也有从英国各地赶来、连续服务多年的固定志愿者。机构本身也由一支志愿受托人董事会领导，成员各自带来不同专业背景。

参观、咖啡馆与会员

花园每年 3 月至 12 月对游客开放，每周三至周日 10:00-16:00 或 10:00-17:00（夏季时段略延长），12 月下旬闭园过冬。游客可以在 Vine House Café 喝咖啡、吃简餐和自制蛋糕，商店和植物销售区无需购票即可进入，园艺区按年度会员或单次门票入场。年费会员（£16/年）可以无限次进场，并附赠一本花园指南册与园艺植物九折优惠。

About the Garden

Helmsley Walled Garden sits in the small town of Helmsley in North Yorkshire, on the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park, in the shadow of the twelfth-century ruins of Helmsley Castle. The walled plot, roughly five acres inside the brick walls, was first laid out around 1758 as the kitchen and fruit garden supplying the Feversham family at nearby Duncombe Park. Its purpose as a working kitchen garden ended after the First World War and the lease lapsed, leaving the site to dereliction for decades until 1994, when a local practice nurse named Alison Ticehurst spotted its potential and began to plan a revival.

Revival and the Charity Behind It

Alison Ticehurst’s idea was simple: turn the derelict walls back into a beautiful garden that anyone could visit, while making the act of gardening itself a way of supporting people’s physical and mental health. She died before the garden reopened to the public, but her vision is what the present-day charity continues to carry forward. Helmsley Walled Garden is now an independent registered charity run by a small core staff team; almost all of the horticultural labour, shop work and even governance are carried out by a much larger body of volunteers.

Garden Sections and Features

The walls enclose more than twenty separate themed gardens linked by gravel paths. There is a White Garden, a Secret Garden, a Garden of Contemplation, a Physic Garden of medicinal and culinary herbs, plus a Long Border, a Labyrinth planted in herbs, a Hot Border and a Shaded Border as a pair of contrasting extremes, a Kitchen Garden, an Orchard that holds a collection of Yorkshire apple varieties, Community Plots, a Cut Flower Border, an Iris Border, an Orchid House, a Gravel Garden, a Shaded Border, a Woodland Border, a Picnic Lawn, an Event Lawn, and a chickens-and-pond area. The most photographed section is the Clematis Garden, which sits against the ruined curtain wall of Helmsley Castle. The whole site follows sustainable-gardening principles: peat-free compost, minimum plastic, and all green waste returned to the beds via the garden’s own leaf-mould and compost systems.

Therapeutic Horticulture and Volunteers

Therapeutic horticulture is the through-line of everything the garden does. As well as being open to the general public, the garden works closely with Wellburn School, whose pupils volunteer regularly, and hosts the North York Moors Explorers Club every summer for a family day of planting or harvesting bulbs. Volunteers come from across Ryedale and North Yorkshire — many have been with the garden for years and have watched the site evolve — while the charity itself is run by a board of volunteer trustees with a wide range of professional backgrounds.

Visiting, the Café and Membership

The garden opens to visitors from March to December, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm in the cooler months and 10am to 5pm from April to October, closing for the winter from late December. The Vine House Café serves coffee, light lunches and homemade cake on the same days; the shop, plant sales area and café can all be visited without paying garden entry. The horticultural garden itself is open on a ticketed or annual-membership basis; annual membership costs £16 and includes unlimited visits during the open season, a complimentary garden guidebook and a ten per cent reduction on plant purchases.

Official Site: https://helmsleywalledgarden.org.uk/

For more on historic British walled gardens and their conservation, see the Historic Gardens Trust resources.

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