Discover the garden at Ormesby Hall

Family enjoying the garden in winter with snowdrops in foreground — Enjoy the gardens and grounds this winter at Ormesby Hall | © National Trust/Joanne Crawford

Explore the garden at Ormesby Hall, to discover a green oasis in the heart of industrial Middlesbrough. Enjoy the seasonal delights of this colourful Victorian formal garden and embrace the family fun on the woodland walk and natural play area.

Ormesby Hall garden in winter

It is the time when the shape of the garden can be fully seen. The infrastructure and the design is laid out as the bare bones of the garden. While many of the herbaceous plants will be sleeping through the winter, many plants will be left with architectural seed heads, providing winter food for birds, and their hollow stems which provide a safe haven for the important overwintering insects. Seasonal interest and colour to be seen with Yellow Winter Aconites and Winter Jasmine, and evergreen shrubs providing texture and an array of shades of green, with the dark shiny holly leaves and the lighter green of the varied interesting Laurels.

Glistening cobwebs and sparkling frost cling to these last standing plants providing beauty in miniature and wonderful photo opportunities.

The spring garden is the first area to come alive, starting with snowdrops early in the new year, then the crocus announcing the end of winter and signs of much welcomed warmer weather to come.

Winter maintenance

National Trust garden staff and volunteers are busy during the winter months carrying out annual maintenance. As well as the formal gardens, they also ensure any required work is also carried out on the grounds and wider estate.

Aerial shot of the south-facing formal garden in winter at Ormesby Hall — The shape of the gardens can be fully seen during the winter months | © National Trust/Andrew Davies

Wildflowers

At Ormesby Hall we are gardening with nature in mind, the wildflower meadows are increasing their diversity year on year. The meadow adds beautiful colour and creates a relaxing space, attracting insects like bees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths throughout the warmer months.

Nature at Ormesby Hall

Keep an eye out for Nuthatches and Treecreepers which you can often be seen on our mature trees around the garden and estate.

The meadow orchard is a great place to spend some time enjoying nature in the calm tranquil and atmosphere of this newly established part of the gardens.

The pond will be alive with native pond plants and a host of water loving creatures such as pond skaters on the water and dragonflies flying above in the summer.
Visitors can help by keeping dogs under close control as they can cause issues for a variety of wildlife and farm animals.

Exploring further afield

The Ormesby estate has 240 acres of woodlands, crop fields, running streams and open fields to explore, so stretch your legs, get the little ones out in nature, walk your four-legged friends and enjoy the parkland.

There are three waymarked walks across the estate, each 1.2–1.5 miles in length and taking in woodlands, St Cuthbert’s Church, local farms and a mini waterfall. Speak to the team on arrival for information on where to start the walks.

Many of the walks take you past our tenant farmer’s fields, where you may see sheep with the spring lambs and horses grazing. Please follow the countryside code whilst walking on the estate.