East Ruston Old Vicarage and garden to be left to charity

An immaculate and expansive private garden is being left to a charity after being lovingly tended for 50 years.

Alan Gray and Graham Robeson, owners of East Ruston Old Vicarage, near Stalham, in Norfolk, made the decision to leave their property in their wills to Perennial, a charity that supports people working in horticulture.

They said the charity would keep the garden in the "spirit of its creators".

The charity said it was delighted to be entrusted with the "unique" landscape.

The house and grounds - two acres (0.8 hectares) at the time - were bought by Mr Robeson at auction in March 1973 for £20,250.

He and Mr Gray, both now 77, would come up from London each weekend and during their holidays to work on the garden.

Alan Gray, who presents a weekly gardening programme on BBC Radio Norfolk, describes himself as a "compulsive propagator" - a skill he learnt from his grandmother when he was a child.

"You absorb things - if you're really interested", he said.

"Initially I was the plants person and Graham was the architect - every piece of the garden we've made has been drawn to scale."

Over the years they bought further plots of land and the gardens now cover 32 acres (13 hectares).

"This is our 50th anniversary and after 50 years of argument and damned hard work between us, the edges, they meld together, so [Graham] becomes a bit more of a plantsman, I become a bit more of an architect and we kind of know what we want," said Mr Gray.

After 50 years, Mr Robeson said it was "time to start thinking about things".

"We'd always considered that it should go into a charitable trust... and Perennial run two very well-known gardens at York Gate (Leeds) and at Fullers Mill in Suffolk, and do so very well indeed," he said.

"We therefore discussed it with them and they were very willing to proceed on the basis that it's left to them with the house and garden, on our death."

Mr Gray said: "The thing is about Perennial, it's a charity for gardeners and that's close to our hearts."

He said people had started to ask what would happen to the garden when they died.

"It became apparent this is an important garden - I'm not blowing my own trumpet - we have a substantial amount of visitors from across the world... and they love it, and it would be a shame to see it end," he said.

Mr Robeson added: "There's always a great danger that gardens - because they are ephemeral and grow and can get overgrown - often die with their creators, and we just thought it would be much better if we could make sure that this was preserved."

Annie Dellbridge is head gardener at Fullers Mill garden near Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, which is another "legacy garden" given to the charity 10 years ago.

Talking about the new garden at the vicarage, she said: "We were very excited. This is 32 acres of unique garden that has been built up over 50 years.

"It's an absolutely phenomenal place. We're delighted that they've entrusted us to look after it.

"It's a very big responsibility and hopefully over the next few years we'll learn more about the garden from Graham and Alan... and how they see the future of it, so that when we fully take over its care we'll know which direction to go in to keep it as unique and special as it is now."

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