Things to do in the garden at Tyntesfield

The house at Tyntesfield, Somerset | © National Trust Images/Tamsin Holmes

Relatively unchanged since 1900, the garden at Tyntesfield is varied, ranging from large open lawns and formal terraces, to a historic orangery and working Kitchen Garden. With seasonal planting throughout the year and numerous paths to follow, there's always something new to see.

The garden in summer

The Tyntesfield gardens come alive in summer, with flowers in full bloom and sunny weather providing the perfect setting to enjoy them. On the upper terrace we have pink Petunias with blue Heliotrope. On the main terrace there are alternating beds of pink Begonias alongside beds with contrasting flowers and foliage such as Coleus, Marigold, variegated Maize, purple Millet and Alternanthera.

Our recently rejuvinated Rose Garden has been replanted with a wide range of perennials including Agastache, Helenium, Penstemon and Salvia, as well as hundreds of strongly scented roses.

Make sure you visit the cut flower garden where you'll find Dahlias, Statice, Asters and Carnation, then venture into the kitchen garden where you will see a wide variety of pumpkins, squashes, gourds, a newly replanted herb bed, tomatoes and cucumbers, to name but a few.

Tyntesfield offers a varied landscape to enjoy the summer weather in, with over 540 acres of garden, parkland and woodland to enjoy. Be it a weekday outing or the summer holidays, there's no reason not to get out, about and involved at Tyntesfield over the summer months.

The formal terraces

The terraces were first created in the 1850s and were gradually improved by each member of the Gibbs family. Today's planting is much as it was in the early 1900s, when Tyntesfield was owned by Antony Gibbs.

With formal displays of bulbs and tender bedding plants, the terrace's ornamental flowerbeds create a colourful contrast with the Victorian Gothic house above them.

Tyntesfield house peeking through the trees in summer — The parkland at Tyntesfield comes to life in summer | © National Trust Images/James Dobson

The Rose Garden

Nestled in the hillside, the Rose Garden is a quiet and sheltered retreat with manicured box hedging, a covered archway and colourful planting.

In the winter months, the garden is maintained and prepared for spring. Take a break in one of the Victorian gazebos and enjoy the views across the estate.

Repairing the Rose Garden gazebos

The Rose Garden's twin gazebos were in a state of disrepair when the National Trust first began caring for Tyntesfield in 2002, and many of the Victorian tiles were missing or broken. Now, thanks to careful restoration work from specialist conservators, the gazebos have been returned to their former glory and can be enjoyed once more.

The Rose Garden restoration project

We have now completed our Rose Garden restoration project after 4 years of work. We've installed metal edging to define the beds and a refreshed the path surface. The beds have been replanted with a mix of perennials including Agastache, Helenium, Penstemon and Salvia, and over 100 highly scented roses.

A new yew hedge will feature along the back of the garden, and a large herbaceous border wraps around the top lawn.

Paradise

Paradise, as it was named by the Gibbs family, is an arboretum with a collection of specimen trees brought from all over the world to grow at Tyntesfield.

As well as a number of unusual and international trees, Tyntesfield is also home to many Champion Trees. These trees are significant due to their height, age, girth or another remarkable quality. Tyntesfield contains over 40 Somerset county champions, five of which are Great Britain and Ireland champions.

Discover Paradise

You can find out more about the significant trees at Tyntesfield by picking up a tree leaflet at the visitor welcome, or by joining a seasonal guided tree walk. For more information on upcoming tree walks, please visit our events page.

Tyntesfield's Rose Garden in June, showing a bright pink flower arch tunnel, the gazebo in the corner and the vegetation in front of the stone wall border. — Tyntesfield's Rose Garden in early summer | © Bob Fowler

The Kitchen Garden

The Kitchen Garden has been providing fruit and vegetables for the Tyntesfield estate since the 1860s. Today, the majority of the produce is used in the Cow Barn restaurant, with the rest available to take home, for a donation, from our produce table.

Why not peek into the working buildings surrounding the Walled Garden – the potting shed, tool shed and apple store – which are still used for their original purpose? Or the Victorian glasshouses that are full of seasonal plants throughout the year?

The Orangery and cut-flower garden

When the National Trust first began caring for Tyntesfield in 2002, the Orangery was virtually derelict with several stone columns missing and serious damage to the roof. Today, thanks to careful restoration work by professional conservators and Architectural Stone Conservation students from City of Bath College, the Orangery has been returned to its former glory.

The Orangery today

In front of the Orangery are the bright and colourful beds of the cut-flower garden, which would have been enjoyed by the Gibbs family and their guests from the 1890s. Today, the flowers are used by Tyntesfield's volunteers to create the flower arrangements in the house.

Echoes from the Aviary

Head to the formal gardens, where you'll find our Echoes from the Aviary installation.

Colour, collage and sound are filling the aviary this spring. A group of young people from Hartcliffe have been working with artists Oshii and Jono Gilmurray to create a sound and visual art installation for Tyntesfield’s aviary. The group explored the history of the building and the bird life that would have inhabited it. They also delved into the significance of birds to Tyntesfield’s wider history and how the mining of seabird droppings (guano) for fertilizer made William Gibbs his fortune.

The final artwork not only explores these histories but encourages us to learn from them and think about how we can look after nature and our birdlife in future.

Echoes from the Aviary is a collaboration between the National Trust and Heart of BS13 and is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

You can read the transcript of Echoes from the Aviary below.

Read the transcript