gardens in eastern england

8/14/2019 Gardens in Eastern England

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1. GARDENS IN EASTERN ENGLAND

1.1. Mannington Hall Gardens

Mentioned as a substantial property in the Doomsday Book1, much of the present

Mannington Hall in north Norfolk was built in the fifteenth century and a map of 1565

shows it as an autonomous manorial community. After it was purchased by the first Lord

Walpole in the mid-eighteenth century, the forth Earl of Ortford established the gardens

with fortifications and yew hedges. He also planted the now massive cedar trees. Today,

Mannington Hall and Gardens is owned by Lord and Lady Walpole.

There are two different sites at Mannington Hall, one is a park and the other is a

garden. The garden around this medieval manor house is a twenty-acre garden of

romance and charm, where lawns run down to a moat crossed by a drawbridge, to

herbaceous border backed by high walls of brick and flint2. It features a wide variety of

plants, trees and shrubs in many different settings. However, what makes Mannington

Gardens special are the roses, there are thousands of roses throughout the garden,

especially classic varieties. The Heritage Rose and The Twentieth Century Rose Gardens

present these wonderful flowers in areas with designs reflecting their date of origin from

the fifteenth century to the present day. There are believed to be more than 1500 rose

varieties at Mannington. In comparison with other rose collections from other parts of the

country which are planted for aesthetic reasons or by rose type, as I mentioned earlier in

1 The record of a survey of England completed in 1086 and executed for William the Conqueror2 Op.cit. The Good Gardens Guide,2008,Peter King and Katherine Lambert, Frances Lincoln Ltd., p.249


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this garden the roses are planted in date order is small separate gardens with designs

typical of their periods. There is also a small exhibition on the history of the rose at

Mannington, which contains a lot of factual information, giving the background of the

different varieties and types.3Near the Hall there is a knot4 garden with scented plants

and on the South Lawn there is a recently planted Sensory Garden with plants selected

for touch, sound and taste, as well as smell and colour. There are also a lake and a lake

sidewalk and Garden Shops with plants, souvenirs and crafts.

Mannington also has twenty miles of nature trails and footpaths through woodland,

meadows and wetland all located in the Bure Valley. The Mannington Hall Woods has an

arboretum laid out and planted entirely with native trees. Lord Walpole wanted to present

all native broadleaf and evergreen trees in appropriate settings. The woodland also

contains the ruins of a Saxon church.5

1.2. Wrest Park Gardens

Wrest Park is a country estate located near Silsoe, Bedfordshire. It comprises Wrest

Park, a country house and Wrest Park Gardens- formal gardens surrounding the mansion.

The gardens provide a fascinating history of gardening styles, laid out over 150 years and

inspired by the great gardens of Versailles, France.

The present house was built between 1834 and 1839 by

its owner, Thomas de Grey, second Earl de Grey, an

amateur architect who was inspired by buildings he had

seen on trips to Paris.

Wrest Park Gardens, one of the grandest English

gardens of the early eighteen century, are spread over 150

acres (607.000 square metres) and were originally laid

out probably by George London and Henry Wise for Henry Grey, first Duke of Kent,

then modified by Lancelot Capability Brown6 in a more informal style of landscape.

3 http:www.gardens.guide.com/gardenpages/4 A garden with a very formal design in a square frame and grown with a variety of aromatic plants and

culinary herbs.5 Cf. The Good Gardens Guide, 2008, Peter King, Katherine Lambert, Frances Lincoln ltd., p. 2496 British master of naturalistic garden design and he leading landscape gardener of his time. He broke with

the French formal tradition of garden landscaping and favoured a natural-appearing, informal type of

landscape. He designed over 170 parks.


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The gardens centrepiece is an example of French parterres

divided by a wide gravel central walk, continued as a wide

canal that leads to an arched pavilion (originally called the Banqueting House) designed

in Baroque style by Thomas Archer in 1709 and completed in 1711. During the late

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Bath House and the marble fountains were added.

To the south of the house lie the Formal and Great Gardens which occupy about forty

hectares and are laid out predominantly on a north- south axis from the house. To the

immediate west of the house lies the Italian Garden, also formal and set within stone

kerbed beds. To the east of the French Garden lies an area of lawn which contains the

Petit Trianon, while to the east of the lawn lays an old Orchard. A Victorian arboretum,

divided from the Orchard by the remains of an eighteenth century yew hedge, can be

found in Wrest Park as well as a memorial column dedicated to Lancelot Capability

Brown and located in the eastern part of the gardens. The inscription on the column says:

These gardens, originally laid out by Henry Duke of Kent, were

altered by Phillip Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima Marchioness Grey

with the professional assistance of Lancelot Brown Esq. in the years

1758, 1759, 1760.7

From 1906 to 1911 Wrest Park was leased to the American

Ambassador Whitelaw Reid, during which time a number of important visitors came

there: King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra wee guests on 24 July 1909 and the former

US president Theodore Roosevelt visited in May 1910. Now, Wrest Park Gardens are in

the care of English Heritage. In the autumn of 2007 English Heritage has announced that

a charitable foundation in London has guaranteed up to 400.000 pounds towards the

restoration of a number of key features of the Wrest Park estate including the mansions

formal entrance, the garden statuary and the decorations of the gates. The next to be

restored are the lakes and canals.8

7 http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/8 Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wrest_park_gardens


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1.3. Hatfield House Gardens

Hatfield House was built by Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to

