Nestled between the house and neighbouring St Peter's Church is the West Garden with magnificent borders and lawns, a perry orchard, and winding paths around picturesque ponds filled with wildlife and surrounded by plants and trees. An ambitious project to create a vibrant, 17th-century inspired garden is well under way at Dyrham Park.

Autumn highlights at Dyrham Park

A park awash with colour, conkers falling from the trees and a bountiful pear harvest are just some of the delights at Dyrham Park in autumn. With 270-acres of open parkland, home to hundreds of trees, Dyrham Park is a great place to enjoy an autumn stroll.

Autumn colour

The leaves start to turn in late September, with October and November a beautiful landscape of reds, oranges and yellows. There are over 100 tree varieties at Dyrham Park so there's always something changing.

Mellow fruitfulness

Dyrham has a long history of making pears into perry and 2024 has seen a bumper crop. You can see the fruit growing in the garden and orchard before it's picked and collected for pressing.

Children's '50 things' activities

The popular '50 things to do before you’re 11¾' challenges young explorers to connect with nature through play. Many of the activities outlined can be completed at Dyrham Park like having fun with sticks, getting to know a tree or playing conkers. We have material available at Visitor Reception to help you with this. You can also access the full list online here.

Pool gardens

The pool gardens with its gentle cascade is a relaxing place to wander round or take a break on a bench and relax. The borders are filled with colour and you might catch sight of the leaves of katsura tree by the pool turning from bronze to yellow, orange then pink this season, when they smell of burnt sugar.

Parterre

In June 2024 the garden parterre was completed at Dyrham Park creating a striking link between house and garden.

The parterre design was inspired by drawings from the original 17th-century garden and funded by a generous gift in a will.

Huge steel frames were craned in to make the acanthus leaf shapes that were then filled with carefully cut turf, decorative stones, shells, planting and paving.

The West Garden

Inspired by key historical documents including an engraving of Dyrham Park from the 17th century, the gardeners are transforming the West Garden into a vibrant 21st-century garden with flavours of the past. The borders and lawn of the Avenue represents the historic west entrance to the estate, looking up towards the house and a watchful statue of Mercury. The planting and designs bring your attention towards this view, guiding the eyes through a tunnel-like shape of manicured lawns and long, rectangular flower beds.

Watch out for the cider apple trees being trained on attractive purpose-built iron frames along the Avenue's edges in the espalier design of the 17th century thanks to a recent gift in a will by a generous local donor. Varieties include 'red styre' cider apples, thought to originate from Gloucestershire and now very rare. At the end of the Avenue are historic gates which would have been the main entrance to the house in years gone by.

Fountain Court

By the house, the courtyard garden known as Fountain Court is presented as a 17th-century herb garden, with wall trained fruit trees and a variety of herbs.

The Greenhouse  

Discover the Greenhouse which is attached to the house. The Greenhouse was converted in the 19th century with a glass roof for year-round planting. When cold outside it was full of delicate plants on large shelving. Unusually the Greenhouse always had direct access from some of the best rooms in the house.