Help make our enchanted mushroom lantern village for christmas in the Gardens. We’re working with artist Sophie Handy to make 100 little mushroom houses from willow and tissue paper. A great family, club or class event. These workshops are free. Your creations will go into the Gardens to help make a magical, illuminated woodland walk ready for…
The Gardens are blessed with 2 apple and pear orchards and espaliered fruit fences all planted with over 60 heritage varieties dating back to the 1500s. Like many fruit growers we’ve had a mixed year. Normally we are able to produce a goodly number of single variety fruit juices for sale to our visitors. A…
Nearly time again for our amazingly popular low-tech family fun day. Skittles, sack races, hopscotch and egg and spoon races bring three – or more – generations together this Thursday (11-3.30pm). We run this event every year in conjunction with the local branch of the U3A (University of the 3rd Age) as a fundraiser for…
Five weeks of good value summer fun at the Gardens Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12- 3.30… it’s Unplug and Play Crafts, gardening and outdoor exploration. Children and families can enjoy outdoor play and/or craft activities under gentle supervision. The mud kitchen, maze, dipping pond and some gardening activities available for families to explore…
To kick off the summer holidays with a fun and warming outdoor show , get the kids up and moving with Bif… Biff is not like other dogs. He doesn’t do dog stuff like weeing on lampposts, or scratching his fleas, or drinking out of the toilet. No, Biff likes moonlight and music and walking…
Those baroque Garden designers always emphasised bold theatricality in their layouts. Although we are certainly not on the grand scale of Versailles or the Royal Palaces, our ‘wilderness’ areas, boxed beds and topiary are all part of that formality and dramatic approach. We’re all the more pleased therefore, to be able to host both theatrical…
This Sunday is National Croquet Day! If you’ve never played croquet, then you probably only know the game through its depiction in Alice in Wonderland, where the Queen of Hearts cruelly plays the game with flamingo mallets and hedgehogs as the balls. We’d rather let our hedgehogs roam freely… but we do like a game…
The rain wasn’t much good for anything today ….but cakes were munched, masks were found, pompom flowers were made (and will be all week) … but this little family loved being fed all those lovely grubs that wet weather brings… Bad photo with phone, but didn’t want to get too close and frighten them off.…
Did you shrink or did the flowers just grow? Wander amongst our beautiful towering plants over 4 metres tall – they’re crocheted! This May half term join in the festival atmosphere with our Alice in Wonderland sized installation… All week from Bank Holiday Monday (29th May) through to Friday (June 2nd) we’ll also running family…
A new series of gentle, relaxed afternoons where you can take full advantage of the Gardens for some ‘me-time’. We’ve asked some of the best local or artisan food businesses to run a one day pop-up cafe in the Orangery at the Gardens. This month (May 21st) you can try some truly luscious cakes made…