The Wooded Garden project at Hare Hill

2019–2020

Clearing and restoring the planting in the Family Garden

Over time, the trees and shrubs planted by Francis Brocklehurst in the late-19th century, along with those planted by James Russell for Colonel Brocklehurst in the mid-20th century, became overgrown. This meant light wasn’t reaching the ground and much of the underplanting had been lost. 

During 2019, the overgrowth in this area was removed or thinned back, opening up space and allowing more light to reach the ground. It has also revealed the ornamental brickwork on this side of the Walled Garden. The brickwork on the opposite side of the garden is plain, which shows that it was the back of house area used by the gardeners.

In 2020 the borders were re-planted the way they were intended, using the plants James Russell selected wherever possible and adding a new layer of planting inspired by the plans from 1960 onwards. 

2019–2020

Stabilising the rockery

This area was the ornamental entrance to the Walled Garden. It’s too shady to grow all but the earliest of spring bulbs, so a rockery was created, planted with unusual spring- and summer-interest plants.

Building new pathways 

Restored pathways behind the rockery allow visitors to walk this area as the Brocklehursts would have done in the past, and to experience the twists, turns and reveals of this once-secret garden. 

New hard paths have been laid to improve access and link to the Boggy Square, an area of parkland taken back in hand to create a wildflower meadow, which we hope to open to visitors in the future. 

2019

Planting the wildflower meadow

In 2019, an area of the tenant farmland between the car park and the Wooded Garden was fenced off to create a new garden area for Hare Hill.

This wildflower meadow area will follow the spirit of contemporary creation and design at Hare Hill, shown by both Francis and his great nephew Charles Brocklehurst as they shaped the garden in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The aim of the wildflower meadow is to help support nature, in particular insects and butterflies, and create a resilient garden area at Hare Hill in response to climate change.

The creation of this meadow is made possible by the support of the Rossendale Trust and with plants grown by users of Macclesfield Community garden, along with ones grown at Garth and Wymott prisons as part of their rehabilitation programme. 

2018

Dredging the ponds

You’ll find lots of ponds dotted around the Hare Hill garden, woodlands and tenanted farmland and they are well worth exploring on your visit. 

In 2018, we used horse power to help dredge the lower ponds – this will improve and restore the wildlife environment. Replanting work has taking place around the ponds to further encourage wildlife and to reflect the way it would have looked during the time of Colonel Brocklehurst. This replanting work will continue over time until this area is restored. 

Dredging with horse power 

Several years ago, the pond at North Park View was dredged to improve the water quality and wildlife environment. However the use of diggers resulted in some damage to the surrounding landscape.  

So when it came to dredging the lower ponds in 2018, a horse logging team from Cumbria used a specially designed dredging cage to clear the ponds without damaging the surrounding parts of the garden.  

The horse is the most environmentally friendly method of doing this particular type of work: carbon neutral, sustainable and powered by hay and grain.  

Your donations helped make this possible, with £25,000 raised for this project.

The next phase

An ornamental garden

The ponds were part of Charles Brocklehurst's original vision for the garden. Over the years, their ornamental features were obscured by spreading rhododentron ponticum, much of which was diseased.  

Most of this has now been cleared. Together with the dredging, it will greatly improve the aesthetic appeal of this important part of the garden. 

The next phase of the project is to start replanting, using correspondence between Colonel Brocklehurst and his garden designer James Russell as a guide.