The organic gardens at Nunnington Hall are the perfect place to relax and explore. Find hidden corners, colourful peacocks, and swathes of flowers in this sheltered and intimate garden on the edge of the river.
Today the walls, terraces and elaborate gateways provide the structure from 17th century garden, with Mrs. Fife’s remaining planting schemes nodding to the garden’s heyday of the 20th century. Spread over five acres, nestled in the Howardian Hills, are lawns flanked with shrubs and topiary, mixed borders and a productive cutting garden including vegetable beds. Traditional rose beds and herbaceous borders sit alongside a mature orchard under-planted with wildflowers and a newly designed Iris garden opened in 2025.
Living organically
The garden has been managed fully organically since 2002, reviving traditional horticultural methods while also embracing modern techniques and technology. You can see much of this work in practice as you explore the garden. This includes such things as a four-bay composting system, a wormery, an organic vegetable patch, meadow management and sheep fleece as a mulch.
Relax by the river
The garden sits alongside the River Rye making it a beautiful calming spot, rich in nature and host to a great deal of wildlife. Spend a while by the river watching and you may just catch a glimpse of brown trout, otters, kingfishers and swans.
The last of the snowdrops give way to daffodils, Leucojum, Scilla and Muscari and the new growth of herbaceous plants starts to grow. Under the blossoming orchard, the wildflower meadows start to spring to life with cowslips, primulas, daffodils and snakeshead fritillaries.
The first blooms are from wild cherries along the river, followed by French pears on the south wall of the hall by around mid-April. Don’t miss the striking Amelanchier and finally the orchard full of apples, pears and ornamental cherries long into May.
The meadow transitions from a sea of buttercups to a carpet of ox-eye daisies as the season progresses. The borders are at their fullest with ever-changing textures and colours from flowering shrubs and herbaceous flowers and summer flowering bulbs like alliums. Take a seat in the Iris garden, a chance to spot the array of varieties and historically influenced, yet nature driven design. Continue to see what’s growing in the kitchen garden, in the summer months there are soft fruits aplenty, with salads and other crops growing.
Statement trees like Black Walnut and the Liquidambar by the footbridge take on their bold autumnal tones. The vines on the walls evolve with the passing of time before dropping their colours shades to carpet the ground. The orchard becomes the star of the show with old Yorkshire varieties of apple like Yorkshire Beauty and Yorkshire Cockpit. Seedheads are left in the borders to provide food and interest, with nerines and cyclamen providing splashes of colour. Expect to see calendula, nasturtiums and dahlias putting on a show until the first frosts.
As things slow down for winter, colour can still be found from mahonia and dogwood, and scent from sarcococca. With hellebores, snowdrops and winter aconites marking the end of the season. It’s a great time to appreciate the infrastructure of the garden with the formally shaped yews looking sharp and the symmetry of the borders and paths. Stems and seed-heads continue to add punctuations of structure among the dormant beds, offering food and shelter for overwintering wildlife.
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Good to know...
Bring your four-legged friend on your visit to the garden including the tea garden. Assistance dogs only for all indoor spaces. See the dogs welcome page for all you need to know.
Take a seat in the tea garden by the river for your al fresco drinks and food and those all-important ice creams. Or find a deckchair dotted around the garden. Discover more about the Tea Garden and eating at Nunnington.
Enjoy your own lunch on one of the picnic benches dotted around or bring a rug and relax on the lawn – in the summer borrow one of ours if you’re feeling spontaneous.
The roaming peacocks are descendants of those first introduced by Susan and Peter Clive, the Fife’s daughter and son-in-law. They came from Chatsworth in 1955 where Peter was agent to the Duke of Devonshire.
Discover more at Nunnington Hall
Find out when Nunnington Hall is open, how to get here, the things to see and do and more.
Nunnington Hall is a Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) partner garden. RHS members can visit for free any day the garden is open. Free entrance is for members only and you will need your RHS membership card on the day.
Find out how to make the most of your visit with your dog at Nunnington Hall, including where you can take them and what facilities are available. Nunnington Hall is a one pawprint rated place.
Thanks to a legacy gift, a historic part of the garden has been re-imagined for today's visitors. See how the project took shape culminating in over 500 irises in among sculptural structures. An area not to be missed during your visit.
This circular walk takes in the countryside surrounding Nunnington Hall, travelling through the village and up to Caulkleys Bank, with impressive views north and south, before continuing along the scenic River Rye.
Make a day of it and refuel in the Tea Room, located within the historic house with views across the garden, or head to the walled Tea Garden to relax on the riverbank. Treat yourself to a delicious scone, tasty soup or freshly prepared lunch.
There's plenty for all of the family to do on a visit to Nunnington Hall. From art exhibitions to games, crafts and more, including our Lion's Den play area.
A dwelling is recorded here since 1249, but the current house grew out of a Tudor Hall. Over 450 years the house has been altered to create an atmospheric and comfortable home.
Nunnington Hall has over 700 years of history. It has been a family home and a country retreat, reinventing itself as each new family arrived and changed it to suit their lifestyles. Read about the key connections from Catherine Parr, to political figures and Liverpool traders.
Enjoy Yorkshire's winter gardens and parks, from the landscaped views at Fountains Abbey, to the gardens within a garden at Wentworth Castle Gardens, pathways and borders at Nostell, and the Mediterranean Garden at Beningbrough.
