Holehird Gardens

Fellow members of the Shropshire Group of the Hardy Plant Society recommended this garden to us so we thought we would visit and find out what it was like.

The garden sign included a map of the gardens and was a welcoming sight as we entered the garden. It was such a good idea to include a map for visitors to study before entering the garden itself.

When we entered the garden we were delighted to see so much colour and structure in the form of mixed planting in island beds and long borders alongside the boundaries. We realised we were actually inside a walled garden.

Holehird Gardens is a 10 acre site in the Lake District fells and is home to the Lake District Horticultural Society and it is their volunteers who made and now maintain the garden. This makes this garden even more remarkable. As we explored this area of raised beds and herbaceous borders we knew there was so much more to see in other parts of the garden. These borders were created using interesting plants and plant combinations. Plant pairing worked so well using the various colours of flowers and the textures and shapes of foliage.

On the far side of the walled garden we found a seat to rest on and had a good look around and back over the borders towards the society’s home.

We then made our way down the gentle slope towards the wooden building, home to the society and luckily a self serve coffee shop. We enjoyed a coffee and next looked along the borders alongside the building and continued where the brick-built wall turned a ninety degree corner. Here the planting was different with some alpines and acers.

After spending a good amount of time on the garden in front of the society’s home we decided it was a good time to move to the other side to see what was on offer there. Here it was much more open with larger sweeping areas of lawn.

Once we had slowly walked up the slope and reached the end of the lawned areas we met a beautiful dry stone wall decorated beautifully by mother nature using mosses and lichens. Here we took the gravelled path meandering across the borders keeping quite close to the wall.

Along the way we found plenty of places to sit, rest and enjoy the view.

We met several interesting trees long the way but particularly enjoyed this group of beautiful, colourful Betulas.

From here we made our way down the sloping lawns back towards the wooden buildings from where we started our wanderings. We took a path around the building to a wildflower meadow with meandering pathways through and around it.

As we crossed the drive along which we walked from the carpark to the gardens we discovered another section of the garden which looked to have been recently brought back to life.