On Friday we visited a National Trust Property - Berrington Hall.
Into the Walled Garden
This was originally the Kitchen Garden for the hall but fell out of use during World War 2 as it was too expensive to maintain.
The National Trust has replanted part of the Walled Garden with orchards using pre-20th century varieties of apple. Pears have been trained along walls.
The Curved Walled Garden which I don't think you can access at the moment will, I understand, be restored. It was created by Capability Brown in 1783 and is one of only two still in existence. It was believed that Curved Gardens were good for growing fruit and food production. It was thought that curved walls provided more heat than straight ones.
The Woodland Walk overlooking the parkland created by Capability Brown.
Behind the iron fence is part of a Ha-Ha commonly used in 18th century gardens and landscapes. It is a ditch with a fence or wall designed to keep livestock at bay but allowing an uninterrupted view of the parkland from the house/garden.
There is a lovely walk down to and around this lake which we did on our visit last year but this year I had plans to go in the house and we didn't have time to do both!
After I'd visited the interior (B had a wander round the grounds as he really doesn't enjoy houses) we had an icecream and then returned to the Walled Garden. I'll write about the interior in the next post.
I hope everyone is staying safe and well.
All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera (I don't particularly rate most of my photos but if anyone wishes to use one I would be grateful of an email first - thanks).
Reference:
National Trust Guide Book to Berrington Hall and an Information Board on the Curved Walled Garden
12 comments:
Well, it's good to see Timothy having fun! Hope he got a nibble of Cornetto! I've never visited Berrington, but do so love a walled kitchen garden, and theirs looks good, especially considering such a lack of rainfall. I like the big labels on the orchard trees too, it's good to see so many old varieties being preserved. Altogether a lovely blog on Berrington.
Rustic Pumpkin. Thanks so much for your lovely comment! Timothy says he had a nibble and got covered in chocolate!!! I like walled gardens too something so very special about them! The orchard area is rather lovely. Grass allowed to grow long with wild flowers and tables and deckchairs everywhere. Good to see as you say they have planted older and rarer varieties. It was busy when we got there but much quieter when we returned later :)
Berrington Hall looks a wonderful place. I love Orchards at this time of year especially when the apples and pears start to ripen. There is something very special about them, walled kitchen gardens too. I like the way the different varieties have been labelled. An ice cream is just the thing to enjoy during a garden visit. I'm looking forward to seeing inside the house:)
Beautiful grounds to walk around, something I need to do with some of the houses near us
Rosie - Thanks so much. Yes I agree orchards and walled gardens are lovely. Herefordshire has a lot of orchards!! which is great news :) I'll leave anothr comment when I've checked the author of a good book on Orchards.
Billy Blue Eyes - Thanks so much. Most NT houses seem to have good grounds for walking :)
Rosie - Its called "Orchards A Year in England's Eden" by Ben MacDonald and Nicholas Gates. All about a year in the life of a Herefordshire organic orchard and the wildlife found there. I loved it.
Now I want to know what are the orangey flowers next to the Verbena bonariensis, as the label is turned the wrong way! What a clever idea and pretty.
I adore walled gardens especially when they are a mix of flowers and veggies, and fruit like here. I like the zigzag fashion of planting veggies in with the flowers, and dahlias amongst the courgettes .... amazing what you can do when you have the space!
A lovely post.
Millymollymandy Thanks So Much. I know the anser as I used to grow them for drying! Helichrysum variety of EverlastingFlowers. The flowers when they appear look just like dried flowers. They are so pretty.
You can't beat a Walled Garden and NT do do them rather well :)
Thank you for the link to the Orchards book. I've looked at the library catalogue on line but they don't have it, I will look out for the book as it looks wonderful and not a book to be fully enjoyed on Kindle as I guess there are some wonderful photos:)
Rosie - Thank you. I am so sorry the library doesn't have it. I was fortunate my son bought it for me for Christmas or Birthday. Not sure if out in paperback yet. But I thought it was a brilliant book.
Ah, lovely to see Berrington, RR. It's so long since we were there. How interesting about curved walls. Do you think crinkly-crankly walls were designed to keep the enclosed land furnace-hot? I jest ... but it would be fun to know if any c-c walls actually meet, presumably forming a circle of sorts. What a lovely photo of Timothy with his colour-coordinated bees.
Caroline Gill - Thanks so much. I read something re: crinkly crankly walls somewhere recently I will see if I can remember. Also I am sure I have some info on Packwood house and the walled garden walls there and keeping furnaces hot. I will check guidebook when I get home - in Herefordshire atm with my son for a few days.
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