Constable Burton Hall Gardens,  Tuesday 3rd May

On a sunny but chilly afternoon 12 members of the Gardeners of Eden paid a visit to the Gardens of Constable Burton Hall near Leyburn, Wensleydale.  The hall is a fine example of a Georgian House, which was built for Sir Marmaduke Wyvill in 1768.  It is currently the home of Mr and Mrs Charles Wyvill and family.

The Hall stands in extensive woodland and formal gardens, which are open to the public and has regular seasonal displays. The snowdrops and daffodils in the woodland trails are a well known favourite with the local garden lovers we spoke to.

We were fortunate to visit the garden at the peak of the tulip display, which was stunning as the photographs will illustrate.

The self guided tour is well signposted and has 10 areas, the first of which was the Herbaceous Garden.  This is situated at the rear of the house and was a square garden, divided by a central cross of grass. Structure was added by the weeping pear Pyrus salicifolia and the surrounding beds had alliums, iris, and geraniums interspaced with groups of bold tulips.  Of particular beauty were tulips Estalla cynvelo in red and white, Innuendo, white with a pink top and the stunning Honeymoon, pure white with a frilled edge.

Following a short Lime Avenue, under planted with wild garlic, we arrived at The Long Border. With a natural stream flowing below on the right hand side, it was full of geraniums, forget-me-nots and bluebells and had miniature tulips planted amongst the permanent flowers.  Of particular interest, were Peppermint stick, as the name suggests a red and white striped variety and Hajeri Little Beauty a deep fuscia pink.  As we progressed along the border the colour of the massed tulips against the backdrop of fresh green foliage shrubs could not fail to impress.

Next came The Lawn Border.  This area has many specimen trees as its backdrop, an enormous old Cedar, Copper Beech, Birch, Ash and Oak are all in this area and to the front of the house.  To the front of the trees are many unusual shrubs, namely a Katsura tree, Cercidiphyllum Japonica a native of East Asia and also Cotinus coggygia, The Smoke Tree, which has large fawn coloured plumes that turn smoky grey in late summer.

Our next stop at Granny’s Garden was a complete contrast from the border gardens being contained by shrubs and hedges and a peaceful haven of flowers with a seat which gave a wonderful view of a Clematis Montana in full bloom climbing over an old Yew tree.  The old roses planted there will provide a lovely fragrant retreat in the summer months. Leaving the garden we passed a Magnolia Kobus again covered in flowers and made our way to the Middle Terrace.  This tree lined terrace is under planted with shade tolerant plants such as Hostas, Ferns and Rogersia Podophylla which has large chestnut like leaves that produce creamy white flowers in summer.

The Acer Walk had many beautiful specimens of Acer Palatum which like all maples will give a beautiful display of colour in the autumn, again the tulip borders gave a fabulous display of colour against the fresh Acer foliage.  We particularly liked Dolls Minuet (see picture page) in deep pink and a well established tree peony showing rich red flowers.

Next stop was a small rock garden, which although currently mainly green showed promise for a colourful display in the summer months.  Currently  showing very exotic blooms in a small shady pool, were groups of Yellow Skunk Cabbage  which is a perennial producing spectacular yellow flowers in spring, followed by large architectural leaves. This was complemented by a lovely peach flowering Potentilla.

Crossing the front of the house the garden becomes more natural and we approached the Beck Area,   which was lined with hostas, ferns, bamboos and Gunnera Manicata . Following the beck we crossed a footbridge towards flowering Rhododendron in a host of colours and noticed on our left across the parkland was an 18th Century Ice House.

Strolling on, the garden opens out into a large attractive Lily Pond, bounded by high brick buttress walls.  These walls are covered with climbing roses including Rosa Mme Alfred Carrierre, which are beautifully scented and will create a stunning backdrop for the pond in summer.

The Pond area was a lovely place to stop and sit or even picnic in summer, the tall irises were showing signs of buds and flowers to come.

Finally we followed the paths through another Lime Avenue to the Daffodil Field fully expecting, because of the warm dry spring, the flowers to have all gone by the beginning of May.  However we were pleasantly surprised as many if the narcissus and double varieties were still blooming and made a pleasant end to our wander through the gardens.

There is no doubt that Constable Burton promises to deliver a great garden visit all through the summer as well as the spring and we would recommend  it to anyone in the area. At £3 (in the Honesty Box) it certainly gives good value to the garden enthusiast and provides a lovely environment to enjoy a few hours of leisure time.

More information can be found at www.constableburton.com

The 6500 bulbs are provided by the Chelsea award winning nursery “Bloms Bulbs” which were of excellent quality and may be of interest to members.

Visit www.blomsbulbs.com

More pictures on the Picture Page 

Report and photographs by Sue and Ian Lord.