Discover the Wild Garden at Sheringham Park

Blue tit on a branch at Sheringham Park, Norfolk | © National Trust Images/Rob Coleman

The Wild Garden at Sheringham Park covers 50 acres and includes a nationally important collection of rhododendrons. The garden was developed around a base planting of Scots pine and oak, with the earliest plantings being carried out around 1850. Specimens retrieved from Asia by the plant collector and explorer Ernest Wilson were added to the collection in the early 20th century. The last private owner of the estate, Thomas Upcher, held rhododendron champagne parties in the 1950s and made significant additions to the garden up to his death in 1985.

The plant collection

The Wild Garden is home to over 80 species of rhododendron and azalea that bloom at various times between November to August, usually reaching their peak from mid-May into early June.

Two viewing platforms provide ideal vantage points to look down on swathes of budding plants and colourful flowers in deep pink, purple, red, orange, yellow and white hues, and over the surrounding countryside.

During the park’s busiest time of year, visitors are advised to visit earlier or later in the day to avoid compacting the soil around these shallow-rooted plants and to avoid congestion in the car park.

Once their abundant blooms have faded, the largely evergreen plants provide the garden with structure and scale year-round.

Sheringham Park rhododendrons flowering on either side of the main drive — Rhododendrons line the main drive during late spring | © Kezia Everson

Rhododendron or azalea?

Rhododendrons tend to be larger growing and evergreen with oval shaped leathery leaves, whereas azaleas are more often small to medium with narrower deciduous foliage. For the keen-eyed, take a closer look at the flowers…. Rhododendrons have 10 stamens and form in clusters of blooms, compared to azalea which have 5 stamens in each of its more solitary flowers.

The Ling Hut at Sheringham Park, Norfolk | © National Trust Image/John Miller

The Main Drive

The drive was central to Humphry Repton’s 1812 design for Sheringham Park. As you walk down it, imagine you're in a horse-drawn carriage, catching glimpses of the coastline as you travel through the rhododendrons in the Wild Garden.

Ancient and remarkable trees

There are some special trees in the Wild Garden, including one of the biggest Scots pines outside of Scotland. Elsewhere, the larger of our two snowdrop trees is one of the tallest specimens in England.

A number of veteran oaks dotted along the Main Drive may well have acted as boundary markers in the past. Many of the beech trees are well over 200 years old, including our wandering beech that is tucked away to the side of one of Repton's glimpse points.

The bright green bark of the moosewood tree is particularly striking in the winter, alongside the fresh red growth of the smooth Japanese maples. In colder months when the trees are bare, it's a good time to observe the bird life, which includes winter thrushes, woodpeckers and roving flocks of tits.

Winter in the wild garden

Due its proximity to the coast and the micro-climate created by the large rhododendron collection, the wild garden is quite protected from winter frosts. This enables two rhododendron species, ‘Christmas Cheer’ and ‘Nobleanum Venustum’, to flower throughout most winters - even though they are generally referred to as spring species.

January often marks the beginning of the camellias and snowdrops flourishing, although the timings can be significantly affected by the weather conditions.

Plans for the future

In response to climate change, a two-pronged approach is being taken by the countryside team at Sheringham Park to maintain and diversify the Wild Garden and secure its future in the face of hotter and drier summers.

As part of this work, selected rhododendron species are being migrated to more temperate locations lower down the valley. Invasive species such as ponticum are also being removed, having originally been introduced for game cover. This is a constant effort supported by the hard work of a Friday volunteer group.

In addition, over 180 new specimen trees have been planted in the Wild Garden in recent years, including striking red maple, Colorado Blue Spruce, Japanese cedar and Tibetan cherry.

It is hoped that these trees will create a functional canopy over the coming decades, to shade some of the most important rhododendron species. They will also help to diversify the woodland, provide year-round colourful displays and replace trees that were too densely packed or had reached the end of their life.