Things to see in Biddulph Grange Garden

The neatly cut hedges and parterre at Biddulph Grange Gardens, with colourful woodland in the background — The intricate parterre at Biddulph Grange Garden, Staffordshire | © National Trust Images/John Miller

Through tunnels, passageways and intriguing gaps in hedges, there’s something to see around every corner at Biddulph Grange Garden. With so much variation in the planting, it’s always a great time to explore this quirky, playful Victorian paradise.

A global expedition

The garden is laid out in a unique small compartment design, also known as garden rooms. Each of these rooms, separated by yew hedging, rockwork and tunnels has its own microclimate, perfect for the historic plant collection.

The various trees and shrubs around the garden come from all over the world, from a Chinese Golden Larch, rhododendrons from America and Monkey Puzzle Trees from Chile just to name a few.

The garden is also home to unusual features including a Geological Gallery and Grade II listed sculptures.

China Garden

Hidden away in the heart of the garden, is its most iconic space. The China Garden is packed with impressive features including a replica of the Great Wall of China, a bright red pagoda and bridge and a golden water buffalo statue. In autumn, the acers provide a blaze of bright reds and oranges with a shot of golden yellow provided by the Golden Larch, the oldest in the country.

Featured on the BBC’s “Monty Don’s Great British Gardens” and a favourite among returning visitors, don’t forget to take a trip to China on your next visit.

Egypt

Simple in design but impressive in execution. Dominated by an ancient Egyptian pyramid and flanked by two obelisks, recreated entirely from clipped yew, the Egyptian Court is a must see for any visitor to the garden.

This space is also home to four sphinx statues, created by famed Victorian sculptor Benjamin Warehouse Hawkins whose other works include the dinosaurs of Crystal Palace Park.

Stone sphinxes in the area known as 'Egypt' at Biddulph Grange Garden, Staffordshire | © National Trust Images/John Miller

Italy

A series of magnificent formal terraces in the Italian style can be seen on the land dropping away from the house. Rather than using typical plants like narrow cypress found in traditional Italian gardens (which wouldn’t survive in the wet English climate) the banks are filled with hardier plants such as variegated holly and rhododendrons.

Italy also holds one of Bateman’s original plants, a Pieris Floribunda originally from southeast of the US.

Dahlia Walk

A highlight of the garden, the Dahlia Walk is a spectacular, colourful showpiece. In between the huge, buttressed yew hedging, a dazzling seasonal display is planted. In the spring, the beds are filled with thousands of tulips.

Once this display has finished flowering, the beds are filled with dahlia tubers which reach peak flowering from late August to early September. A range of dahlias are planted, from delicate pompom and ball varieties, which would have been available in the late 19^th century, alongside more modern varieties such as Collarette.

Stumpery

The oldest stumpery in the country and the inspiration for many more, including the one found in the woods of Highgrove, King Charles’ Gloucestershire home.

The Stumpery consists of a sunken path bordered by upside-down oak tree roots among which grow a great variety of ferns, delicate plants and mosses. The stumps are packed close together, interlacing each other and reaching up to three or four metres. It is, in a sense, a rockery made of wood.

The Stumpery, consisting of huge upturned oak tree roots at Biddulph Grange Garden. — A section of the Stumpery, found at Biddulph Grange Garden | © John MIller

Pinetum

A showground of evergreen trees including fine examples of cedars, pines and redwoods. The trees have been planted on raised banks and mounds to elevate young trees and to showcase the root systems.

The trees come from all over the world including towering Coastal Redwoods originating from America and a collection of mature monkey trees originally from South America.

Wellingtonia Avenue

Home to a grand collection of Sequoiadendron Giganteum trees, better known as Wellingtonia Trees. During the garden’s major restoration period in the 1990s, the avenue was replanted with seedling grown from seeds harvested from a Wellingtonia originally planted in the Pinetum. At the end of the avenue sits the largest stone urn in Britain.

Geological Gallery

The original entrance to the garden, the Geological Gallery is a Victorian curiosity. The gallery contains a selection of fossils and geological strata, separated into bays numbered according to the days of creation, as told by the Christian Story of Genesis.

It is an attempt by the garden’s creator’s (James Bateman) to reconcile his strong Christian beliefs with then ground-breaking mid century 19^th century geological knowledge.