Gresgarth Hall Gardens 2021:
Visitors are very welcome to visit Arabella Lennox-Boyd's own garden on certain days in spring and summer. (see dates below)
The Garden: Includes terraces, lakes, a small bog garden, a wild garden, an extensive kitchen garden, a bluebell wood, the Millenium Wood, the Rhododendron Hills, the herbaceous borders and a serpentine walk. Most of the garden can be reached b
y wheelchair. Refreshments: We are sad to announce that the wonderful ladies from the local Catholic Church will not no longer be in charge of the delicious cakes and refreshments. We would like to thank them wholeheartedly for the support they have given to us over the many years. We are however delighted to welcome Paula and the team from the wonderful Coffee Bug, which offers a great selection of cakes, savouries and refreshments. www.coffee-bug.co.uk
Stalls: We also welcome back our friends from various Nurseries who offer an eclectic mix of garden plants and ornaments. Brownthwaite Hardy Plants - www.hardyplantsofcumbria.com
Holden Clough Nurseries - www.holdencloughnursery.com
Hartside Nursery - www.plantswithaltitude.co.uk
Summerdale Nursery - www.summerdalegardenplants.co.uk
Address / Directions: Take the M6 to junction 34 then A683 to Caton (2 miles), turn right towards Quernmore and after half a mile you reach the entrance. - Gresgarth Hall, Caton, Lancaster, LA2 9NB
Telephone Enquires: 01524 771 838 (answerphone for messages)
Opening Times - 11am to 5pm, unless stated below
BEFORE YOUR VISIT - PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF FAMILIAR WITH THE CURRENT COVID 19 GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES and NATIONAL RESTRICTIONS, AND WHILST ON YOUR VISIT ADHERE TO THEM AT ALL TIMES. Sunday 9th May Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm
Sunday 13th June Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm
Sunday 11th July Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm
Sunday 8th August Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm
Sunday 12th September Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm
Sunday 10th October Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm
Sunday 14th November Autumn Colour, 11-3pm, Entrance £10.50 & includes a delicious mug of hot chocolate
Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd and Lady Arabella Lennox-Boyd bought Gresgarth Hall near Lancaster in 1978. Arabella is a distinguished garden designer, with a wonderful eye for structure, line and colour. The main formal gardens lie to the side of the house - terraces elegantly laid out with octagonal platforms, angled staircases and neat box edgings. Much of the planting here is white: Clematis 'Duchess of Edinburgh' and Rosa 'Climbing Mrs Herbert Stevens' grow against the retaining wall. Here and throughout the garden are magnificent hellebores, all the best modern cultivars from Ashwood Nurseries, Helen Ballard, Elizabeth Strangman and Will McLewin in Cheshire. The main herbaceous borders are in pastel shades (pink, blue and white) and designed to flower from April to October - ending with a splendid show of Michaelmas daisies and grasses. The herbaceous plantings are constantly changing as Arabella experiments and tests out new ideas and new combinations. The terraces run down to the lake, which the Lennox-Boyds re-landscaped. The damp border on its far side has glorious blue meconopsis, candelabra primulas in vast drifts, gunneras for late-summer effect and both species of Lysichiton. A handsome bridge crosses the river to a long woodland garden which stretches along the valley bottom for about 400 metres. Springs are everywhere, and a great variety of soils which, together with the steep banks of the valley, make for an infinite number of microhabitats. The dominant species is English oak but there are also remnants of a Victorian planting of sequoias and wellingtonias. The principal underplanting is of winter-flowering witch-hazels - Hamamelis 'Pallida', H. 'Diane' and many new cultivars: they now have more than 50 different cultivars. The hillside across the river is laid out with an extensive collection of young rhododendrons and azaleas. The Lennox-Boyds have also planted a very large number of magnolias (over 300 different cultivars), an avenue of filberts and cobs along the outside of the walled garden and a substantial group of the different cultivars of lilac. Microhabitats support some surprisingly tender plants. Drimys lanceolata and Olearia scillonensis both grow out in the open: so does the sweet-scented Daphne bholua, which has started to seed around - there are over 60 bushes now, some grown from Sir Peter Smithers's garden in Switzerland and others of their own raising. Among the rarest plants are a fine Emmenopterys henryi, micropropagated by Kew. Lilies also flourish, particularly the tall white Cardiocrinum yunnanense. More and more plants are being added from seed collected all over the world. But it is above all the energy and the scale of the Lennox-Boyds' endeavours which create the greatest impression. They have successfully combined good design, passionate plantsmanship and a fine eye for decoration in a uniquely romantic natural setting. There can be no doubt that Gresgarth is one of the greatest gardens of our times.