King James I, in 1611. An earlier building to the site

was the Royal Palace of Hatfield of which only a part

still exists. The palace was the childhood home of

Queen Elizabeth I and her brother Edward. The Queen

Elizabeth Oak on the grounds of the estate was said to

be the location where Elizabeth was told she was Queen

following her sisters death. However the original oak died and it was replaced with

another one by Queen Elizabeth II. Elizabeths successor James I did not like the palace

much and so he gave it to his chief minister, Robert Cecil, in exchange for Theobalds,

which was the Cecils family home.9

The garden a Hatfield House dates from the early seventeenth century when Robert

Cecil employed James Tradescant to collect plants for his new home. Tradescant went to

Europe and brought back trees, plants, bulbs and fruit trees which have never previously

been grown in England. This carefully designed garden included orchards, elaborate

9 http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk/gardens/


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fountains, scented plants, water parterres, terraces and herb gardens. It was neglected in

the eighteenth century but restoration began in Victorian times when Lady Gwendolen

Cecil, younger daughter of Prime Minister Salisbury, designed the West Garden as it is

today. The East Garden was laid out by the fifth Marquees of Salisbury and the present

Dowager Lady Salisbury dedicated thirty years of her life to the restoration and

improvement of the garden. Today, the West Garden, which includes a Herb Garden, a

Knot Garden and a wilderness area, can be visited throughout the open season. However,

all 42 acres, including the Kitchen Garden and the formal parterres to the east are open to

visitors only on Thursdays.10

As I mentioned earlier, the Great Hall, a surviving wing of the Royal Palace at Hatfield

where Elizabeth I spent some years of her childhood, can still be found in the garden. The

building is known as the Old Palace and it is mainly used in entertaining purposes.

During World War I the grounds were used to test the first British tanks. To

commemorate this, the only surviving Mark I tank was sited at Hatfield from 1919 until

1970 before being moved to the Bovington Tank Museum.

The Hatfield House is now home to the seventh Marquees of Salisbury.

2. GARDENS IN LONDON

2.1. Chiswick House Gardens

Chiswick House is a little neoclassical villa designed by

the third Earl of Burlington in the 1720s, built with the help

of William Kent and set in the most beautifully landscaped

gardens in London.11The house was modelled following the

design of Palladios Villa Rotunda12 at Vicenza, northern

Italy. However, the Earl lived in an adjacent Jacobean

mansion (which was demolished in 1758) and used the new villa for displaying his works

of art and his collections of furniture, as well as foe entertaining groups of his friends

which included Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Georg Friedrich Handel and Bishop

10 Cf. Sun, Sea, Sex and the Unspoilt Countryside,2006,Gloria Capelli, Pari Pub., p. 10411 Cf. The Rough Guide to Britain, 2004, Rough Guides Ltd., p.15212 Andrea Palladio, one of the finest architects of the Renaissance period who designed the Villa Rotunda

with perfectly symmetrical facades.


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Berkeley. The villa was inherited in 1753 by the forth Duke of Devonshire and in 1788

James Wyatt added wings to the north and south of the building for the fifth Duke.

However, the two added wings were demolished in 1952. In 1892 the eight Duke moved

to Chatsworth and the house became a private mental home.

The gardens, originally laid out by William Kent, whom Lord Burlington had met

during a journey to Italy, where the first to break with the formal Dutch tradition. They

were inspired by the sights of Italian landscape paintings and they were conceived as a

single, living artwork.13 Burlington and Kent replaced the formality of the existing

renaissance garden with a freer, more informal design. Natural spaces were created, their

informality being highlighted by the addition of sculptures and other architectural details

including an Ionic temple and a Doric column, thought to have been designed by Lord

Burlington in about 1720. An artificial river was also introduced, as well as a lacework of

winding paths, which means that visitors can wander the grounds for an hour or more and

never take the same route twice. The artificial river was originally a stream called the

Bollo Brook which formed the boundary of Lord Burlingtons estate. After the estate was

extended by the purchase of land from the other side of the water, the Brook was

widened, canalised and naturalised to give the illusion of a river.

The garden a lot of other interesting elements such as the Bowling Green, a rare

survival from the eighteenth century, surrounded by chestnut trees, a cascade designed by

William Kent, a classic bridge built by the fifth Duke of Devonshire in 1774 and

designed by James Wyatt, and an Italian Garden, bordered with evergreen trees, with

geometrical flower-beds cut in grass laid out in 1812. The design of the Italian Garden

became an example of the massed bedding

system.

An Orange Tree Garden can also be found

a Chiswick. It surrounds a circular pool with

an obelisk in the centre and the Ionic temple

behind, and it was created in 1726. To the

right of this garden there is a tomb with a

Latin inscription, the translation of which

13 http://www.chgt.org.uk/


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begins with: Under this stone lies Lilly, my dear hound and it is thought that the

Duchess of Devonshires dog is buried here.14

Today, the house is managed by English Heritage but the grounds are owned by the

London Borough of Hounslow and are open to the public free of charge.

