GARDEN variety
20 GLORIOUS NATIONAL TRUST GROUNDS TO VISIT
WITH vibrant displays of colour and long, warm days ahead, here are some of the National Trust’s top spots to visit for colourful and fragrant blooms this summer...
1. At Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire, Lord Fairhaven designed his garden around his regular routine of entertaining guests, with something to show them each season. The herbaceous borders will soon be packed full of colour and the rose garden is sure to create a heady scent.
2. The Walled Garden at Attingham Park in Shropshire is a hive of activity, with seasonal fruit, vegetables and flowers grown throughout the year. What you see today is the result of ambitious restoration work, that has turned an empty and unused space into a beautiful and bountiful production garden.
3. Over the years, the gardens at Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire have evolved into a mixture of pleasure and production. Originally the medieval residents would have used the garden to provide food. Nowadays, our gardeners continue the tradition growing vegetables and herbs.
4. Belton in Lincolnshire was designed to impress, and the gardens reflect the refined tastes of the Brownlow family. Inspired by the 1st Earl’s Grand Tour of Italy, a sunken garden was created, boasting a fountain, topiary, and borders full of vibrant colour.
5. Biddulph Grange Garden in Staffordshire is an amazing Victorian garden, created by horticulturalist James Bateman for his collection of plants from around the world, from Italy to Egypt and a re-creation of a Himalayan glen.
6. At Blickling Estate in Norfolk, the parterre was radically simplified by garden designer Norah Lindsay in 1932.
She retained the yew hedge topiary, but then replaced the intricacies of Victorian planting, creating four large flowerbeds.
7. The gardens at Calke Abbey in Derbyshire offer a glimpse of days gone by. The Walled Garden is bursting with seasonal colour and produce and the herbaceous borders are brimming with fragrant roses, geraniums, peonies, and delphiniums.
8. The Throckmorton family created, and continues to manage, the spectacular award-winning gardens at Coughton Court in Warwickshire. Highlights include the walled garden, knot garden, bog garden, vegetable garden, orchard and lake. 9. The gardens at Dudmaston in Shropshire are a work of art. Here, your eye will be drawn in, as well as out across the Shropshire Hills.
10. Enjoy a touch of the exotic, when you visit the Walled Garden at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk. Here Mediterranean plants thrive within the protection of the garden’s high walls, chosen to withstand the changing climate.
11. In Lincolnshire, the gardens at Gunby Hall have lots of different ‘rooms’, from the apple pergola walk to the yellow border. The roses are also not to be missed.
12. Hanbury Hall in the heart of Worcestershire was originally a stage set for summer parties. Today, the gardens offer a glimpse into life at the turn of the 18th century, with the original formal gardens faithfully re-created.
13. Summer is a fragrant time in Hardwick’s historic gardens, in Derbyshire. Enjoy a wander through the Herb Garden and take in the fragrances, as they intensify with heat and rainfall.
Hanbury Hall in the heart of Worcestershire was originally a stage set for summer parties
14. The Italianate Garden at Ickworth in Suffolk is a little slice of classical Italy in the heart of the English countryside.
15. During the summer, the gardens at Packwood in Warwickshire burst into life, with tender perennials filling the borders and magnificent purple headed alliums lining the pathways.
16. Behind the walls of Peckover House in Cambridgeshire is a Victorian garden, where a family’s love of diverse plants enabled them to create a showpiece for a wide range of horticultural styles.
17. Commissioned to advise on designs and planting at Upton in Warwickshire, Kitty Lloyd-jones was one of England’s first professional female garden designers. Her influence is still visible today.
18. Behind the mansion at Shugborough in Staffordshire is a magnificent formal garden, with seasonal blooms on the terraces.
19. At Wightwick Manor near Wolverhampton, the garden feels peaceful, with lots of quiet corners. Roses are a theme across the whole garden.
20. At Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire, the Parterre provides a geometric backdrop to the imposing mansion and its Walled Garden is bursting with flowers.
Visit our website to plan your visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk