Discover the garden at Ormesby Hall

Grandparent with grandchild in spring at Ormesby Hall, North Yorkshire — Visitors in the gardens during spring at Ormesby Hall, North Yorkshire | © National Trust Images/Annapurna Mellor

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 spring

Spring wow moments and great photo opportunities: Tulips and daffodils.

The front lawn in front of Ormesby Hall’s main entrance has been planted with thousands of native daffodils which provides a cheery welcome arrival for visitors, as the green lawn becomes a dazzling mix of bright yellows. Whilst at the back of the house, the tulips dominate the formal garden, creating a beautiful sight of spring colour. A newly planted blossom garden has been planted adjacent to the welcome hut. New blossom trees, such as cherry, crab apple, scarlet hawthorn and Amelanchier have been planted, surrounded by a mix of spring bulbs.

Other spring flower moments are the Japanese and Chinese wisteria, which wrap the Dining Room windows in with their beautiful blue blooms, perfect for admiring as you relax on the café terrace. In the octagonal beds, the garden team have planted 1,000 iris reticulata to add some early seasonal flowerings, with a mix of whites, dark blues and purple. Also 3000 alliums have been planted in the croquet borders to give some late spring colour and a feast for bees.

Nature at Ormesby Hall

Spring is the time when birds start singing. In winter they huddle together for safety and warmth, but in spring they start becoming territorial, singing to secure a territory and to attract females. The earliest birds to nest are long tailed tits, starting in March, it takes them up to three weeks to build their exquisite nests, a complicated nest using cobwebs, lichens and moss. The cobwebs make it stretchy, so it will stretch and grow as the young chicks inside get bigger, it is filled with moss for comfort and adorned on the outside with Lichen to disguise it from eagle-eyed predators. Often building their nests in prickly plants such as berberis, hawthorn and brambles to give them even more protection. Our resident kestrels will be displaying and hunting across our parkland, always easy to see as they habitually hover with fast wing beats, keeping them completely stationary in the sky.

Visitors exploring the gardens at Ormesby Hall, North Yorkshire | © ©National Trust Images/Paul Harris

Blossom at Ormesby

A new selection of flowering cherry trees have been planted opposite the Welcome Hut at Ormesby Hall, this will provide a show of blossom as the first view of the gardens as visitors arrive in the spring. Other flowering cherry trees are established throughout the garden, and Amelanchier in the croquet borders. The new orchard meadow was planted up with young fruit trees in March 2022, and the blossom will improve year on year from now on. More mixed native hedgerows, including hawthorn and blackthorn have been planted around the estate over the last few years and they will soon be bursting into life to offer blossom for an array of insects, and perfect nesting habitat for many garden birds.

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.