2.2. Buckingham Palace Gardens

Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the Queen. This redbrick building was

originally built as a country house for the Duke of Buckingham. In 1762, King George

III, who needed room for his fifteen children, bought it. However,

it became the official royal residence when Queen Victoria took the throne in 1819; she

preferred it to St Jamess Palace. The building is 354 feet (108 metres) long and contains

600 rooms.15

The garden was laid out by the English gardener Henry Wise and redesigned by

William Townsend Aiton for George IV. It has two-and-a-half miles of gravel paths and

14 idem15 Cf.Frommers London, 2004, Porter Darwin, John Wiley and Sons, p.210


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it is bounded by Constitution Hill to the north, Hyde Park Corner to the west, Grosvenor

Place to the south-west and the Queens Gallery and Buckingham Palace to the south and

east. Notable features of the garden include a nineteenth century lake which is graced by

a flock of flamingo birds and a Waterloo Vase, a summerhouse, a helicopter pad and a

tennis court. The lake, a three acre stretch of fish-stocked water, created for George IV

by joining up two existing ponds16, is man-made and it was completed in 1828. It is

supplied with water from by the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park. The helicopter pad is the

oldest in London and it was first used shortly before the Queens coronation in 1953 and

on the tennis court King George IV played against the Wimbledon champion Fred Perry

in the 1930s.

The garden has a wide variety of flowers and trees including one of the mulberry trees

planted by James I in what was then the Mulberry Garden. Around 320 different types of

wildflowers grow in it, such as Creeping Buttercup and Herb Robert. The flowers are

allowed to go through an entire yearly cycle of growth, including seed spreading, before

the grasses are cut at the end of August. This means that the wildflowers are allowed to

reproduce and sustain themselves without human interference. The trees of the garden

include rarities such as the Chinese chestnut tree and the Indian bean tree. There is also a

silver lime, a present from the Royal Horticultural Society planted in 1977 for the Silver

Jubilee17 of Queen Elizabeth II. It is said that an oak tree has been planted at

Buckingham for each of the Queens children, growing from an acorn germinated on the

day they were born.

In order to provide suitable habitats for wildlife, large pieces of wood are stocked in

piles in the Palace grounds. These piles are home to species like beetles, spiders and other

insects. Dead trees are also left alone, one such tree currently providing a habitat for a

family of Woodpeckers.18

Like the palace, the Garden is rich in works of art,

one of the most notable being the Waterloo Vase, an

urn specially made for Napoleon, which in 1815

was presented unfinished to the Prince Regent. The

16 Op.cit. idem17 The 25th anniversary of the Queens accession to the throne.18 http://www.royal.gov.uk/theRoyalHouseholdEnvironment/theQueensgardens.aspx


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Kings sculptor, Richard Westmacott, finished it and in the end it weighted fifteen tones

and it was fifteen feet (4, 6 metres) high. It was carved from a single piece of marble and

is one of Britains biggest garden ornaments.

The Garden is currently maintained by eight full-time gardeners, with two or three part-

timers, and the Palace, as well as the grounds can only be visited without an official

invitation during an eight-week period in August and September, when the royal family is

usually vacationing outside London.19

Royal Garden Parties

Royal Garden Parties have been held at Buckingham Place since the 1860s. In the

1950s the number of the Royal Garden Parties was increased from two to three a year. In

1997 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh hosted a special Royal Garden Party for

couples sharing their Golden Wedding and in 1998 another special party celebrated the

50th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service.

People from all sections of the community are invited to the Royal Garden Parties,

usually through organizations with lists on a prearranged quota (e.g. the Government,

Armed Services, Diplomatic Corps, charities and societies) to ensure that a representative

cross-section of the national life is invited. The invitations are sent out by the Lord

Chamberlain on behalf of the Queen.

Approximately 8000 guests attend each Royal Party, which takes place between 4.00pm and 6.00 pm. Tea and other refreshments are served from a 408 feet long buffet. The

National Anthem is played at the beginning and at the end of each party.20

2.3. Chelsea Physic Garden

Chelsea Physic Garden is the second

oldest physic garden in the country. It was

established by the Apothecaries Company

in 1676 on ground they leased three years

earlier intending to build a boat house for

their state barge. In 1683 some of the first

cedar trees to grow in England were

19 Cf.Frommers London, 2004, Porter Darwin, John Riley and Sons, p.18520 http://www.georgianhousehotel.co.uk/london-events/royal-garden-parties.asp


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planted here, the last one dieing in 1903. 21The reason the garden was built was to train

apprentices in identifying plants. The proximity of the River Thames created a warmer

microclimate allowing the survival of many non-native plants, such as the largest outdoor

fruiting olive tree in Britain which is 30 feet high and has produced seven pounds of

edible olives in 1976. Since 1683 an international botanic garden seed exchange system

with botanic gardens throughout the world was established, which continues to this day.

In 1722 Sir Hans Sloane purchased the Manor of Chelsea from Charles Cheyne. He then

leased the property to the Society of Apothecaries for five pounds a year. A copy of a

statue of Sloane stands now in the centre of the garden.

Chelsea also has the oldest rock garden in the country constructed of old building stone

from the Tower of London and some Icelandic lava brought by Sir Joseph Banks in 1722.

It was completed on 16th August 1773.

In 1876 the garden enlarged its educational aspirations by running a lecture course for

young women who were training as botany teachers.

At the end of the 19 th century the City Parochial Foundation took over the running of

the Garden from the Society of Apothecaries and in 1983 the garden became a registered

charity and was opened to public for the first time.

