Enjoy the garden at Packwood this winter

The view through the 18th-century gate to the Avenue of Giant Yews at Packwood House, Warwickshire — Wander through the 18th-century gate to the Avenue of Giant Yews at Packwood House

Packwood’s contemporary mingled style garden, with herbaceous borders, wildflower meadows and beautiful orchard is the perfect place to dream of carefree days. The gardens are noted for their exciting and colourful borders, unusual plants, bountiful Kitchen Garden and magnificent yew trees.

Winter in the gardens

The winter months are a very busy time for the garden team who are working hard to clear the beds for the spring displays before hard frosts and snow. At this time of year they also have to cut down all the herbaceous plants and clear all the tender perennials from the beds which are kept safe over the winter months in the glasshouses. Compost is then applied to the borders and spring plants consisting of wallflowers, tulips and forget-me-nots are planted ready for next year. This is a lot of hard messy work for the garden team but never-the-less essential.

The sunken gardens on a snowy day — Winter has arrived here at Packwood

The Memorial Orchard

The trees you will see here have been planted in memory of loved ones lost. In late summer and autumn these trees provide a rich harvest of fruit, ripe and ready to become part of our home-made meals in the Kitchen Garden Café.

Memorial fruit tree orchard at Packwood House, Warwickshire. — Fruit is ripening well on our memorial fruit trees, ready for use in the café.

You won’t just see apples here though. Keep an eye out for our pears, damsons, quinces, plums, cherries and medlars. It is a beautiful area to have a wander through on a frosty day and perhaps to remember one of your loved ones fondly.

The Yew Garden

Follow the spiral path to get the best view of Packwood's famous Yew Garden. According to legend the yew trees at Packwood represent the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ and are over 350 years old. We have started a phased programme of rejuvenation to secure the future of this ancient and iconic topiary garden.

The Yew Gardens here at Packwood are very fragile and sometimes have to be closed to protect them. Please call the property before you visit to avoid disappointment. Please note that the yew garden and orchard will both be closed until further notice due to conservation reasons.

Outdoor tapestries

A spectacular array of flowers adorn the borders at Packwood throughout the year, creating a wonderfully rich feast for the eyes - the perfect accompaniment to the beautiful tapestries inside. Packwood's flamboyant flower borders, renowned for their distinctive ‘mingled’ style has evolved through the hands of successive head gardeners. This ‘mingled’ style, which is labour intensive and requires a high level of skill, consists of small groups or single plants being repeated at intervals along the border creating a vivid tapestry of plants crammed closely together.

View of Packwood's flower border on a misty September morning — View of Packwood's flower border on a misty morning

The Kitchen Garden

The current Kitchen Garden owes much to the vision of the gardening team and a band of dedicated volunteers. Vegetables are planted in rows in beds around a central circular pool. Traditional rotation of crops is observed for best results and the produce is often to be found on the menu of Packwood’s café.

Discover more about the kitchen garden at Packwood

Packwood's Tramper

The generous donation of a 'Tramper' from the Patrick Trust earlier this month is currently facilitating full access to Packwood’s park and gardens. Follow the link for more information on the Patrick Trust and how their kind donation is enabling visitors to explore all that Packwood has to offer.

Find out about The Patrick Trust (PDF / 0.3MB) download