Gardens and grounds

Our extensive gardens are a delight whatever time you choose to visit. Take a stroll around the grounds to the lakeshore or enjoy the displays around the house.

What's happening in May

The rhododendrons and azaleas are at their best this month, together with many other flowering shrubs like wisteria and spirea. The Chilean firebush, Embothrium coccineum, is out already, its fiery orange blossoms competing for attention with the rhododendron blossom.

In the borders the herbaceous plants are filling out and beginning to flower, amongst them are dicentra, pulmonarias, primulas, ajuga and asphodeline. The orangery is a good place to shelter from spring showers. The grapevine is gradually covering the whole of the roof-space with its new foliage, we should be able to see tiny grapes quite soon.

Petal Peek

For some photos of what's flowering at the moment, check out our Petal Peek photo album (opens in new window)

What the gardeners are doing this month:

Keeping on top of mowing, weeding and edging will be top of the list this month. In the kitchen garden we have been re-planting the soft fruit bed, with raspberry canes, gooseberry, blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes, strawberries, and a cultivated blackberry. If the weather is kind we will be planting out summer bedding and half-hardy perennials towards the end of the month.

There are garden walks and a selection of locally-grown plants for sale outside the Brockhole shop.

Birds and wildlife to look out for:

Our resident birds will be joined this month by summer visitors; swallows, fly catchers, willow warblers, chiff-chaffs and blackcaps. There are plenty of small rabbits to be seen grazing on the lawns (and on young plants given half a chance!) with foxes and deer in the early morning and evening.

Designer gardens

Come explore the 30 acre Thomas Mawson designed Arts and Crafts garden. With views over Windermere and towards the Langdale Pikes, this is a garden with a magnificent backdrop.

Depending on the season you can walk along the terraces to see dazzling displays of camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons filling the air with delicate fragrances.

Elsewhere there's the cherished Handkerchief Tree with its fluttering white flowers and the beautiful vivid crimson blooms of the Chilean Lantern Tree. Other features include:

We use environmentally friendly techniques including composting, recycling and the minimal use of pesticides, peat and water resources. The gardens are home to a wide variety of birds and wildlife and are open 365 days from dawn until 6pm.