A Garden of World Medicine and a Pharmaceutical Garden can be admired at Chelsea

Physic Garden. The Garden of World Medicine is a display of the uses of plants by a

wide variety of peoples, including the North American Indians, the Maori from New

Zeeland, Australian Aboriginals, Chinese, South African tribes, as well as Northern

Europeans and Mediterraneans. The garden looks at the uses of plants for medicinal

purposes in each culture.22

The Pharmaceutical Garden is a display of plants with therapeutic compounds of

proven value in current medicinal practice.

The collection includes plants such as

Catharansus Roseus, which contains

alkaloids used in anti-cancer drugs,Digitalis

Lanata, which contains a cardiac digoxin

21 Cf. The London Encyclopaedia, 1993, Weinreb Ben and Hibbert, Cristopher, Macmillan London

Limited, London, pp.151-15222 http://www.chelseapsysicgarden.co.uk/


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departments mainly concerned with the accurate identification of plants and it is also

involved in the conservation of endangered plant species.26

The garden is full of temples and buildings from different periods. There are three

classical temples designed by Sir William Chambers27, one of Arethusa, mytological

nymph turned into a fountain by her goddess, Artemis), one of Bellona (an ancient

Roman War Goddess) and one of Aeolus. The Temple of War of Bellona was built in

1760 with a projecting entrance of four Doric columns and the Temple of Arethusa was

designed as a shelter for the Royal Family.

Among the most important attractions at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the following

can be mentioned:

The Herbarium is housed in a large block of buildings and consists of a collection

of over seven million dried and pressed plants. It is not open to the public.

The Great Pagota , designed by

Chambers and inspired by a visit to

China in his youth, is a ten-storeyed

building of 163 feet high on a base of 49

feet in diameter.

The Queens Cottage , is in the

south-west corner of the Gardens, in the

middle of

the Conservation Area and it was built as

a summerhouse for Queen Charlotte in

1771. It has two storeys and it is built of

brick framed with timber. Queen Victoria was the one who donated it to the Botanic

Gardens on her Diamond Jubilee28 and it was first open to public on May Day 1899.

The Marianne North Gallery - lies on the eastern border of Kew and houses a

26 Cf. The London Encyclopaedia, 1993, Weinreb, Ben, Hibbert, Christopher, Macmillan London Limited,

London, pp. 684-68527 Scottish architect (1723- 1796) appointed architectural tutor to the Prince of Wales, later George III28 The 60th anniversary of the Queens accession to the throne


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collection of 832 oil paintings on botanical subjects by Marianne North29, who gave them

to Kew together with the building they are exhibited in. The paintings have been hanged

on the walls by the artist herself in a prearranged order. The exhibition was first open to

public on 9 June 1882.

The C onservation area - mainly woodland with representations of many British

trees including oak, beech, holly and yew. There are also some rarities such as the

Plymouth pear and the Bristol mountain ash.

The Bamboo Garden - includes 120 species of bamboo brought from all over the

world, an important part of the specimens being brought from China, Japan and the

Himalayas.

The Lake - it encompasses a surface of five acres (two hectares) and it is the

second artificial lake at Kew. The first one was reduced in size to provide additional

arable land for George IIIs garden and later became the Palm House Pond. It was created

by Capability Brown in the late 1840s and it was formed by extending the gravel pits

which had been excavated for building the Temperate House foundation. A bridge

designed by John Pawson30 in 2006, called Sackler Crossing, crosses the lake.31

The Palm House Pond - a remnant of

Kews original lake which was enlarged

again by Decimus Burton32 in the 1860s to

reflect the entire length of the Palm House. At

its centre there is a statue of Hercules

wrestling the river-god Achelous.

The Palm House - it was created

specifically for he exotic palms which were

29 (1830-1890) English naturalist and flower-painter who travelled all over the world and painted the floraof distant countries30 John Pawson, famous British architect and designer of our times, associated with the movement of

minimalism31 http://www.inetours.com/England/London/pages/Kew_Water.html32 Decimus Burton (1800-1881), English architect and garden designer who had a 30-year association with

the Royal Botanic Gardens starting initially with the layout of gardens and paths before moving on to major

buildings.


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collected and introduced to Europe in early Victorian times. It was designed by Decimus

Burton and built by Richard Turner33. The House was first restored in 1955 and for he

second time during 1984-1988.

The Temperate House - at the time it was built it was the largest plant house in the

world and now it is the worlds largest surviving Victorian glass structure. Designed by

Decimus Burton, it has 4,880 square metres being completed in 1898.

The Queens Garden - a seventeenth century-style garden situated behind Kew

Palace which was officially opened in 1969 by Queen Elizabeth II. The plants cultivated

in it are those exclusively grown before the seventeenth century and are believed to have

medicinal qualities.

Princess of Wales Conservatory - the third major conservatory of the gardens

opened in 1987 by Diana, Princess of Wales in commemoration of her predecessor

Augustas associations with Kew. It houses ten climate zones and a collection of

carnivorous plants.

The Liliac Garden - contains 150 specimens of

liliac arranged in ten beds according to their

cultivation and breeding history. A replanting of the

garden was completed in 1997.

The Rock Garden - it was built in 1882 and

designed to resemble a Pyrenean mountain valley. It

covers half a hectare and it is divided in six

geographical regions: Europe, Mediterranean and

Africa, Australia and New Zeeland, Asia, North

America and South America. Recently it was redesigned to include a central bog garden

and a cascade.34

The Grass Garden - designed in 1982 is currently growing 550 species of grasses.It is divided in two main sections: the decorative display area and the informal and

educational area.

Since 2006 the director of the Gardens is Stephen Hopper, an Australian botanist.

