The Garden Project at Berrington Hall
Berrington Hall stands as a 'Capability' Brown masterpiece, his final landscape design. Research into Berrington Hall’s walled garden and pleasure grounds has revealed the rarity and significance of this garden. In 2024, thanks to generous funding from Blue Diamond Garden Centres and National Trust supporters, we begin work which will both conserve and reimagine this historical treasure.
The Garden Project has been in planning for 10 years, incorporating archaeological research and specialist advice to fully grasp the original designs of the gardens. It was revealed that original eighteenth-century design elements and desired early nineteenth-century influences got lost or hidden due to later changes in the garden's evolution. These findings, coupled with Brown's designs, have actively guided us as we embark on the creation of a new flower garden and visitor journey through the pleasure grounds.
Flower Garden and Pleasure Grounds
As part of the Garden Project, we are recreating the original delightful experience the garden wanted to give its guests through new herbaceous and creative planting, new and interesting structural features, restoration and conservation of some of the original structures, and improved accessibility for all with a new path network and surface. This will provide a clearer journey to and from the house and will be more closely aligned with Brown’s original path design.
Extending the flowering season
Currently, flowers bloom mainly in summer, from June to September. We aim to extend the garden's beauty year-round, shifting the main flowering season from March to October. Our plans also involve planting additional shrubs and trees, providing garden structure in autumn and winter, and reimagining a former flower garden that borders each side of the fountain between the yew ball path and the current wisteria walk. We’re creatively incorporating 14 of the existing 26 much-loved yew balls, which will be prominently placed within new flower beds and celebrated with new structural and colourful planting to help create 'spectacles' within the garden. The Georgians were huge fans of eye-catching spectacles, and we hope the new planting designs will inspire visitors with new ideas for their own gardens at home.
Re-aligning the paths
Work has begun to re-align the paths and restore the Wisteria Walk to elevate the grandeur of the original design. The new accessible path network will be closer to its original layout, ensuring a grand entrance into the pleasure grounds and enabling more people to have a better experience around the gardens. The paths, initially designed for scenic views, will conceal and reveal, surprising and delighting visitors. This captures the essence of how ‘Capability’ Brown and Thomas Harley, Berrington Hall’s first owner, intended guests to feel as they journeyed around the pleasure grounds. The paths will follow Brown’s original design, revealing glimpses of the walled garden and newly planted flower beds. These features are designed to intrigue wanderers, enticing them with scents, colours, light, shade, and showcasing the horticultural skill and planting structures within the space.
Recreating historic features
A Wisteria Walk once existed along the southern wall of the walled garden. What remains of it can still be seen today and our plans include reinstating it, ensuring the pathway leads people to its ‘surprise reveal,’ recreating an important historical feature and offering a new seasonal delight and experience within the garden. In the past, a Laurel Walk once connected the former Wisteria Walk and West Avenue, offering delightful strolls with layers of surprises - interesting plant species, colour, and an abundance of plant and flower beds. The realignment will transform the pleasure grounds with less lawn while maintaining space for activities like games, reading, picnics, and quiet moments.
Explore the world of garden design
As the work takes place over the next few months, we invite you to step into the shoes of a garden designer at Berrington Hall. You’ll find information panels explaining the work taking place and asking you to think about how you might design a garden and perhaps take inspiration from what’s happening. There’s also a garden surveyor's office set up in the stables, filled with books and equipment that a garden surveyor might use when planning their latest creation as well as bell tents in the walled garden filled with books about gardens and garden design. We invite you to explore these spaces and reflect on gardens, how you enjoy them and what garden you might create.
Our supporters
This project has been made possible through the generous funding of Blue Diamond Garden Centres and National Trust supporters.
"Embark on this transformative journey with us as we breathe new life into Berrington Hall's historic charm. The groundworks started in August 2024 so visit again and again to see how this garden develops and how it might inspire your own garden design ideas."
Illustrative drawings
Improving accessibility
The changes will improve accessibility, enabling more people to have a better experience and more access around the gardens.
The Curve
The Curve is a very special of Berrington's garden. Designed as part of Capability Brown's final landscape, Berrington's curved walled garden is the only one of its kind globally that has survived the centuries almost entirely intact. In recent years, work has taken place to conserve and protect this unique space, removing the 20th century farm buildings and making necessary repairs to the walls and the Carpenters Workshop. Once this work was completed, we began a Research and Development project to explore new possibilities for The Curve, delving into the many ways people historically engaged with outdoor spaces and how that relationship continues to evolve.
Our partners
Find out more about Blue Diamond Garden Centres collaboration with the National Trust.
You might also be interested in
History of Berrington Hall
Uncover 230 years of history at Berrington Hall. It started as an escape to the country for a city banker and was ‘Capability’ Brown’s final landscape project.
The parkland at Berrington Hall
Explore Lancelot 'Capability' Brown's vision of stunning views and winding walking trails through acres of parkland at Berrington.
The garden at Berrington Hall
Berrington is an internationally significant garden and final landscaping masterpiece completed by ‘Capability’ Brown, packed with signature features to enjoy.
Our cause
We believe that nature, beauty and history are for everyone. That’s why we’re supporting wildlife, protecting historic sites and more. Find out about our work.