IT MAY be one of Ryedale’s “hidden” gems, but the splendour of Helmsley Walled Garden is gaining national and international recognition.
Recently named by women’s magazine Red as one of the prettiest to visit in spring, the attraction has also featured in a list of the top gardens open to the public in The Times, while further afield Japanese home and garden-style publication Bises devoted a 15-page spread.
Marketing manager Tricia Harris said it was fantastic to get such world-wide recognition. “We only have to look at our visitor book to see that people come from far and wide including America, Australia, Canada and Europe which is fantastic,” she said.
“Everyone here knows what a great place this is, but it is really lovely to know so many are seeking us out.”
Built in 1758, the garden was originally designed to provide vegetables, fruit and flowers to the Feversham family at Duncombe Park.
After the First World War, the garden was leased out and became a commercial enterprise until 1982, before falling into disuse and becoming overgrown.
In 1994, a local woman, Alison Ticehurst, decided to restore the garden as place for all to enjoy and specifically as a place for horticultural therapy for those in need.
The garden, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, now covers five acres and the team of staff include two horticultural therapists.
One of the missions is to conserve and restore the fabric of this historically-important place and to return it to full productivity, conserving rare and endangered plants, using environmentally sustainable and, where possible, fully organic techniques.
Tricia said the kitchen garden had been completely redesigned.
“There are new plants coming into the Orchid House and as ever we are planting and fine tuning all over the garden, working particularly this year on the Long Border,” she said. “We will also be juicing our own apples which will be on sale in the shop and café.”
Staff recently introduced heritage vegetables, which would have been grown in the garden before the First World War, with seed sourced from Garden Organic.
“These are no longer available commercially, but passed from grower to grower and will help transport visitors back in time to vegetables grown in the early part of the 20th century,” Tricia said. “We hope to sell some of the veg, and seeds, in the shop.”
Tricia said that as well as being a popular visitor attraction, the garden continued to change and evolve and also provided a programme of social and therapeutic horticulture.
“The ethos is to create a place where people can tap into the healing power of horticulture, or simply find a quiet place to sit and enjoy a stunning display of flowers throughout the seasons,” she said. “We have so much to offer and would love to people to come and enjoy the wonderful garden.”
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