33 Richard Turner (1798-1881), an Irish iron-founder and manufacturer of glasshouses born in Dublin. He

was a pioneer in the structural use of wrought iron.34 http://www.kew.org


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3. GARDENS IN NORTH-EAST ENGLAND

3.1. Alnwick Garden

Alnwick Garden is a twelve-acre walled garden in Alnwick, Northumberland, that was

rescued from dereliction in 1997. It was

officially opened in October 2002 by its

patron, the Duchess of Northumberland,

and it features spectacular water displays,

rose gardens and one of the largest

treehouses in the world.35Its creators call it

the most exciting contemporary garden

on Earth.36

The first garden created at Alnwick was

in 1750 by the 1st Duke of

Northumberland who employed

Capability Brown to landscape the

parkland neighbouring Alnwick Castle.

Next a centre of plant development was created at Alnwick by the 3rd Duke. He brought

seeds from all over the world and he grew pineapples in hothouses. Moreover in the

middle of the 19th century the 4th Duke created an Italianate garden with wrought iron

Venetian gates that have now been restored and positioned at the entrance of the

Ornamental Garden. There was also a large conservatory where the Alnwick Gardens

Pavilion is now found. However in the 20th century the garden fell into disrepair and it

was closed as a working garden in 1950.

Jane Percy, the current 12th Duchess of Northumberland, discovered the garden in 1997

and she decided to create a public garden where children as well as adults could enjoy

spending quality time in nature. The Duke donated the site to the Alnwick Garden Trust,

the charity that now owns the garden. The Duchess led the design team and selected the

world-renowned Belgian landscape designer, Jacques Wirtz and his son Peter to create

35 Cf. Michelin Green Guide- Great Britain,2007, Cynthia Clayton Ochterbeck, Michelin Apa

Publications, p.11036 http://www.alnwickgarden.com/


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the Alnwick Garden. Their design is based on a combination of quiet and busy spaces on

diverse themes.37

A variety of plants and trees grow at Alnwick. The garden sustains the countys largest

collection of European plants in the Ornamental Garden and a collection of very unusual

and dangerous plants in the Poison Garden, which is the first public garden of its type in

Britain. In creating this garden the Duchess was inspired by a garden near Padua, Italy

which was once used by the Medici family38 to find better ways to kill their enemies. It

contains some of the worlds deadliest plants including the belladonna, an extremely

toxic plant that causes hallucinations also known as the nightshade, and even cannabis

and marijuana plants. This garden can only be visited under the careful surveillance of a

guide and visitors are not allowed to touch the plants.

Alnwick Gardens centrepiece is a very interesting cascade, called the Grand Cascade,

which was designed by Wirtz. It is the largest water feature of its kind in the country and

it has very interesting serpentine walls. Every half hour spectacular fountains shoot into

the air in different shapes which alternate and are programmed by a computer.39 Beyond

the cascade there is a Cherry Orchard planted with hundreds of Tai Haku trees, a type of

Japanese cherry tree also known as the great white cherry due to its big white flowers.

37 idem38 The Medici family, powerful and influential Italian family that lived in Florence between the 14th and the

18th century and included three popes and numerous rulers of Florence as well as important women such as

Catherine de Medici, Queen of France.39 Cf.In Search of Paradise, 2006, Penelope Hobhouse, Frances Lincoln Ltd., p.126


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The Rose Garden at Alnwick contains 3000 David Austin

roses40 and in the celebration of Alnwick Garden, Austin created a

beautiful new English rose called the Alnwick Rose.

A Bamboo Labyrinth designed by Adrian Fisher, an international

maze-maker, also exists at Alnwick but, in my opinion, the most interesting and

fascinating element of the Alnwick Garden is by far the treehouse, which is the largest

and most expensive treehouse ever built. In fact its not just one house, its a small village

of treehouses linked by a way of suspended walkways. The building of these unusual

little wooden buildings reached a cost of over 3, 3 million pounds and they were open to

public in 2005. The complex occupies a copse of mature lime and beech trees and its

strength and stability are ensured by two towers underneath the main buildings and by

timber braces. It

has the size of two

Olympic

swimming pools41,

its distance from

the ground being

of seventeen

metres, and

includes an 80-

seat restaurant, a

shop and acres of

timber-decked

satellite walkways hanging in the trees. There is enough room for 300 visitors in the

treehouse and throughout the year gardening, painting and cooking courses for children

are kept in the here.42

40 Hybrid varieties of roses created by the English horticulturist David Austin. Since the 1960s, Austin has

worked to create species of roses that combine the best elements of ancient varieties with the innovations of

new roses.41 An Olympic swimming pool measures approximately 164 feet (50 metres)42 Cf. Treehouses, 2008, Paula Henderson, Adam Mornement, Frances Lincoln Ltd., p.98


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The charity that owns the garden, the Alnwick Garden Trust, are still raising funds for a

completion of the landscape with more gardens, an adventure play area and a pond.

Children can enter the garden for free as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

3.2. Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden

Sheltered in the secluded valley of the River Skell, Fountains Abbey and Studley

Royal Water Garden, a 320-hectare (790 acre)

estate, is Yorkshires only World Heritage

Site43. The grounds are set around the stately

Fountains Abbey ruins and include the Jacobean

Fountains Hall, the Studley Water Garden and

the Victorian Church of St. Marys.

