Visiting Arley Hall is like returning to a favorite college haunt, perhaps this is because the estate was one of my favorite places while I was in England studying garden history. I discovered Arley by happenstance while on my way home from dropping my sister off at the airport. During this first tour I met Lady Elizabeth Ashbrook, mistress of the house, and we became fast friends. Over the years I’ve maintained my connection to Arley – Lady Ashbrook’s son Michael has even been to Moss Mountain Farm – and go back whenever I’m in England.
Arley is open to the public March 2015 – October 2015
(Monday – Sunday inclusive) 11am – 5pm (last entry 4.30pm)
Visit www.arleyhallandgardens.com for more information.
Friends of the Spade! Lord Ashbrook and Lady Tollemache and I take a walk around the gardens at Arley.
The park surrounding Arley Hall includes the 18th century approach to the hall. The massive English Oaks and sheep add to the bucolic mood.
Arley Hall, in its present form, was built in the Elizabethan style in the 1840s.
The herbaceous borders, often cited as the crown jewels of the gardens at Arley, were laid out in 1846. The alcove serves as a terminus and a place to sit and admire the borders.
Yew buttresses€� punctuate the borders and provide evergreen structure to the garden.
Loose plantings of bulbs and annuals provide contrast to the structure provided by the yew.
Many North American native plants can be seen planted in the borders.
Topiary yew finials and benches frame the view of the park from the borders.
A sequence of flowering from early May through October makes the borders interesting through the season.
The Ilex Avenue is made of large clipped cylinder shaped holly oak – Quercus ilex.
The terminus of the Ilex Avenue is a sunken garden punctuated by a sundial. The large urns were added by my great friend Lady Elizabeth Ashbrook.
