Spring gardens in the North of England

Nature is waking up and spring colour will soon be appearing at many of the gardens we look after in the North of England, with bluebells, daffodils and tulips coming into bloom. Here are some of our favourite spring gardens:

Red bricked baroque hall based in sunshine with daffodils in the foreground

Beningbrough, Yorkshire  

Stretch your legs on a spring stroll with eight acres of formal gardens and a working walled kitchen garden to wander through. Look out for signs of spring as the bulbs start to pop up in the borders, including the 300,000 newly planted snowdrops, crocus and daffodils along the south ha-ha walk.

Explore the gardens at Beningbrough
Tulips in the Formal Garden at Cragside, Northumberland

Cragside, Northumberland  

During the spring months, the gardens at Cragside is full of colour and scent. Don’t miss the vibrant display of 8,500 tulips and daffodils, carefully planted in swathes of bright colours by the garden team to recreate the Victorian style that Cragside’s 19th-century creators, Lord and Lady Armstrong, would have enjoyed.

Take in a kaleidoscope of colour at Cragside
Tulips in the garden at Dunham Massey

Dunham Massey, Cheshire  

Spring offers the chance to see the garden at Dunham come to life with vibrant colours. Enjoy the sunny shades of over 70 varieties of daffodil along with 50,000 colourful dwarf iris, and discover the bluebell mound where the ground beneath the oak trees is carpeted with a sea of delicate blue flowers.

Discover Dunham's garden in spring
Bluebells on the banking with Fountains Abbey in the distance

Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal, Yorkshire  

Explore the ruins of the twelfth-century Fountains Abbey and spot dainty spring flowers breaking through the landscape. Look out for primroses and wood anemones and catch the scent of wild garlic in the woods around the abbey and the eighteenth-century water garden.

Visit Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal
Hare Hill Spring Pond

Hare Hill, Cheshire  

Explore the woodland garden at Hare Hill. It's a great habitat for birds and wildlife in the spring and you can also see daffodils, magnolia and a huge clematis montana in the walled garden. Later in spring it's full of rhododendrons and azaleas.

Explore the woodland garden at Hare Hill
View up the garden path at Hill Top in spring

Hill Top, Cumbria  

Look out for the the first greenshoots appearing in the garden at Hill Top in April, soon followed by colourful spring flowers, including wild primroses, lilcas, cowslops and violets. Don't miss the firery red Japanese quince blooming around the doorway or the delicate display of white and blue wisteria.

Look for signs of spring at Hill Top
Tulips in Nostell's Rose Garden

Nostell, Yorkshire  

With acres of parkland, woodland and gardens, Nostell is awash with colour in spring. Take a stroll through Engine Wood to spot carpets of bluebells and look out for the budding magnolia in the Menagerie Garden. Don’t miss the purple scented hyacinths and golden daffodils in the Kitchen Garden.

Discover Nostell's garden in spring
Bluebells in the woodland at Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland

Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland  

Look out for the arrival of newly planted mini tulips in the parterre at Seaton Delaval Hall this spring. The North West woodland will be full of daffodils in March and April before giving way to a carpet of bluebells in May, when the magnolias should also be in full bloom.

Stroll through spring colour at Seaton Delaval Hall
The crocus in the winter garden

Sizergh, Cumbria  

Sizergh has beautiful gardens and 1600 acres of estate to explore. During spring see the brightly coloured tulips on the top terrace, walk beneath cherry blossom in the orchard and enjoy the spring colours in the limestone rock garden.

Visit Sizergh in spring
Azaleas, rhododendron and tulips in the garden at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire

Quarry Bank, Cheshire 

Colourful, fragrant flowers fill the garden in springtime at Quarry Bank. Stroll alongside the meandering river in the lower garden and spot some of our rare rhododendrons, or visit the walled garden which will once again become a working garden filled with a wonderful array of vegetables.

Explore the gardens at Quarry Bank
Apple blossom in Wordsworth House garden

Wordsworth House & Gardens, Cumbria  

Drink in the colours and scents of heritage blooms amid the music of birdsong in as you explore the river-side garden at Wordsworth House that inspired a poet. Recently replanted after being badly damaged by Storm Desmond, this beautiful heritage garden, where William and his sister Dorothy learned their life-long love of nature, will once again be bright with daffodils and crocuses this spring.

Discover the garden at Wordsworth's childhood home