Fountains Abbey began as a small break-away

group of 13 monks from a Benedictine abbey in

York. In 1132 the Archbishop of York gave

them land in a practically wild area. With the

help of the Cistercian Order44 they built a monastery which in 1147 was devastated by

fire, only the church being spared. However, it was rebuilt immediately and then

expanded in the 13th century to accommodate its population which by that time numbered

30 monks, lay-brothers45 and a few servants. After the economic collapse of the 14 th

century following the Black Death (also called the Black Plague), the monks rented their

lands to tenant farmers and after the Dissolution of Monasteries of Henry VIII, the estate

was sold to a private owner. Between 1598 and 1611 Fountains Hall was built with stone

from the Abbey ruins. The Hall and ruins were united with the Studely Royal estate in

1768.46

43 A site of either cultural or physical significance that is on the list maintained by the international World

Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.44 A Roman Catholic religious order whos monks are also called the White Monks, due to their white

clothing45 Members of Catholic religious orders occupied primarily with manual labor46 Cf.Britain, 2003, David Else, Lonely Planet, p.615


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Studley Royal, with its house and garden were created by John Aislabie (once

Chancellor of Exeter) who dedicated his life to creating the garden after he was expelled

from the Parliament due to a financial scandal. However, the main house at Studley

Royal burnt down in 1946 but the superb landscaping, with its tranquil artificial lakes,

survives little changed from the 18th century.47William Aislabie, son of John Aislabie was

the one who joined the two properties together after he purchased the estate of Fountains

Abbey in 1767. He landscaped the Abbey ruins, the largest monastic ruins in the country,

as a picaresque folly to be viewed from his Water Garden.

The Water Garden is the best surviving example of a Georgian water garden in England

and its the countrys most important

18th century garden of its type. Its

design is formal and geometric and

was inspired by the work of French

landscape designers and by that of

Queens Anne gardeners, Henry Wise

and George London. It has lakes,

canals, temples, a masonry cascade

and a deer-park interspersed with large

old oak and beech trees. Among the

temples and statues that exist in the Water Garden there are classical statues of Bacchus,

Neptune and Galen, the Temple of Piety, built between 1729 and 1730 as a dedication to

Hercules, under John Aislabies instructions and designed as a cool garden house, and the

Temple of Fame, shaped as a rotunda which at a

first sight appear to be made of stone but it is

actually painted wood.48A Banqueting House set on

the valley side of the Water Garden and designed by

the Palladian architect Colen Campbell49 can also be

admired at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

Water Garden.

47 idem48 http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/49Colen Campbell (1676-1729), a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England and

is credited as a founder of the Georgian style.


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The Deer Park is the oldest feature of the Studley estate dating from the mediaeval

period. It encompasses a surface of 360 acres and it once surrounded Studley Royal

House. Stone icehouses can still be seen in the Park, as well as St Marys Church. It is

home for 500 wild deer that belong to three breeds: the Red Deer, the Sika Deer and the

Fallow Deer.50

St Marys Church was built in 1870 by the first Marques and Marchioness of Ripton to

commemorate the

Marchioness brother who had

been murdered in Greece. It

was designed by William

Burges51 in the Victorian

Gothic style and its interior is

richly decorated with caved

angels and lions. It is now

owned by English Heritage and

managed by The National

Trust.

Another important attraction

at Fountains Abbey is the Mill,

a historic and archaeological treasure52 which is the only 12th century Cistercian

cornmill in Britain and one of only a few surviving in Europe. It was built by the

Cistercian monks for their own use, to grind wheat, oats and barley to feed the whole

abbey community. It was too valuable to be demolished at the Dissolution in 1539 being

spared because it was able to generate an income. Successive owners maintained it,

updated it and gave it new roles. Today the Mill offers a history of all the uses it had

throughout its existence and its second storey is now home art and educational

exhibitions.

Today Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden is owned by The National

Trust which acquired it from North Yorkshire Council in 1983. In 1987 the estate was

50 idem51 William Burges (1827-1881), the greatest of the Victorian art-architects who sought in his work an

escape from the 19th century industrialisation and a return to the architectural values of mediaeval England52 Op.cit. The Construction of Heritage, 1996, David Brett, Cork University Press, p.100


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declared a World Heritage Site for its outstanding historic and aesthetic importance 53It

is one of the Trusts most visited properties attracting over 300.000 visitors a year.

3.3. Castle Howard Gardens

One of Britains finest historic houses, as its present day owner, Hon Nicholas

Howard, describes it, Castle Howard

was built by the third Earl of Carlisle

between 1699 and 1712 and designed by

Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas

Hawksmoor, who also landscaped the

garden.

The 1000 acre grounds are populated

by several buildings, the most famous

being the Mausoleum and the Temple of the Four Winds. The formal gardens around the

house were redesigned in 1853 by William Nesfied, who added the famous Atlas

Fountain as a centrepiece of the South Parterre, which was swept away 50 years later54.

The gardens are made of a Rose Garden, a Woodland Garden and an Ornamental Garden,

all punctuated with interesting statues and monuments.

The Rose Garden is set within an 18th century walled garden and it was originally split

in three areas: Lady Cecilias Garden, the

Sundial Garden and the Venus Garden. Lady

Cecilias Garden was established in 1975

and dedicated to the memory of Lady

Cecilia Howard. It is filled with species of

old roses like Albas, Gallicas and Damasks.

