In 1756 the garden was described as ‘pleasant…well planted with fruit trees and a kitchen garden, all enclosed with a substantial brick wall’. It remains much the same today.

The garden is situated on the side of a hill and has been divided into two parts, an upper and a lower level. On the upper level, to the south of the house a path runs through an avenue of false acacia trees while to the north are perimeter terrace walks around a formal lawn and sunken rose garden. The planting is relaxed within a structure of trimmed yew and box hedges, and gives successive colour and interest through the year. 

Steps beyond the rose garden lead down to the garden’s most charming feature – a sunken, walled oasis of orchard, glasshouse, culinary herb border, cut-flower beds and vegetables. In spring the lawn below the orchard is transformed into a flowery meadow of bulbs. More than thirty varieties of English apple are grown in the three hundred year old orchard. Each year, in late September, Apple Day gives visitors the opportunity to discover and taste the old varieties which our forebears enjoyed and which are gradually being lost through monoculture.

©NTPL / Ian Shaw