The walled kitchen garden at Clumber Park

Full Glasshouse and the walled kitchen garden — The Glasshouse in the walled kitchen garden | © Steve Bradley

Spanning four acres, the walled kitchen garden at Clumber Park is one of the grandest surviving 18th century walled gardens in England.

The history of the garden

Originally home to the Dukes of Newcastle, Clumber Park is steeped in history with clues to its grand past dotted throughout, including this spectacular enclosed garden. Dating from 1772, it supplied the sorts of exotic and unusual foods that the Dukes could impress their guests with. From asparagus, to pineapples and strawberries at Christmas, this was an elite garden for an elite family. In its prime, the gardens would have provided employment for 30 people and had 6-acres under cultivation including a huge, heated Melon Yard and an orchard, which was re-established just outside the garden walls in 2021.

The layout and techniques used

The garden itself is divided internally with a bisecting peach wall to provide extra growing space for top fruit, and two garden rooms to secure the more valuable soft fruit crops. The 15-foot walls are home to over 200 wall trained fruit including cordons, espaliers, and fans.

The Clumber gardens team practice “no dig” gardening in two large plots near the top of the garden. Each year, they provide fresh crops using organic principles for use in the park's food and beverage outlets, and for sale on the well-stocked produce cart. All generating much needed funds from visitor donations.

The gardens now have a mixture of productive and ornamental plantings and is home to two national collections of Rheum (Rhubarb) and Malus (Apple).

View across the garden borders and apples trees in the walled kitchen garden — View across the walled kitchen garden | © Jon Scrimshaw

The garden is landscaped to encourage cold air and frost to roll from the flanks into the centre of the garden and then down a central slope through metal gates at the lowest point of the garden. This leads onto the impressive Cedar Avenue, which is underplanted with 140,000 spring flowering bulbs, creating a spectacular blanket of colour in the spring months.

The Glasshouse

At 451 feet, Clumber Park boasts the longest Glasshouse in the National Trust. It was installed by the 7th Duke of Newcastle and completed in 1910. By the 1970s it was derelict but the Trust spent decades restoring it, most recently in 2014. Today, it boasts seasonal displays in its huge conservatory, an exotically planted Palm House and bays of grapes, figs, and peaches. Some of the utility rooms now serve as a museum and display an extensive collection of gardening tools.

The central area and west wing of the Glasshouse is currently being restored, read about the project here.

Highlights of the garden

Herb border

Combining herbs grown for the cafe alongside dianthus, the latter a homage to the 7th Duchess and the gardeners who grew her favourite carnations.

Rose garden

With over 40 pre-1920s varieties, it is aldo planted with bulbs, annuals and herbaceous perennials to create a display that lasts from spring to autumn.

Soft fruit garden

Home to over 50 varieties, including strawberries and raspberries.

Double herbaceous borders

At 400ft, they are the longest of their type in the National Trust's ownership.

What's happening in the garden in April?

The growing season has officially begun. This means the light levels, soil and air temperatures encourage plants to begin growing. After the wet winter there is plenty of moisture in the soil so conditions are ideal for germination. It is still too early to put plants out that are not frost-hardy, but lots of plants such as salads, potatoes and root vegetables can be sown or planted outside now.

Meanwhile in the Glasshouse, sowing continues of tender vegetables such as courgettes, sweetcorn, squash and pumpkins which will be planted out next month after the risk of frost has passed.

April is also the beginning of blossom time in the walled kitchen garden so look out for the fruit tree blossom. The timing of this varies from year to year depending on the weather and variety.

Down in the Turning Yard, within the main visitor facilities, the team will be preparing the soil and sowing the wildflower meadow this month. Look out for it bursting into life later in the spring.

Produce for sale on the cart includes rhubarb, lettuce, spring cabbage, radish and asparagus.

Seasonal advice from Clumber's Head Gardener

With the clocks having changed we can dream of almost double the daylight hours of December. This warming light promotes the soil temperatures that allow our early garden plants to grow. Around now you will be enjoying the Blackthorn and Cherry-Plum blossoms, Snowdrops, Daffodils, Cyclamen and Magnolia. All very soul-nourishing for green fingered folk.

Work in the garden gathers pace with lots of seed sowing, mostly under glass. Onion sets go into the ground as do early potatoes and parsnips. The challenge for gardeners is holding back until the soil is warm enough to plant. It’s almost always better to wait for warmer weather if greenhouse space permits. It often pays to have fleece ready to protect the young, more tender plants when frost is forecast.

Hopefully, you will have done most of your seed & bulb buying, greenhouse cleaning and tool maintenance. If not, don’t delay, you will soon be much busier in the garden. The shops are starting to stock garden material in the seasonal isles so you can start thinking about using your outdoors space a little more again.

At Clumber, we grow most of our vegetables using a “no-dig” system which is definitely worth researching. Traditional soil preparation for seed sowing is best done with relatively dry soil (not sticking much to your boot). Work it until you have a nice friable fine tilth, then you are good to go. Consider doing this a few days in advance and then covering with used inside-out compost bags. The black colour will help warm the soil ready for receiving seeds and seedlings.

Just a reminder that we're now in bird nesting season so please save any tree cutting or hedge trimming until later in the year. However, please do continue to feed these feathered garden allies.

Dene Wood

Cauliflower, beetroot, potatoes, raspberries grown in the walled kitchen garden — Produce grown in the walled kitchen garden | © Johanna Mather

Walled Kitchen Garden Tour

First Tuesday of every month from March - October, 11.30 – 12.30.

Discover how the walled kitchen garden is maintained using traditional gardening techniques, and is one of only a handful of its kind in existence.

Free event, no booking required, admission into the park applies. Meet at the entrance to the garden.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Garden's team have answered the most common questions asked by visitors to the walled kitchen garden.

How many staff and volunteers work in the garden?
4 full time and 3 part time staff plus 40-45 frequent volunteers

How many would have worked here in its heyday?
Around 25 gardeners

If you are the second largest collection of rhubarb in the world, who has first?
We understand a private collection in the Netherlands currently has the largest collection

How big are the Walled Gardens?
4 acres within the walls, but including the slip gardens, frame yards and historic orchards it would have been nearer to 6 acres.

How long are the glasshouses?
451 Feet/137.5 meters. It takes around one and a half minutes to walk at a steady pace from one end to the other. It is the largest range of glass owned by the National Trust.

What happens to the produce?
We sell our produce on the cart near the gate and some also goes to the café.

What happens to all the rhubarb?
From March-July we have rhubarb sticks for sale on our produce cart and send some to the cafe. We do not pick the stalks after this time as the rhubarb needs to gather and store energy for growth. In the autumn/winter the rhubarb naturally dies back. It will re-emerge in February at the beginning of the growing season.

What happens to all the apples?
We have around 250 apple trees at Clumber. We pick the apples in September and October. Some are sold on the produce cart, some go to the café, some are used at our annual apple event. Some heritage varieties are good for storing and can be brought out to sell later during the winter.

Where are the toilets?
On the east side or the left side of the garden if looking from the main gates up the central path.

How do I get to the nearest café (Central Bark)
Follow the path that goes east at the main gates, keeping the Walled Garden on your right, until you reach the woodland. Turn right (north) and walk through the trees until you get to the tarmac path and then turn right. Central Bark will be on the right.