There are also 2000 modern roses of all

types, including a collection of David

Austins English roses. Next to the Rose

Garden there is the Ornamental Vegetable Garden, also known as the Potager. It was

developed in 2006 by the Gardens Team as a copy of the 18 th century kitchen garden that

53 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studley_Royal_Park/54 Cf. The Good Gardens Guide,2008, Peter King, Catherine Lampbert, Frances Lincoln Ltd., pp. 391, 392


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existed at Howard Castle. In this garden the ornamental aspect is just as important as the

practical and productive ones and the arrangement of plants is formal as they are grown

in a group of beds.

The Woodland Garden, also known as Ray Wood, is described as a combination of the

planters art and botanical science55and it holds one of the most extensive plant

collections in private hands in Europe. The area suffered several transformations in the

last centuries. In the 18th century it had a natural, informal style as the third Earl favoured

a design of irregular, mazy footpaths. Because of this intricate path system some

members of the Howard family even got lost in Ray Wood. By 1720 the wood was filled

with statues, cascades, fountains and pavilions, but all of these features disappeared by

the middle of the 18th century. The only thing that survived from this period is the

Reservoir on the top of the hill, which was rebuilt in 1850 to supply water for the

gardens fountains. In the 20th century Ray Wood was re-planted under the supervision of

the plantsman James Russell. The plant collection numbers 800 species of rhododendron,

as well as wild roses, rare magnolias, hydrangeas, viburnums, maples and rowans. It is

managed by Castle Howard Arboretum Trust, which was formed in 1977 following an

agreement between Castle Howard and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.56

All the water features, lakes and ponds, at Castle Howard are artificial. The South Lake

was made in the 1720s and New River was widened from a natural stream ten years later.

In the 1740s a bridge was built across New River and in the 1790s the Great Lake at the

north of the house was created by

the fifth Earl. The Atlas Fountain,

carved by the sculptor John

Thomas, was installed in the 1850s.

It contains five figures made of

Portland stone which were

transported at Howard Castle by

train. A second fountain, called the

Prince of Wales Fountain, was

installed in the same period and

55 http://www.castelhoward.co.uk/56 Cf. The Good Gardens Guide, 2008, Peter King, Katherine Lambert, Frances Lincoln Ltd., p. 392


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both fountains were turned on in the same time in 1853. In the 1860s the Cascade,

Temple Hole Basin and the Waterfall were created but they all fell into disrepair in the

20th century. However, in the late 1980s Nesfields both fountains and the South Lake

were restored, cleared and put into function for the first time in a hundred years.

Another important feature

of the garden, the Temple

of the Four Winds

(originally known as the

Temple of Diana), is

modelled in part on Andrea

Palladios 16th century Villa

Rotunda at Vicenza. It was

designed by John Vanbrugh

in 1726 and it was restored

in 1955 by George Howard. It is used as a place for refreshment and reading and in 2001

Simon Howard held his marriage ceremony here.57

During his life Lord Carlisle purchased a lot of lead sculptures to fill the grounds of his

castle. By 1710 the gardens contained a dozen figures and by the 1740s the collection of

statues reached the number of thirty, divided between Ray Wood, the Temples terrace

and the South Parterre. Today, only eighteen figures survive among which here are

statues of Apollo, Venus, Bacchus, Hercules, Meleager, a Gladiator, a Dancing Fawn and

a Kid and four Roman Empresses, all recently restored.

Today, Castle Howard is owned by a private company managed by Hon Nicholas and

Simon Howard. Hon Nicholas Howard and his family actually live in the castle.

However, the garden and also a part of the castle are open to public.

3.4. Newby Hall Gardens

57 http://www.castlehoward.co.uk/


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Newby Hall is a 17th century house in Ripton, North Yorkshire, built in the 1690s by

Edward Blackett and designed by Sir

Christopher Wren58. In 1748 Blacketts

nephew sold the estate to the Weddel family.

William Weddel made a lot of changes to the

house, enlarging it with two wings and a

Statue Gallery, with the help of John Carr.

Robert Adams was also commissioned to

complete the Statue Gallery in 1767. After

Weddels death in 1792, the state was

inherited by his cousin, Thomas Philip Robinson, who then changed his name to Weddel.

When his younger daughter Mary married Henry Vyner of Gautby, he gave her Newby as

a wedding gift. She hadnt brought a lot of changes to the property except for a Victorian

church she had built in the Halls park in

commemoration of her son Frederick, murdered in

Greece. Lady Marys other son, Robert, was the one

who added the Victorian Wing and the Billiards

Room to the house. Newby then passed to Roberts

daughter who lived here during First World War and

then gave it to her son, Major Edward Compton, in

1921. Major Comptons main contributions to his

new property were the gardens. First he planned the two double herbaceous borders,

flanked by hedges of yew. Off this main ax, which runs from the south front of the house

right down to the River Ure, he planned a series of formal gardens, each to show plants at

their best for every season of the year, including a Rose Garden, an Autumn Garden, a

Water Garden and a Tropical Garden. The Gardens were created in a period of over fifty

years and are a major contribution to the 20th century gardening design59.

