Explore the wider estate at Brockhampton

The Orchard

Did you know that Brockhampton is home to the largest orchards cared for by the National Trust? 

In 2019, we embarked on a project to 'Reimagine' Brockhampton's lost orchards. Working with Bristol-based artist Walter Jack, we have reinstated two Victorian orchards that have the enjoyment of visitors at the heart of thier design. The first orchard contains the apple core, which has five segments and tells the story of the history of the eating apple, from its origins in Kazakhstan to the traditional Herefordshire cider apple.

The second orchard has a selection of orchard rooms, with natural play areas that children can climb, jump, run and skip around. One of these orchard rooms containst the Herefordshire Bull trow, the boat that represented Herefordshire in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. These orchard rooms will be open from 21 May. 

During this project we have planted over 700 trees, including a variety of apple, quince, plum, and damson trees as well as field mapel, quickthorn, hazel and elder trees. 

Why not join us on Saturday 21 May to celebrate the launch of the new orchards? You can find out more about the event here. 

Brockhampton House

Built for Bartholomew Barneby in 1765, the fifty-three room Georgian bricked manor comes complete with stables, servants’ wing and no fewer than seven bathrooms. Designed by renowned architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, no expense was spared when designing and constructing this grand statement house.

Although it is thought to have been altered in the nineteenth century, the house itself still displays a wealth of original features such as wine bins in the basement, oak panelling, staircases, marble chimney pieces and appropriately themed plasterwork in the music room.

Owned by the National Trust, Brockhampton House is currently leased out as a private residence along with eight acres of land. You can enjoy views of this beautiful building on the red walk through the estate.

The Parkland

After the construction and completion of Brockhampton House, Thomas Leggett was commissioned to produce a layout of the parkland. Although he is not particularly well known, Leggett followed the style of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and designed his landscapes in a naturalistic style.

Leggett’s ambitious plans included a serpentine lake but were never realised.  The Barnebys still sculpted their landscape by converting arable land into landscaped, and cutting carriage ways into the sloping parkland surrounding the estate; the tracks of which can still be spotted on the hills today.  

The woodland

Brockhampton boasts an impressive seven-hundred acres of woodland with over thirty-two species of tree. Clustered in steep-sided dingles next to the streams, and to the north of the estate, are pockets of semi-natural ancient woodland. To be classed as ‘ancient’ the area must have been continuously wooded since 1600 and some of the wide-bottomed oaks are at least five hundred years old.

Whilst walking through the woods, depending on the time of year you may see bluebells, snowdrops, daffodils, primroses and sweet woodruff. Less commonly seen, though still present, are wood spurge and dog’s mercury.

Once trees have died or fallen, we leave the decaying trunks that make great habitats for insects, fungi and lichens.

Lawn Pool

Records show that Lawn Pool has existed here since around 1769 when Leggett designed the parkland surrounding the mansion. It would have provided the perfect spot for the Barnebys to fish and shoot and it once had a boathouse in the eighteenth hundreds.

Nowadays, Lawn Pool is a wildlife haven where visitors can enjoy watching carp, frogs and coots. If you’re really lucky you may spot a kingfisher hunting too.

We are currently undertaking restoration work on lawn pool, to ensure it continues to be a thriving wildlife habitat. You can find more information about the project here.