After Major Comptons death in 1977, the property was inherited by his son Robin,

who restored the house and replanted the gardens with the help of his wife, Jane. They

58 Christopher Wren (1632-1723)- one of the greatest English architects in history, who designed 55 of the

87 churches in London and many secular buildings of note;59 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newby_Hall


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4. GARDENS IN SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND

4.1. Blenheim Palace Gardens Blenheim Palace is a baroque style

building in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, home

to the 11th Duke of Marlborough, descendant

of the first Duke, John Churchill, to whom

Queen Anne gave the estate of the old

Woodstock Palace and 240.000 pounds,

after the Duke became a National Hero

following his victory over the French at the

battle of Blenheim. This fact is recorded on

a plaque above the East Gate of the palace

that reads: Under the auspices of a munificent sovereign this house was built for John

Duke of Marlborough and his Duchess Sarah, by Sir J Vanbrugh between the years 1705

and 1722. And the royal manor of Woodstock, together with a grant of 240,000 pounds,

towards the building of Blenheim, was given by Her Majesty Queen Anne and confirmed

by act of Parliament63. As the inscription says, the palace was designed by John

Vanbrugh, who was also the architect of Castle Howard. The garden, however, was

landscaped by Capability Brown. The Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was born

at Blenheim, and his room, as well as the Churchill Exhibition that gives a fascinating

insight into his life, are included in the palace tour. In 1987 the palace was recognised as

a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Blenheim sits in the middle of a large parkland of 2,100 acres which was crossed by the

small River Glyme. Vanbrugh built a bridge of huge proportions across the river, so huge

that it appeared inappropriate for the small stream but in 1764 the 4 th Duke employed

Capability Brown who created a lake, ornamented by a series of small cascades, by

blocking the river. This way the bridge was flooded and its size was considerably

reduced, making it fit better in the picture. The path around the lake is planted with trees

63 Cf.Frommers England, 2005,Danforth Prince, John Wiley and Sons, p.269


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covering an area of 150 acres. There is also a boathouse near

the lake, built by the 8th Duke.

The

gardens at

Blenheim

Palace are

mostly formal and comprise a Secret

Garden, a Rose Garden, an Arboretum,

Water Terraces and an Italian Garden

full of fuchsias, geraniums and pink

roses. They were created by the 9th

Duke and the French landscape

architect Achille Duchene. Formerly a

private garden of the present Dukes father, the Secret Garden was out of use for many

years. However, the present Duke recently restored it and opened it to public view. Its a

quiet place with benches to sit on and a variety of plants to see, from Japanese maples

and bamboos to wonderful flowering plants, described as a mixture of light, dark and

space, with wealth of shapes and textures: leaves, bushes and trees, rocky shapes and

formations, as well as water features.64

A Pleasure Garden, an ideal place for family visits, was created on the spot where a

kitchen garden used to be. It comprises the Marlborough Maze, an herb and lavender

garden, a butterfly house, inflatable houses for children, a giant chess and draughts set

and a miniature train that links the Palace with the Pleasure Garden. The Marlborough

Maze is the largest hedge maze on earth (540 metres) and has two high wooden bridges.

It was designed to reflect the history and architecture of the Palace. The Butterfly House

is an ideal place for observation and study where the butterflies full life-circle can be

followed.

Among the monuments and temples at Blenheim the most remarkable are the Column

of Victory, erected after the 1st Dukes death, which is 134 feet (41 metres) high and

positioned at the end of an elm avenue leading to the palace, and the Temple of Diana,

64 http://www.blenheimpalace.com/


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designed as a small summerhouse by Sir William Chambers, known as the place where in

1908 Winston Churchill proposed to his future wife.

Today the Place is home to the 11th Duke of Marlborough, John George Vanderbilt

Spencer-Churchill, who lives here with his family. In 2008 the gardens at Blenheim have

won the Garden of the Year Award offered by the Historic Houses Association.

4.1. Sheffield Park Garden

Around twenty miles north-east of Brighton lies the country estate of Sheffield Park,

its centrepiece being a Gothic mansion built for the first Earl of Sheffield by James

Wyatt. The mansion is privately owned and not accessible to the public but the 120 acre

woodland garden, owned by the National Trust, is open to public view.


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The garden was originally laid out in the 18th century by Capability Brown, who

created irregular belts and clumps of trees, and Humphrey Repton, for the first Earl. The

gardens original design was of trees, shrubs, wide lawns and two serpentine lakes. Later,

these two original lakes were extended to form the present chain of five, with beautiful

waterfalls and a 25 foot cascade

between the different levels. In the

19th century the third Earl made

Sheffield Park famous for country-

house cricket. The first recorded

cricket match at Sheffield was

played by England and Australia in

1845. The third Earl was also the one

who transformed the garden into an

arboretum of exotic and native

conifers. Later, in 1910, further

transformations of the garden were

made by Arthur Gilstrap Soames, a

wealthy brewer who had fallen in love with the garden and purchased the estate. He

introduced Japanese maples, nyssas and beds of autumn gentians and also planted

rhododendrons65 on the lakeside, created the balustraded bridge, the cascade and Middle

Lake.

During the Second World War the house and garden became the headquarters for a

Canadian armoured division. Then, in 1953 the estate was split and sold in lots. The

National Trust purchased 100 acres in 1954 and 200 acres more, where the historic South

Park with the cricket pitch stand, after a few years. The cricket pitch has been recently

restored with several matches planned for this years summer.66

Sheffield Park Garden has been described as a garden for all seasons, but it is at its best

in spring and in autumn. It is home to the National Collection of Ghent Azaleas.

65 Flowering evergreen shrubs and small trees with spirally arrange leaves, used extensively as ornamental

plants in landscaping66 http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-sheffieldparkgarden/

gardens in eastern england

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